One friend got a Warmoth neck for his Strat, but he knew about Warmoth before he met me and has friends with complete Warmoth builds. I certainly didn't influence it.
Another friend is considering it. When I told him I was going to build one 2 years ago, he was supportive at the time but recently told me he initially thought it would look, play, and sound like crap. Not because it was a Warmoth, as he had never heard of them, but rather the way I explained it. "Yeah, it's this company in Washington. You pick out the woods and colors, buy your pickups, they mail it to you, and you wire and assemble it." He thought it was going to be a cheap kit guitar.
Surprisingly, a lot of my musician friends just buy what's at the store and know little about what they are buying other than brand names. They don't have anything in mind, just try a couple and never even know what other options are available elsewhere if they shop around or the differences between models. A pickup swap or what a different neck contour might feel like never crosses their mind, so why would building one? One of my friends from years ago when I started playing, he was older and quite the experienced player I was trying to be. He had a Strat and didn't know what the tone knobs or pickup selector switch did. He just put them where it sounded best. The difference between an artist and an engineer I guess. It was infuriating!
My non-musician friends are more facinated with my Ws than anyone else. They keep saying that I built it, which I reply that I ordered the parts and assembled it. My mother-in-law even gave a gift certificate last year for my Birthday. I used it to pay for most of the neck of my last build. She's always asking if I'm going to build another one.
