Getting ready for my first Warmoth

[fsb]

Hi, this is my first post here. I have some unusual requirements for an electric and decided a Warmoth would probably meet them better than modding a production guitar, specifically wide neck (1.75", 44 mm nut) and Roland GK-KIT-GT3. Maybe Sustainiac (can be added later). Haven't quite decided about bridge but it will be either Floyd or hardtail. I'd be grateful for any commentary, critique, and especially warnings about my ideas so far as follows...

Strat body with universal pickup cavity. It's the most flexible for trying different pickups (which I like to do). And since I don't use a middle pickup there's space for GK and Sustainiac circuitry. I also like the Strat shape as it puts the strap button around the 13th fret which helps with balance.

Chambered body since I hope for a light body owing to a thing with my collar bone's titanium plate and screws.

All my other guitars have 3+3 pegs and range from 24.75" to 25.6" scale so I'm inclined to the Warmoth neck. And I seem to have no problems with that scale length. 59 Roundback. 14" radius.

Now to the tricky stuff: wood and finish choices.

For minimum weight: chambered basswood with swamp ash top? That's $267 plus $209 for a solid color because basswood is a bit ugly.

But my favorite look would be a very thin satin finish on mahogany so the wood has some protection from dirt and stains but you can feel the grain. Does the DIY Paint-Ready do this? That would be $309 plus $125 for the "finish".

I would match a solid color paint body with maple neck and fingerboard - easy. But if the body is mahogany with DIY Paint-Ready, I'm not so sure. If I choose say mahogany shaft with ebony fingerboard (or another fingerboard wood that doesn't need a coating ebony) then I'd apply coating to the shaft wood myself because Warmoth only dips whole necks, right?

I'm new to guitar building but I've modded several guitars and expect I can cope with the work. A nearby friend has a proper guitar repair business in case I can't. Otoh, neither of us, in city apartments, have anything remotely like a paint shop. But I think I'll manage to apply some finish by hand in the kitchen.

 

[stratamania]

Warmoth only dips whole necks, right?

Welcome to the forum, but that is not correct.

Necks are provided without a finish or with a sprayed finish of your choice. With for example a mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard, a finish would be applied to the mahogany but not to the face of the rosewood, as that does not require a finish.

 

[Waraxe]

Hey there!



I like the way you think! Lol

Above is a chambered alder body with a swimming pool rout. All maple neck with a 59 carve.

The guitar weighs around 6lbs.

You can also DIY rout more space in the area below the pickups and next to the controls. The chambering makes it super easy and quick. I put my clapton circuit board there.

Hardtail is super easy to work with, and has a super solid sound

 

[Waraxe]

Here is my new build


It's a mahogany chambered VIP with a short scale 3a flamed boatneck. It is also super light. I have a thing for 3+3 headstocks too, as you can see. I have a tele with one as well.


This one is out for finishing right now. It cost about what warmoth charges. I wanted a custom color that they don't do. It's gonna be a tweaked firemist silver.

I'll post pics when complete.

Basswood may be a bit on the light side, but your electronics might balance that out. The key is the upper horn length. There is basically no worry about a neck heavy strat.

The chambering adds a certain something to the sound. Some don't hear it, but I do. I like it.

I also like the modern necks with their double rods on chambered bodies. It's a good combo.

Best of luck with your build.

The guys here are super helpful if you have building questions.

Plain maple necks with finish are not much more than exotics that don't require finishes, like canary. The exotics are a good choice due to no finish requirements.

Be careful with roasted stuff. You need to drill any holes at the proper size to not risk cracking the neck.

Oh, and think about ss frets. My strat above is 13years old and has been perfect for 14 years now. It's never needed fret work, and rarely needs truss rod adjustments. I like that.

 

[fsb]

Welcome to the forum, but that is not correct.

Necks are provided without a finish or with a sprayed finish of your choice. With for example a mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard, a finish would be applied to the mahogany but not to the face of the rosewood, as that does not require a finish.

Good to know! Thanks.

I think I picked up that idea from one of the Warmoth videos that talked about necks arriving with finish on the frets. Now that I think of it, it must have been talking about maple neck and fingerboard.

 

[fsb]

Hey there!

View attachment 58848

I like the way you think! Lol

Very nice. I rather like the idea of Candy Tangerine (is that what you got?), black pickguard, maple fingerboard.

Above is a chambered alder body with a swimming pool rout. All maple neck with a 59 carve.

The guitar weighs around 6lbs.

You can also DIY rout more space in the area below the pickups and next to the controls. The chambering makes it super easy and quick. I put my clapton circuit board there.

Very interesting. Makes sense.

Hardtail is super easy to work with, and has a super solid sound

Warmoth is offering Hipshot now. My experience with that is very good. I have a Schecter USA PT and the stock bridge weighed about a pound and a half. Relative to that the Hipshot felt like it can't be made of anything solid. But it is and it works very well.

 

[stratamania]

Good to know! Thanks.

I think I picked up that idea from one of the Warmoth videos that talked about necks arriving with finish on the frets. Now that I think of it, it must have been talking about maple neck and fingerboard.

Yes, a maple neck and board from Warmoth or Fender for that matter has finish applied over the frets. In both cases they are sprayed and not dipped.

 

[fsb]

Oh, and think about ss frets. My strat above is 13years old and has been perfect for 14 years now. It's never needed fret work, and rarely needs truss rod adjustments. I like that.

I want to choose the gold frets. My guitar tech says they are a great mid-point between conventional and stainless in terms of hardness and work-ability. That sounds also good to me because I like conventional strings and would prefer not to have to choose a harder alloy. I had a guitar with stainless frets and the D string would get worn out (kinked) way too soon for me.

Thanks for your other remarks, btw.

 

[ragamuffin]

I want to choose the gold frets. My guitar tech says they are a great mid-point between conventional and stainless in terms of hardness and work-ability. That sounds also good to me because I like conventional strings and would prefer not to have to choose a harder alloy. I had a guitar with stainless frets and the D string would get worn out (kinked) way too soon for me.

Thanks for your other remarks, btw.

SS frets shouldn't have anything to do with your strings kinking/wearing out early. I have stainless on all my Warmoth builds and have never had and issue like that. Were your SS frets maybe a different size than you are used to?

 

[Spud]

SS frets shouldn't have anything to do with your strings kinking/wearing out early. I have stainless on all my Warmoth builds and have never had and issue like that. Were your SS frets maybe a different size than you are used to?

I have never noticed SS frets wearing/kinking strings either.

 

[fsb]

SS frets shouldn't have anything to do with your strings kinking/wearing out early. I have stainless on all my Warmoth builds and have never had and issue like that. Were your SS frets maybe a different size than you are used to?

Could be. It was a Strandberg. Maybe the frets were too big for my vice grip. (Joke. Actually my left hand technique is ok.) Years ago I had a Parker Fly and I don't recall excessive string wear with that. Maybe I was using a wound G string. I don't recall.

 

[fsb]

For a while I had a Schecter Strat copy with uncoated wenge neck and board. That was perfectly fine. Might look good with natural-finish mahogany.

 

[Waraxe]

I want to choose the gold frets. My guitar tech says they are a great mid-point between conventional and stainless in terms of hardness and work-ability. That sounds also good to me because I like conventional strings and would prefer not to have to choose a harder alloy. I had a guitar with stainless frets and the D string would get worn out (kinked) way too soon for me.

Thanks for your other remarks, btw.

I heard gold frets are going bye bye for a while?

Something about the materials to make them are getting hard to get or something.

 

[Waraxe]

Very nice. I rather like the idea of Candy Tangerine (is that what you got?), black pickguard, maple fingerboard.


Very interesting. Makes sense.


Warmoth is offering Hipshot now. My experience with that is very good. I have a Schecter USA PT and the stock bridge weighed about a pound and a half. Relative to that the Hipshot felt like it can't be made of anything solid. But it is and it works very well.

Yes, candy tangerine.

The Hipshot hardtail is what I have on that strat. It has been pretty good overall. The only issue is the the saddles are a bit soft, or at least the early ones were. I'm not sure if they are any different now. My high e string wore a groove in the saddle that was creating a sitar like sound.
I sanded it out though, and have not had any more issues.