First Warmoth build - kind of an American Deluxe HSS copy (plus)

[Steve St.Laurent]

Building my first custom guitar.  I was looking for a new strat last year and fell in love with Fender's 2010 American Deluxe HSS strat - but I didn't like any of the finishes they offer.  Started researching my options and came across Warmoth.  Spent about 2 months figuring out what I wanted and have come up with something real close to the American Deluxe but with some improvements that I want like custom swtiching - although it will look much like an American Deluxe.  I've ordered my body from the showcase already and will be ordering my neck this week.  The rest of the parts are in the process of being ordered.

I haven't built a guitar before and I want it to be right so a local luthier will be assembling it for me.  TFN technologies is doing the custom wiring for me ( http://home.earthlink.net/~tfntech/id20.html ).  It's going to be 2-3 months before I actually have it in my hands - the wait is going to kill me!  I did a photoshop image so that I could pick everything out because I'm terrible at visualizing things.  This is an actual picture of my body and everything else is taken from other pictures:

Schaller locking tuners (chrome)
Maple Warmoth Pro neck w/Indian rosewood fingerboard - Vintage tint satin finish
Custom logo designed by me on the headstock w/MADE IN USA and HOTROD STRAT (in the same font as the stratocaster on a fender headstock) and the Warmoth logo
1 11/16" nut width
Fender LSR roller nut
Standard thin neck contour
10"-16" compound radius fingerboard (22 frets)
SS6105 frets
Abalone dots
Custom polished aluminum neck plate with machined W Warmoth logo and an S'69 (letter of my name and year I was born)
Chambered swamp ash body with swamp ash laminate top (3 lbs 10 oz)
Tobacco burst finish front & back
front HSS route, top jack
Fender two point chrome tremolo
Black/White/Black pickguard
Hennessey deluxe chrome strap locks
Lace Holy grail pickups in neck and middle
Lace Dually Red/Silver humbucker pickup in bridge

We're still working out the final details on the wiring but this is where we are now:

S1 switch (from american deluxe) in volume w/custom wiring allowing the following pickup options with the 5 way:

S1 Up:
1 - Bridge
2 - Bridge & middle in parallel
3 - Middle
4 - Middle & neck in parallel
5 - Neck

S1 Down: (I'm trying to get 1 & 2 swapped, and 4 & 5 swapped but not sure if they can be)
1 - Bridge & middle in series
2 - Bridge & middle & neck in parallel
3 - Bridge & neck in parallel
4 - Bridge & neck in series plus middle in parallel
5 - Neck & middle in series

top tone pot a master tbx control pot which is a 2 way tone pot with a middle detent that allows you to cut treble or bass

bottom tone pot a push/pull pot wired to work as a variable coil split for the humbucker so I can use either coil individually, both together, or one at full volume and the other at variable volume along with all the above options

a fender passing lane switch to bypass the volume & tone pots and go straight to the humbucker

I can't wait to hold it in my hands and play it  :guitarplayer2:

 

[Disco Scottie]

Nice lookin' build. And I bet it will be better than any American Deluxe out there.

 

[elfro89]

Nice lookin' build. And I bet it will be better than any American Deluxe out there.

+1
Looks great.

Haven't built my full strat yet but I can tell you just from the neck I have received it just feels and looks a hundred times better then the American Standard Deluxe's I have tried so far. Theres some mods im doing to mine to make it that little bit more to my liking, such as rounding the fretboard edges.  :laughing7:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Everything's been ordered, now I just have to wait patiently - YEAH RIGHT!

 

[graceshredder]

:headbang:  That looks sharp, Steve!  Nice choices.  The Flying V I just completed took 11 weeks at the factory at Warmoth.  If you're having the neck custom finished, expect about the same wait. If the neck is one in stock, well it should be in your hands a lot sooner than 2 months.  But, you know, the waiting and anticipating has its own wonderful feeling too.  Enjoy it . . . and your guitar!!  :rock-on:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The parts have been rolling in.  Received my custom laser engraved neck plate today.  The S'69 is the letter of my name and the year I was born (also my favorite number).  Hard to get a good picture of a chrome neckplate - I put it in my scanner to get this but it doesn't do it justice.  Everything that looks black here is actually chrome - the etching is white.  All of my pickups have arrived as well as everything else except for the shipment from Warmoth and the custom wiring harness & switches.  Patience . . . . . . . .   :tard:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Got an email from Warmoth tonight that my body and neck shipped!!!    :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang1: :headbang1: :headbang1: :headbang1:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Neck and body arrived today - they are GORGEOUS!  The tobacco burst finish on the body is more yellow than I was expecting from the online picture but I'm happy with it.  Just waiting for a few finishing supplies to arrive to cover the decal on the headstock.  That and my custom harness is supposed to ship shortly and I've had a heck of a time getting the correct schaller tuners - Guitar Center shipped the wrong ones twice and now Stewmac shipped the wrong ones too - they are shipping the right ones out today.  If all goes well I may have this done within a couple weeks

 

[AutoBat]

Neck & Body arrived?

Pics or it doesn't exist.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Ok, here you go

 

[Nando Vallart]

Looking good!!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Printed my custom waterslide decal today, got it applied and shellac'd.  Tomorrow the lacquer starts going on it.  Thanks for all the advice CB  :glasses9:

 

[CrackedPepper]

Looks great - can't wait to hear your impressions of the Lace pickups

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Finished the headstock - looks just like a factory job.  Also did the shielding today.  Tomorrow the wiring harness is supposed to arrive so I'll be wiring up the pickguard then hopefully dropping it off at the luthier on friday.  Should be playing it come next week!  :headbang:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Finished wiring up the pickguard today.  TFN ran into a snag with the wiring because the fender passing lane switch is on indefinite back order.  I was able to find one on ebay and had it shipped here so I had to solder that into the harness and then hook up all of the pickups, mount everything, etc.  Talk about fitting 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag!  Anything else in there and I'd have to route the control cavity out to make more room.  So everything is at the luthier now - but he said he got slammed the last couple days and I have a target completion date of the 16th.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he has some openings between now and then and can get it done quicker.  I guess after 4 months 1 more week won't kill me (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

 

[AutoBat]

that wiring looks redonkulous!

 

[Firebird211]

that wiring looks redonkulous!

That would be the fault of Lace's dizzying color codes.  I love the color of this geetar!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

that wiring looks redonkulous!

I must be getting old and this is probably going to show my age but does that mean good or bad?  Theres a lot crammed in there with the S1 switching, tbx master tone, dual variable coil split (push pull pot), and the passing lane switch.  I also wanted to leave the pickup leads full length in case I change my mind on the pickups and want to sell them.

 

[AutoBat]

i like to think of it, in this instance, as meaning both mind-bogglingand amazing that it fit, while looking okay at the same time.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

After a few delays I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow :guitarplayer2: !!  Now I can't sleep.  The wait is nearly over . . ..