Finally pulled the trigger, Turquoise VIP

[cuthbert]

After long thought, especially because I am a foreign customer therefore I am hit by crazy shipping charges, duties and tariffs, I decided to place the order for a high spec Warmoth.

The body is a turquoise VIP that was available in the showroom, now the pics have disappeared but it looked like this:



The neck needs to be a custom build, I put together a 3A flame neck, conversion scale, Vortex headstock, with wizard profile, 6100SS frets, turquoise dots and also I asked for the rare matching headstock. Even if the neck is flamed I have been told it will require a veneer nevertheless.



I hope Warmoth will be able to match the torquoise veneer and dots with the current body recreating the "sunburst" finish as well.

Ideally I would have liked 24 frets and a floating bridge, but the body was ready and even with custom builds you can' t never know what you will get in terms of flames.

 

[PFDarkside]

Fantastic! I was eyeing that as well but too expensive for me right now. It’ll be fantastic!

What pickups are you thinking?

 

[mayfly]

It's going to be killer - you won't regret it for sure.

 

[ejphotos]

Nice!

 

[Don O]

It’s gonna look great ! I’ve had them do matching headstock veneers on 4 builds. Here’s 2 of them.

 

[cuthbert]

It’s gonna look great ! I’ve had them do matching headstock veneers on 4 builds. Here’s 2 of them.

View attachment 67134

The one on the right looks familiar.

 

[PFDarkside]

The one on the right looks familiar.

View attachment 67135

Wow that’s really cool!

 

[cuthbert]

Of course matching headstock was a reason why I bought it. Due to the otrageous shipping charges (200 bucks for a neck and a body, with $170 I can ship an entire guitar in a hard case to the US) that will probably my last purchase from Warmoth so I decided to buy something special and I spent the $260 extra off card option for it.

That means about 2000€ overall including duties, taxes etc...but at least I will have something special somewhat similar to a hardtail Peavey HP Special or HP2.



These are cool guitars, well made and I think the VIP is closer to them than a PRS, however I didn't like the small frets, flat 16" fretboard and small dots.

 

[Hodgo]

Sheeeeesh that’s nice. Cant wait to see the finished product.

 

[cuthbert]

Sheeeeesh that’s nice. Cant wait to see the finished product.

Long wait...2 months.

So end of January.

Fantastic! I was eyeing that as well but too expensive for me right now. It’ll be fantastic!

What pickups are you thinking?

Still not decided, might be EMG 60AX and 85X, might be a pair of Iommi humbuckers, might look for a custom wound to match the specifications of old PRS Dragon I set ( A4, 8.kOhm, 42 AWG, Ceramic 19 kOhm #44), might also be a set of Tonerider Rocksong, very cheap but IMO very good pickups on this kind of guitar.

I assume with the Gotoh wraparound I need a standard spaced bridge humbucker. For the tuners I was considering Gotoh 381 locking if they fit the Vortex headstock.

 

[supertruper1988]

Long wait...2 months.

So end of January.



Still not decided, might be EMG 60AX and 85X, might be a pair of Iommi humbuckers, might look for a custom wound to match the specifications of old PRS Dragon I set ( A4, 8.kOhm, 42 AWG, Ceramic 19 kOhm #44), might also be a set of Tonerider Rocksong, very cheap but IMO very good pickups on this kind of guitar.

I assume with the Gotoh wraparound I need a standard spaced bridge humbucker. For the tuners I was considering Gotoh 381 locking if they fit the Vortex headstock.

381s will fit the headstock.

 

[PFDarkside]

Long wait...2 months.

So end of January.



Still not decided, might be EMG 60AX and 85X, might be a pair of Iommi humbuckers, might look for a custom wound to match the specifications of old PRS Dragon I set ( A4, 8.kOhm, 42 AWG, Ceramic 19 kOhm #44), might also be a set of Tonerider Rocksong, very cheap but IMO very good pickups on this kind of guitar.

I assume with the Gotoh wraparound I need a standard spaced bridge humbucker. For the tuners I was considering Gotoh 381 locking if they fit the Vortex headstock.

NOS Gibson Imommis or the new one?

I have an itch to do a Diamondback with crosses and Iommis!

The 60AX/85X sound cool too though.

 

[cuthbert]

NOS Gibson Imommis or the new one?

I have an itch to do a Diamondback with crosses and Iommis!

The 60AX/85X sound cool too though.

In the UK you can still find the old John Birch pickups in various formats and shapes....I was thinking about those.