Got my body, but the flamed top has no movement. Is that normal?

[stratamania]

You actually posted a thread asking about that combination which I replied to and gave you useful information.

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=33082

So what we do know is that the combination is possible but not usually advisable and that is probably what you were advised.

I don’t want to keep going with this over what’s reasonable, but I find incredible after more than a decade of offering the 720 mod Warmoth still don’t seem to have clear guidelines about it, at least on builds that use bridge routed they sell in the first place and with their own necks. Your infos weren’t very useful not because you don’t know, but because warmoth themselves seem confused on the matter, the seles rep didn’t do any better tbh, they replied “we advise not getting it because setup could prove difficult”. Difficult? It’s geometry, either you can set it up with an ok action or you can’t, excluding mods like shimming. Anyway...

I suspect you didn’t get a detailed answer because it’s a pretty complicated issue. E.g.:
1) Would you be ok if your Gotoh 510 were maybe so low it could only dive? Or do you want tons of clearance to pull up?
2) Are you familiar with shims and how to use them?
3) Are you ok with the idea of maybe using a shim (as opposed to being anti-shim for some reason)?

If someone is even asking about this, it probably means they don’t know how to use shims, so it’s easier to just say don’t do it.

And the strings will be closer to the body than normal etc.

ValeBliz...I gave the information as it is in a reasonable manner. What is unreasonable is expecting myself or Warmoth sales to give an absolute answer to something that has a number of variables including the end user, their skills in construction or lack of them etc. If the answer given is not good enough then you lost nothing but you were provided with the information available and it is then up to you to decide to go with those options or not to do so.

 

[aarontunes]

So much to unpack in this thread. I will start with the 720 mod thing.

We go to great lengths to explain it, and make customers aware that it doesn't work with every combination of parts. Here, for example:


[youtube]https://youtu.be/ITl4iHXq4V0[/youtube]


In this case, the OP was specifically advised by a CSR not to do it, and chose to do it anyway. Then, after returning the first body....he chose to do it again. So clearly he wants a 720 mod with a 510 rout, regardless of what he has been advised. Why? We don't know. We sell parts, and we have no idea what customers have in mind when they purchase them. We see them do crazy/cool things all the time that we would never have imagined.

There are many other things customers can purchase on that Warmoth site that go against conventional wisdom. Black inlays or side dots on an Ebony fretboard, for example.....which people have requested many, many times.

On our showcase listings, we can't foresee who is purchasing the product, what their experience level is, or what they plan to do with a part once they own it. We can't make it a bubble-wrapped experience. The best we can do is clearly list all the specs.

Warmoth sells parts. We do our best to warn of dangers, but it is always ultimately the customer's responsibility to do their homework on the compatibility of the parts and specs they are ordering.

 

[aarontunes]

Warmoth did provide a refund, no questions asked, and promptly. Very cool of them. But they had zero interest in building a replacement, it was more like "ok we'll email you an RMA then refund it, goodbye."  I *really* wanted to hear "sorry, but that's highly unusual and disappointing, and would be unlikely to happen again. Should we do-over?"  In which case, I would have done so.  Since they seem to have little confidence in their figured tops, I don't really either.

But that's water under the bridge. The body was A+ in every other way, so I look forward to its replacement (with a non-figured top).

Warmoth will put our tops and our finishing department up against anyone, anywhere. The thing is, wood is an organic material that comes in a million varieties. Maple can come plain, flamed, quilted (or a combination of both), birdseye, spalted, and in a bunch of different colors, and so on. Flame maple alone can come in many variations. Sometime the stripes are wide, sometimes narrow. Sometimes they are very uniform, sometimes they are wild. And some tops exhibit chatoyance after they are finished, and some don't.


The OP had expectations for chatoyance and didn't get it. Despite the body having an unusual combination of options that will be tough to resell without taking a loss, and despite the body being "A+ in every other way", Warmoth "provided a refund, no questions asked, and promptly".


Seems like good customer service to me.  :dontknow:

 

[TheOtherEric]

...
In this case, the OP was specifically advised by a CSR not to do it, and chose to do it anyway. Then, after returning the first body....he chose to do it again. So clearly he wants a 720 mod with a 510 rout, regardless of what he has been advised. Why? We don't know. ...

Minor correction --  The guy complaining about lack of direction on the 720 Mod is not the OP.  I'm the OP, and I wasn't told by CSR it wouldn't work.  I assume that since it's possible to configure 720 with Gotoh 510 on the web site, it should work at least dive-only, and that's good enough for me. I'll shim it if I really want free-floating, no biggie, no complaints. Using an angled shim is still preferable to non-720 with its big gap between fretboard and body.

As a side note, apparently the body sold within a couple days for full price (less the $200 UC).

 

[aarontunes]

Minor correction --  The guy complaining about lack of direction on the 720 Mod is not the OP.

You're right....my bad.

 

[beltjones]

Hopefully someone will find this helpful:

The darker you stain a guitar, the less movement you will see in the grain. If the dye process starts with dying the wood completely black and sanding it back, you will see a lot less movement than another color scheme that has lighter colors. In other words, a charcoal burst, barely sanded back, will have practically zero movement compared to the same piece of wood with a lemon burst. A tiger eye finish typically starts with black, so it will have less movement than that Suhr that looks like it started with a brown dye.

Otherwise, Warmoth builds pro quality parts for builders. Criticizing the company because the organic material top, with a dye scheme chosen by the customer didn't meet expectations is not right. I will also add that I strongly, strongly suggest OP never order a PRS 10 top sight-unseen.

 

[ValeBliz]

Yeah I remember Aaron explaining the same thing in a topic a while back.