First complete build - a little disappointed

kalamari

Junior Member
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Ordered a strat body in Alder Tobacco burst and Quartersawn maple neck.  Just came in the other day and I gotta tell you I am not all that stoked....

The body finish looks great BUT - there is a small knot on the face below the bridge.  I know its natural, but there shouldn't be knots on the face at the very least.

More importantly, The neck does NOT fit in the body pocket.  My guitar tech will have to sand out the body pocket for it to fit.  Again, I know the fit should be tight - but the neck won't even seat properly.  Shouldn't the neck just flat out fit in? 

My guitar tech was like, wow it seems as if they (warmoth) is not as good as they use to be - did you order these parts (nexk and body) together?  I replied "YES".

I don't know, I am hoping it all works out - I just expected a little better from them - I have orders necks from them before with great results.

I guess I could have complained and returned - but if the guitar works out - I can deal with a dime size knot - the burst is very well done and subtle though.

sorry for b@tchen

Kurt
 
you should put the neck in, not from the top, but from the side. I had it too the first time, but just fiddle it in. the necks and bodies are made by a CNC machine, not by hand. if one would be off, many others would be off too!!


for the knut: come on, its wood. if you wanted high grade, you should've payed for it. I've had 5 builds so far, and the only faults that are there in the guitar, are made by me, and its not something warmoth could've done differently.
 
It's a standard practice to get a perfect neck-body fit by using a sanding block on each side of the neck pocket until the neck slides in just right. This is a task easily performed and expected of any tech. I'm surprised at his comment. Our tolerances are vastly improved over the years but maybe he hasn't much experience with Warmoth parts.

You should find lots of information about this on this board by doing some searches.
 
well...

The tech has dealt with Warmoth before.  He didn't say that fitting the neck would be a problem - he just commented that he remembered their parts being a closer fit.  I am sure he was making it sound like he had his work cut out for - I have built guitars before - and could all this - but with 2 kids at home I don't have time to due projects without 4 tiny little hands getting in the way all the time - losing parts etc.

as for the Knot

I am sorry, there are no knots on the back side - warmoth could have turned the body around for th knot on the back..


Hey I am a little picky - I dont think you should have to pay for premium to be Knot free..
Whatever - if I order again (i want to do a tele) I will choose a body from the showcase or specify no knots.
live and learn.
 
Gregg said:
It's a standard practice to get a perfect neck-body fit by using a sanding block on each side of the neck pocket until the neck slides in just right. This is a task easily performed and expected of any tech. I'm surprised at his comment. Our tolerances are vastly improved over the years but maybe he hasn't much experience with Warmoth parts.

You should find lots of information about this on this board by doing some searches.

never had to deal with that. always a tight fit, directly out of the box.

about the knut. get over it, learn to live with it. i've seen gibson customshop les pauls with wormholes filled up, and those guitars are 5000 euros and in excess of that. its wood its a natrual thing, and unless you say 'hey no knuts on top' which might cost more, the guys who handle the wood sure as hell wont turn over every piece to get you your knut-free top. its just too much work, and more work is more time and time is money. this simple.
 
I'd sure love to see a pic,  My necks have always fit snug and perfect, that's how they should be, and if sanding is needed, it's not much.

The showcase has such a huge selection of awesome stuff, I don't know why anyone would special order sight unseen, unless you want something not in the showcase.

What you have is a piece of artwork, enjoy it
 
Gotta say I'm with the OP about the knot, that would bug me a little also.
As far as the tech bitching about tight fits, well, that's technician speak for "assume the position".  :laughing8:
 
kalamari said:
The body finish looks great BUT - there is a small knot on the face below the bridge.  I know its natural, but there shouldn't be knots on the face at the very least.
Could you put a pic of if here???

More importantly, The neck does NOT fit in the body pocket.  My guitar tech will have to sand out the body pocket for it to fit.  Again, I know the fit should be tight - but the neck won't even seat properly.  Shouldn't the neck just flat out fit in? 
My guitar tech was like, wow it seems as if they (warmoth) is not as good as they use to be - did you order these parts (nexk and body) together?  I replied "YES".

How much larger is the neck? 1mm (or less) or more than it?
 
yeah... I custom ordered because there wasn't a body in the showcase with exactly what I wanted.

I already worked the pricing out with the tech - he's an old school decent guy - he did comment that he wasn't going to charge me extra and it was no big deal or anything to get excited about - I think he was just crabbin out loud about the extra work.....there was an audiance in the shop too.

Hey - if the guitar plays well and rocks (most important) - I will easily accept the knot as if it was one of my very own arse pimples and pay it no further attention. In fact, I will effectionately refer to her as my "Knot-o-caster"
I will update and post pics when its completed

thanks for feedback
Kurt
 
 
Amazingly, a lot of people would pay MORE for some figuring, knot or otherwise, on the top.

Humidity can effect tightness of fit.  What you should do is let the parts normalize a few days.  Try again.  The sanding is really a no big deal thing.  Considering the normal loose fit of Fender factory necks..... no pleasin' some folks.

The "sanding" might take a guy 15 minutes to do, and is really considered a normal bit of work when putting things together.  Consider this - Warmoth has to make sure that UNFINISHED items are also a good fit.  Considering the thickness of finish on the neck, if they sized things to consider the finish too, then unfinished parts would be loose.  So... you really can't have it both ways, ya know?  Be thankful they're not too loose, as thats much harder to correct than a few minutes with some 220 grit paper on a flat block.
 
Humidity can effect tightness of fit.  What you should do is let the parts normalize a few days.  Try again.

When I first received the parts for my Strat, the first thing I did when the neck arrived was to try to put it on the body to see what the whole thing was going to look like, and it was not a good fit.  Couple hours later,  I was trying again to see how much sanding would be neccesary, and wham!  It went right in.  I took it apart and put it back in a couple times while finishing things up and every subsequent try was just as successful.
 
I've put together two guitars from Warmoth parts, and had no problems with the neck pocket fit.

Maybe the pocket on the body has some finish on it's sides and making the fit tighter than it should be? Simple sanding of the sides and a bit of prep work should fix that. Not a great drama.

I can understand that you've put down some serious $$ for these parts, so maybe with all that anxious wait for them, you are perhaps a little sensitive to any sort of comment from left field or that maybe a little criticising.

I've found folks you show things to will generally find more fault with things, real or perceived, and offer more a negative attitude than you would expect.

Very few folks go 'wow, that's great' and stay like that. It's more like: "Wow, that's great.....what's that...a knot? Is that normal? The neck seems a tight...wait.. is this machined right? Warmoth did this, right? You paid custom prices right, not off the shelf?" It's generally stuff you don't wanna hear after forking out for the parts.

As for the knot, if you felt that you wanted a perfect look on the body, and you knew you a finicky type of person, why not buy one straight from the Showcase? That's what I did when I was buying a body with a  transparent finish -  I knew if it didn't look just right to me, that I'd be disappointed.
As you say, you live and learn.

Hoping that these disappointments will be put into the background and forgotten about when you finally get the instrument in your hands, completed.
 
I think OzziePete hit it on the head

"I can understand that you've put down some serious $$ for these parts, so maybe with all that anxious wait for them, you are perhaps a little sensitive to any sort of comment from left field or that maybe a little criticising.

I've found folks you show things to will generally find more fault with things, real or perceived, and offer more a negative attitude than you would expect.

Very few folks go 'wow, that's great' and stay like that. It's more like: "Wow, that's great.....what's that...a knot? Is that normal? The neck seems a tight...wait.. is this machined right? Warmoth did this, right? You paid custom prices right, not off the shelf?" It's generally stuff you don't wanna hear after forking out for the parts."

Thanks for all your suggestions
I am sure all will be well - heck - I am not even that great of player or anything - just a lifelong struggling player trying to get better.  I actually like talking about gear and tinkering with gear as much as playing!!!!  I decided to go Warmoth custom after getting tired of browsing through guitar centers "second rate/beat up/abused guitars" and pompus high end guitar stores not finding what I want.

Like I said - the burst finish on the body (tobacco) was exactly what I was looking for.  The neck looked "tight" in terms of fretwork.  I have Warmoth strat neck on a mexican strat - just awesome - best aftermarket part I have ever added to an axe.


thanks again for the support





 
I can understand your dissapointment about the knot but  I would just look at it that your guitar has a little character or beauty mark if you want. Imperfection can be beauty :).

About the neck pocket, like some people said here before, just try it again in a few hours...Better a tight fit in my opinion than Fender-like neck pockets where you can fit something in between neck and body :) !
 
I can understand you... I would probably get more anger in the firsts hours...

But one thing is true (and I'm doing what we call here "half-guilt"): sometimes one knot of that is not appearing in the raw wood, but it come when you work it... So, it probably will be a thing that you won't find nice anyday, but.... happens...  :sad1:
 
I'm on my third build, and I've given up on the idea of perfect. I've already taken apart my first two, swapped parts around and refinished one of them. It's like a dragster: I'm constantly rethinking and reconfiguring. Anyway, in a week that knot will look cool.
 
wow - if your tech is complaining about having to do a little routine fitting work ... maybe it's time to ditch them for someone who understands that this is all part of the workflow for getting a tight fitting neck/body connection.

me, I'll take a neck pocket I need to sand a little over a loose fitting pocket any day. it's easy to lightly sand off a little poly to get the fit just right ... it's near impossible to sand _on_ some poly to fill the gaps in a loose fitting neck


as for the knot - no pics = nothing to complain about

all the best,

R
 
Sorry for the non-Warmoth content......

This guitar knotty enough for ya!? ;)

It's being built for me by a guy in TX....spalted pecan body, Texas ebony fret board, mesquite neck.....

 

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I am with the OP on this one especially on the knot.

It is not such a big deal to turn the guitar around to check if there is a knot-free side before it is cut.

If both sides had knots (and since the buyer didnt make any specifications) tough luck!. But if one side is knot-free and the decision is made to cut with the knotted side on the face, that is not what I would expect from a custom-made body by Warmoth.

It is something I would expect from Fender or Gibson or other big industrial company - for the products of which I would have a choice. But not from Warmoth that makes a one-off body just for me and is supposed to care a little more.

My 2 c.
 
Mr Mscmkr, sometimes (I could say quite often) the looks of the woods change when it's worked... They could have got a raw piece with NO knot and when it came out of CNC, it had a knot... This if absolutely normal with woods, anyody that have at least saw anything knows it...
Is what I said: many guys could not like it, but it happens normally... And Warmoth is not like "Custom Shop", is something between it and a factory like Fender... So, if the wood that they saw had this knot, after shaping, they won't take other try and rest this one to solid finish ( in deed, I believe that only few luthiers would do this too, so...).
 
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