How long did it take you to “get warm” with your new Warmoth?

[SalsaNChips]

On Sunday I finished the major assembly of my Warmoth Pau Ferro/Mahogany Tele build (about 20 hours total).

Monday I set up the intonation and action. Played it for 2 hours and came away a little frustrated -- the pickups were noisy, the string spacing felt wrong, the tone control was useless and it would not stay in tune. Also, it seemed like as soon as I sat down and started playing it I felt as if I had somehow, inexplicably, completely forgotten how to play the guitar. A little frustrating but I sensed it was temporary.

Today I fixed all the problems that I could fix -- the tension spring on the G string saddle was the wrong length and it was causing the tuning and intonation problems. The capacitance value on the tone circuit was too high (I changed it to 15uF instead of 47uF), the GFS pickups, interestingly, needed to be raised closer to the strings (real close) and the string spacing well, after 20+ years with only a Stratocaster it’s just going to take a little while to get comfortable with something different.

Here it is Tuesday evening. Just finished two hours playing it and had to drag myself away. Wow what a difference. The tone and “feel” of the guitar suddenly just started working big time. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like getting inside of it, or putting on a pair of old jeans that fit perfect. Total comfort, confidence and enjoyment in what my playing ability can produce. I’ve experienced it with my Strat a few times but never this pronounced. And it only took three sessions with the Tele to get there (an encouraging indicator of a lasting, rewarding relationship).

Just wondering if this is unique or if others have had similar experiences.

 

[swarfrat]

Between a year of anticipation, and my main strat having a broke wire (thought it was a dead battery and was avoiding pulling the pickguard to change it - because when I did I was considering installing a battery box and I wasn't quite ready to take the router to this guitar since it's kind of special.

It did take me some time to get my setup dialed in, and I spent a lot of time messing with the electronics. Once I got it how I wanted more or less, I didn't pick up any of the others for six months straight.

 

[AutoBat]

After I completed my VIP build I was concerned that I wouldn't play my strat anymore. I try to play them an equal amount but they are completely different animals. Typically I still find myself reaching for the strat.
I think I'm attached to it because I've had it for about 15 years and I am very accustomed to the contours of it.
I never use my tone controls.  Recently I decided to play with them on both my axes and once again came to the conclusion that they're just there to fill the holes in the body. I set 'em to 10 and gently dust them once in a while.
I've changed saddles before but have never really had any issues with tuning stability on that end.  Locking tuners & Boogie Rail pretty much flushed out the 6 point trem & nonlockers on my strat, the Floyd on the VIP works like a Floyd.

Perhaps to more accurately answer the question at hand would be about 3 months before I got used to just picking it up and playing it.  The strap locks still annoy me a bit because they clank when I throw it over my shoulder though. I definitely won't put them on another instrument.
As far as string spacing goes, that's the only bit I've kept constant, so it feels marvey.  I use .009-.042s on my strat (tuned Eb) and .009-.046 on my VIP (tuned E).
If your tele has a different nut width that what you're used to you may consider experimenting with different string sizes.

 

[mayfly]

Pretty much instant for me

 

[swarfrat]

My 'main' guitar is a hardtail Zion strat which is almost thirty years old now, and I've had it for twenty three of those. I am starting to play it gain now. Some differences between the two - the Zion has a set of EMG SA's w/ SPC control - which I like a lot. The whole point of my Warmoth build was to be different - so it's not surprising that I'm switching around now that I've had some time to get familiar with the Warmoth. I'm a die hard 25.5" S/S/S guy, the W was designed to be my kinda sorta Gibsonish SG/Paul with ergonomics that don't suck. I'm now settling into grab this one for this and that one for that. Things I wish I'd done differently?

Like autobat says, I regret the decision to use a rattly straplock. The plastic discs locks work just fine thank you, and they don't rattle when sitting down. 

I also am wondering why I put a neck pickup on this thing. Aside from the moments where I just can't escape a really bad hum and I switch to the middle RW/RP position - I use the bridge Mean 90 all the time. It gets a bit mushy in the neck.

I'm still not functional on my MIDI setup - due to prioritization of funds. This isn't so much a regret though - I still intend to get there. I would rethink the piezo vs magnetic though just on the basis of the best reason to go piezo is the Axon, and they're hard to find / or people want too much.  I am however planning to yank the piezo wiring out the jack and run ALL piezo out the 13 pin jack, and straight unbuffered passive magnetics out the 1/4" jack.

I would also ditch the trem and go hardtail. I got the Wilky because I jumped on a trem routed showcase body. Aside from doing what most people would do with a trem after 20 years of not owning a tremolo guitar - once I got that out of my system, it's more of a liability than an asset - not because the Wilky is a bad design, but because it really exacerbates handling noise on the piezos.  They're in some dire need of some heavy HPF filtering - (got a project for that in the works already).  Even now, I 'm still having thoughts of modifying the setup from all the springs I could fit screwed down tight, to an honest to goodness no springs blocked setup.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

My most used ones are basses.  My first was about 4 years ago at this time.  I lurked on the forum a bit before joining, and actually discovered the forum after committing to the purchase but looking for a custom neckplate, lol.  But, back to the point.  I think I rushed through my initial setup trying to make it gig ready in 2 days.  The nut was probably too high, and I avoided a string tee thinking I wouldn't need one.  My one Warmoth guitar neck does not have or need one, but this bass needed one so I've put them on the others.  A few things I just got right out of the chute.  My wiring was a little fancy and there was not a diagram per se.  The pickup height I also nailed first time and haven't readjusted.  Over time, I lowered the nut to playable.  The neck I got for it, at the time, a few of the options that are now standard were limited to showcase only, so I compromised.  I have since ordered 3 more necks for other builds that are a little more what I wanted, but feel no need to swap them out on this build.  It isn't my prettiest or fanciest looking, but it feels and plays the best, and was ordered and assembled when I knew the least about building one from the ground up.  I wouldn't build one like this again, but it is my favorite and gets played the most.  My bandmates' favorites are different ones I own, but this one just has it.  My live tone I think leaves much to be desired, but in the studio where I go straight in and defer to experience to make those choices, this has been my msin one for recording, and on 2 occasions engineers have made serious offers for it needing a good studio bass.  An ex band mate even asked me to record with him on the condition that I play that bass.  It's my first and favorite, and i didn't immediately warm up to it.

 

[stubhead]

I consider every guitar I own to be a work in progress. The idea that you're going to guess right the first time, on everything, considering that most of the information out there nowadays by weight of sheer repetition is manufacturers trying to make some kind of virtues out of their cost-cutting measures.... I don't worry about it because I always have some things dialed in and after enough years you learn that there's always a compensation in one thing for another, but, why "finish?" I have at least two nuts for every guitar I own, one for slide, one for fingers, and the good ones have an in-betweener... I get worried when I think I know everything. There's a fairly good article in the new Premier Guitar about cheap & easy mods, and some of that is surely just to wake up something that's gotten too comfortable or to make you try a different way of playing it.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2012/Sep/Hot_Rod_Your_Electric_Tiny_Tone_Tweaks_Done_Dirt_Cheap.aspx

Put on some fat 13-56 strings with a wound 3rd & tune them down a step and see what happens. It's the same with even amp settings - once in a while, turn off all the reverb, delay, chorusing and overdrive and play it dead-clean and dry - until it sounds like music again, and you again after that. It can take a few hours to several days, depending on your standards, talents and persistence.

"Man, I can't play without my boob screamer!" <- the preceding statement is at least half-true

 

[Strat Avenger]

When I first "completed" my Warmoth, I did not have the Floyd saddles shimmed for the compound radius fretboard, and as a result, the guitar simply didn't feel right. It also didn't seem to sound very good.

Well, I finally got the proper shims on the installed, and it played excellent. I also changed the strings, and suddenly there was nice, woody TONE, and dare I say "mojo".  This was strange to me since the previous strings, the first strings the guitar ever had, were brand-new. I just may have gotten a defective set, because although the brand and gauge were the same, they sounded sterile and lifeless.

Since then, I have been no less than thrilled with that guitar.

 

[Tonar8352]

I always send my guitars out to the finest set up person I can find to have the frets leveled and polished, bone nut installed, and final set up done and they come back ready for action.  Everyone that  plays my guitars comments on how great they feel to play and it is because of the final set up.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I have noticed that with certain necks, it takes a set or two of strings to settle in.  My last build was this way.  It was very bright to begin with, I sort of expected this for other reasons, but it was brighter than what I though was normal.  After running through a couple of sets of strings, it sounded more like what I thought most of the builds I make sound like.  The pickups add a lot to the character through the amp, but it doesn't do what it did at the start.  I think it just got comfortable in its own skin.

Beyond that, the things played really nicely out of the box, and with some set up played like pros.
Patrick

 

[Ace Flibble]

I've had to completely remake my four Warmoth builds to get them to feel right. Everything feels brilliant for the first day, then it all goes a bit wrong and within a couple of weeks I've found all manner of problems. Some due to the nature of the parts (I now utterly loathe Warmoth's 'pro' construction), some due to me ordering things which seemed like a great idea t the time but turned out to not be so good.

My first one, a basic Tele, had the finish stripped, had a corner cut off for a forearm contour, the neck finish was sanded back (turns out that Warmoth's ''satin'' finish turns very glossy and sticky after a month of use), then I ripped out the jack and the tone control, moved the jack to where the tone control usually sits and disconnected the neck pickup. Ended up getting exactly the sound I wanted and was very comfortable when sat down, but it was nothing I could take on stage. Right now the body is laying somewhere in the pile of random parts under my bed and the neck is now on Warmoth Tele #3...

Warmoth Tele #2 has largely remained the same, though I've never been happy with it. I took it to a well-respected tech to set it up, since at the time I was still unfamiliar with the process, and he set the action far too low. Probably perfectly right for many people, but I don't like low action. I can't get the nut out to replace it though, so it's rather stuck like that. Again, I've removed the tone controls and sanded back the (frankly horrible) tinted finish on the neck. Also rolled the fretboard edges. Now this guitar is relegated to use only for one specific song.

Warmoth Tele #3 has had a total re-vamp. Originally it was a pearl white carved top with purple DiMarzio humbuckers and a purpleheart & ebony converison neck. Now it's been stripped back and refinished with a very basic and light spray of lightly tinted nitro gloss (but not buffed glossy; I've left it just as it was sprayed, so the result is matte), the neck from Tele #1 and EMG 60AX pickups (actually, the very first set of white 60AXs they've made). This was partly because I wans't happy with the stainless steel frets on the previous neck and also because somebody threw up on the old neck, which being raw wood (and me not noticing until the next day), rather ruined it. What can I say? My guitars don't live in cases or get cleaned, they're built to be played hard and that's what happens. I did order a 1-piece rosewood conversion neck from Musikraft (don't hate; Warmoth simply do not offer 1-piece, non-pro construction on conversion necks) that was meant to go on it, but the neck screws were a pain in the arse to get in it thanks to the contoured & angled pocket, so I abandoned that. That neck will now find a home on a fourth Telecaster instead and I think I'll have to order another conversion neck for this carved top.

My Warmoth Jazzmaster has had the bridge saddles changed out from nasty bent steel ones to graph tech block ones, the middle pickup has been removed and the controls have been moved and simplified to a single volume, 3-way toggle and pickguard-mounted jack. The neck for that, originally a basic Warmoth Vintage Modern Jazzmaster neck, has been replaced with a neck from a Fender Lone Star Stratocaster (the Mexican version), because the neck contour is simply much nicer and I've grown utterly sick of Warmoth's compound radius (and object to paying extra for a straight one purely on principle).

That's not to mention the problems I've had with the nuts Warmoth cuts, the damn side adjustment thing, some slightly shallow and too-tight routing, etc. All stuff I can easily fix (or throw out and replace with something else to hand, since I'm typically in a hurry to have things ready by that evening's gig), but still annoying nonetheless.
 

.... Luckily, all that has meant I have a much better idea of what to order now and in future. So now I'm ordering all my necks from Musikraft (more options; cheaper; quicker) and all my bodies from Warmoth, but intently avoiding all finishes (I've stripped & resprayed them all anyway), angled neck pockets (I just can't be fucked trying to force the neck screws in, even though I find the result more comfortable), straight headstocks, 6-in-line headstocks, jacks that are not in the top/pickguard/control plate of the guitar and controls that extend beyond one volume.

It's been a rather expensive series of experiments to basically discover that the Squier Avril Lavigne Telecaster is more or less my perfect instrument.

 

[mrpinter]

I guess I've gotten lucky with my two Warmoth builds so far. One is a 72 Thinline and the other is a standard Tele. Both have unfinished goncalo alves necks (with g.alves and wenge fingerboards respectively), SS6115 frets and Gotoh SG38 tuners. I also had both assembled and set up by very competent professional guitar techs. I've been very happy with both of them for playability and tone since I first picked them up. Like I said, I consider myself very lucky.

 

[stubhead]

One addendumdedum: Even with the Warmoth double rod, and especially without it, I just don't think a brand new, never-been-strung/wrangled/played neck is the best candidate for a really meticulous, i.e. time-consuming and expensive, fret leveling and setup. I have the "luxury" of doing my own, 30 years ago it just would never have occurred to pay somebody to do something I could learn how. It's not magic, secret, mystical or any of that. Warmoth & USA Custom almost always levels their frets enough to be useable for a year or so. I DO have to to attend to the fret ends of every new neck I've bought, they're just not done from the factory. If I was selling multi-$$$ guitars and owned a Plek machine, I would get them playable but sell them with a certificate for a Plek or other fine setup, after at least a year for a double truss rod and at least a few seasonal changes for single rods. Necks settle, that's pretty simple - you would too with 150lbs of extra string tension. Ouch! I don't see the point of taking off extra fret metal beforehand, or pretending that a brand new neck isn't going to shift a bit with time.

 

[MikeW]

It usually takes the two or three days to build and setup and have the neck settle. After that it's just a quick fret dress and level and it's good to go. No more warm up time needed. YMMV.

 

[reluctant-builder]

I find that I wind up in guitar moods.

Each of my guitars is quite different from the other, even my two Hagstrom Swedes (one is a Super with a 25.5" neck and skinny top-heavy bottoms, vs. the Standard, which is 24.75" and has .012 - .056s on it).

My Jazzmaster is my Warmoth, and I love the thing. It took no time at all for me to fall in love. I've got a set of Jazz strings that start at .011 and go to, I think, .054. It's just a fantastic guitar, and I'm so glad I did the build. I reach for it pretty often, but it depends on what I want to play.

If I want dark and heavy, I go for the Standard Swede. Super-versatile is the Super Swede. Twangy and bright is my Strat ... but the Jazzmaster is great for everything that employs tones from over-driven P-90 to clean with a little bite to straight-up jangly and, of course, Jazzy.

Didn't take me long to warm up to that beauty, at all.

 

[SalsaNChips]

After my 5th session with the Tele, I am feeling encouraged. Action is very good, better than my Strat. Not perfect, it does fret out in a few places and the string height could be lower. I may pay for a professional fret dress to level them off some, otherwise I don't think it needs anything. I'll make a call on that after I re-string it with 10's.

Main thing right now is get the saddles replaced with graph tech cause the allen screws sticking out the tops is driving me crazy. Also, the GFS pickups are way too hot -- not a fault of the pickups but I need something a bit milder. I'll just back off the volume a little till I decide what I want to replace them with (if I decide to replace them). Also, I am  missing the "glassy" mid/neck setting on my Strat, but that is the nature of a Tele -- embrace the honking mid-range and learn to love it

Actually, I am grateful the build went so smooth and with the overall result. If I had been seriously dissatisfied with this guitar it would have been a real bummer.

 

[AutoBat]

In your first post you say you've got the pickups quite close to the strings, back them off a bit if they're too harsh for you.

 

[stubhead]

Here's just one guy who sells various heights of screws:
http://www.stratcat.biz/4040.shtml
Fender sells them in four lengths.
I've got one guy bookmarked, damn, somewhere - who sell them ALL. Cagey's got it, too, somewhere.... I assure you the place exists. In the past, I had resorted to grinding them, but you have to have a clampable... THING with a 4-40 hole tapped in it. And you want to grind a conical bottom, so when they turn they change height smoothly.  Unless they're metric, and you need 18-8's. Thankfully, this is the kind of thing the Internet can do. Google this:

bridge saddle height adjustment screws sizes

and you get this:

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=screws%20size&tok=Q2TC_hpmg6puujAtfWdWRQ&cp=44&gs_id=1ab&xhr=t&q=bridge+saddle+height+adjustment+screws+sizes&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=bridge+saddle+height+adjustment+screws+sizes&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=2637b594dba93546&biw=1173&bih=753

billions, and billions...

Angela has some:
http://angela.com/search.aspx?find=saddle+screws

 

[Cagey]

The set screw supplier I've used is here. Bookmark it, while there's still time!

As to the "weak" GFS pickups, as has been suggested, lowering them is your first line of defense. Be aware that you will also enjoy a greater dynamic range out of the deal - that is, the harder you bang the strings, the bouncier the output will be. If you're not used to that effect because you've previously been using traditional humbuckers, it'll take some getting used to. You'll have to be more careful about your picking. But, it's worth the effort. You can be much more expressive, and your tone will be more rich and dramatic.

You don't have to lower them much, and if lowering them reduces the output to unacceptably low levels, you may have a wiring problem.

 

[DustyCat]

If I don't get some Warmoth Scalloped 6100 replacement necks for all my other guitars, I fear I shall never play them again...it's SAD really!