Is it worth building a guitar?

[newpatch]

Hi All,

I've been playing on/off for years but since last year I've been seriously playing.....So I bought myself 2 1992 Jackson Dinky XL's. Both are basswood with maple tops, MOP shark fin, German Licensed Floyd, etc. Real nice guitars.

Now, being that I'm an 80's metal guy, I like Warren DeMartini's style and took an interest in his guitar look. That Fender neck, with a soloist type body...a humbucker an single at the neck...

So my question is, if I build this type of guitar will it be a better player than my Dinky's? At this point I think it will be a learning experience build the guitar rather than buiding a "better" guitar, so I'm not sure what to do...

dinkyguitar

 

[AutoBat]

Maybe.
A custom pieced guitar can certainly give you access to the 'ultimate players guitar' - but also open the gates to decisions that are the opposite of what you were going for in the beginning.
Final setup after you get all the parts is a big player in how it feels.  After you wire all the electrical bits and get it assembled having a proper setup (intonation, frets done if needed) can make it from good to great
I guess this isn't just for Warmoth, it really is for any guitar.

Since you'll be the one making the judgment on whether the final product is better than your current guitars, the short answer is: we can't tell you.
We can offer input on how we like our guitars compared to factory made models. (and most of us like our Warmoths)

I got a W neck in Jan 2010 for my MIM strat. It originally had maple/maple, I got mahogany/ebony (clear poly finish) and locking tuners with the 59 roundback profile.
I went from playing my guitar a couple hours a week to about an hour a day.  It, to me, is so comfortable it doesn't want to be put down.

Also, stianless steel frets. You want them.

Hope you got something out of this rambling mess.

 

[newpatch]

AutoBat,

I hear you....I've always likes building things. I guess it makes it more "yours" knowing you built it.

I've done plenty of setups on both my guitars, and also refretted one of them, it had binding, compound radius, etc. It's not the ideal "first time refretting" neck, but I do notice a difference playing it.

I've also been thinking of SS frets. Never played on them but I hear they are worth it...

My only other concern with Warmoth, is that they only have 2 3/16" necks. I've always had 2 1/4" and I guess that 1/16" isn't really noticeable. Granted I've played numerous Strats at the guitar stores, and I didn't see a difference....

dinkyguitar

 

[Tonar8352]

There is a huge advantage to being able to hand pick all components for a guitar to suite your desires. You can literally have a say in every part that goes into the guitar from top to bottom. BUT, if it does not an have exceptional setup including a quality nut installation, fret job and action set up it will be nothing more than a bunch of nice pieces parts screwed together. So the question is are you and exceptional setup luthier or do you have access to one that will make you dream components play like the finest custom made guitar.

There is also a disadvantage.  There is something about picking up several guitars and finding the “Magic” one in a music store that is lost in building a parts guitar because who knows what it will sound like until it is all together and set up. That said I have lost count of the number of Warmoth Guitars I have finished and put together and none have been a dog. Most have been great guitars with several being exceptional.  I say do your homework on neck shapes, wood types, finishes, electronics, and hardware and go for it.

Good luck and we would really like to see pictures of your build coming together.

 

[Jusatele]

My previous knowledge of making a guitar was buying a warmoth neck and changing out the neck on a strat years ago
I was blown away with the quality and the look (birdseye maple) of that neck, I always remembered the thing even after selling the guitar.
So
I decided a few years back that I wanted a guitar built how I WANTED IT BUILT. and started to contact builders. I even live about 20 miles from fenders custom shop and let me tell you, prices for what I wanted were quite high
So
I went to the internet and found warmoth and was blown away with what they offered
So
I got to this forum and started to research everything.
So
I bought the body and the adventure began, 6 months later I had a complete guitar finished in a very unique style I love and the only thing it needed was a good neck setup. I took it to the guy who works on my guitars and told him I wanted a Uber good professional neck job and setup.
So
I now own BARN DOOR TELE, won GOM for it a few months back,but better than the looks, I have the best guitar I have ever owned, better than my PRS. My 335. My Strat or any of my Teles.

Yes it is worth building your own guitar, but cut no corners and do it right.

 

[AutoBat]

2 3/16" necks?  Where is that measured from? (probably something simple I'm overlooking)

I know the nut width options are:
1-5/8" (41.27mm)
1-11/16" (42.85mm)
1-3/4" (44.45mm)

*edit* nevermind, I found the measurement, for the heel width. (aka 55.55mm)

If you want the feel of the heel, pick up just about any strat or tele.  The contoured heel is a good idea to minimize wood impedance into your soloing hand.

 

[Jusatele]

PS, if you really want to see how much I bugged everyone here and learned about everything I needed to know, go to the work in progress and scrool back till you see the Barn Door thread, it is  very long and it goes over every little minute detail of the finish,
what I am saying is, get an idea, get some parts and post up, these guys here will discuss every detail if you want, we all love to assemble guitars here and the collective knowledge is frighteningly huge

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Other factors to consider is that you are able to get the combination of wood in the guitar to tailor the sound towards what you want it to sound like.  Not to say Maple necks or basswood bodies are bad, but playing a Pao Ferro neck, or Canary neck instead of maple, or having Korina instead of mahogany does allow you to: 1. to make the thing as personal as it gets, 2. tune the sound/feel to what works best for you, 3. you can mix one style of neck with a different style of body that you can get off the shelf.  Like a wizard profile with a Les Paul body...  As much as I like my favorite guitar players ability, I sound like me when playing.  Brighter sounding wood necks tend to help me get the sound in my head.  I love Wenge for necks.  Just fits me to a tee.  I have bought all kinds of other necks, Warmoholicism runs rampant around here, because I want to know what they sound like.  This allows me to explore.

Perhaps it is not as focused an answer as you would like, but the potions that you get allow you to have the proper starting materials to get that guitar.  As stated before, a professional setup will make a nice guitar a great guitar.  Now add the customizable features like the selections of woods and profiles and SS frets and so on, with a good set up and you get an incredible guitar.  Just takes a little work to figure it all out.
Patrick

 

[newpatch]

Sorry AutoBat,

It's the width at the heal....not the neck width .


dinkyguitar

 

[iamdavidmorris]

Well, I'm going to differ from the crowd.  If you're happy with your guitar, and it seems you are, it might be better to wait on a new one and spend your money on other things.  Amps and pedals are popular choices, but it's hard to beat guitar lessons for improving your tone long term.  Many came here because they didn't feel they could get the guitar they wanted by buying stock.

 

[ORCRiST]

So my question is, if I build this type of guitar will it be a better player than my Dinky's? At this point I think it will be a learning experience build the guitar rather than building a "better" guitar, so I'm not sure what to do...

dinkyguitar

To answer your question: Yes.

I own a Jackson Dinky DKMG that I absolutely adore, and a ESP Kamikaze that had been my pride and joy for
a few years. Needless to say, after I finished my Warmoth a few months ago I literally haven't touched either one
since! Just do some research, know what you want, and build!

:icon_thumright:

ORCRiST
...listening to Infestation right now...

 

[mayfly]

It was worth it for me.  But - you need to have a good idea about what you want, and be willing to take a bath on experiments.  For example, my first two warmoth teles I made with standard thin necks.  They were great, but my hand was hurting.  Doing some research, I found that larger necks may help.  So I started working my way up in size first to a roundback 59, and finally to a boatneck.  That was a lot of necks (all now sold at a loss).  These days I have 5 warmoth telecasters (all with boatnecks), and a warmoth fender XII.  And nothing else.  I've sold everything else.

 

[drewfx]

If you know that you want certain things that you can't find it in a production instrument, building it yourself is a great answer.

But if you are going to build something close to something already available, you also might consider just buying something and modding it.

And keep in mind that it can be hard to know exactly what you're going to end up with when building. Personally I'm a "get in the ballpark I'm aiming for and then let it be what it is" kind of guy. But some people end up having to swap out PU's/necks/etc. to get something they're 100% happy with.

 

[MedianMusic1]

If you have the money and the time, then build...

 

[m4rk0]

Don't do it... !  Don't even think about doing it!!
You have been warned..





Warmoth is evil and addictive.. you cant just build one..  :laughing7:

 

[Strat Avenger]

It's not gonna play better than your Dinkys, but it will play just as good provided that the frets are level and it is set up properly.

The idea of building your own is to get exactly what you want and have something custom for a fraction of the cost of having a custom shop build it for you. If the Jackson Dinky is exactly what you want in a guitar, there is no real reason to build your own.

By the way, the Warmoth Soloist I built is inspired by Warren Demartini and George Lynch. It has the Floyd, humbucker @ bridge and single @ neck, and a non-pointy headstock.

 

[Strat Avenger]

So my question is, if I build this type of guitar will it be a better player than my Dinky's? At this point I think it will be a learning experience build the guitar rather than building a "better" guitar, so I'm not sure what to do...

dinkyguitar

To answer your question: Yes.

I own a Jackson Dinky DKMG that I absolutely adore, and a ESP Kamikaze that had been my pride and joy for
a few years. Needless to say, after I finished my Warmoth a few months ago I literally haven't touched either one
since! Just do some research, know what you want, and build!

:icon_thumright:

ORCRiST
...listening to Infestation right now...

Hey ORCRiST,
How does the neck on your Kamakazi compare to the Warmoth (Standard Thin?) ?...

 

[OzziePete]

I have 3 Warmoth projects and 2 of them are very well done and match exactly what I set out to do. The 2nd one could be best described a s a Work In Progress (for a very long time) where my choice of components have clashed with each other and things have not gone so smoothly. So while everyone is trumpeting the advantage of being able to spec out wood selections, pickups etc. just be aware - through diligent research - that sometimes, some parts won't go with what you are wanting to do.

For example, I like heavy electric guitars. If I could get the solid bodied version of a Gretsch White Falcon in solid mahogany I'd be in 7th heaven, even though it would throw my back out! In this 2nd project, I though that getting an all maple body would be the bee's knees, nice and heavy, good sustaining properties etc. WRONG. I had also planned to shove an EMG system into that body, but that pickup/ body wood combo (with a maple neck with ebony fretboard!)  proved very sterile to the point it would have irritated most people's ears. Also when speccing out your body and neck, you have to be 100% certain that you have all things covered. I forgot to spec out a battery box, and only found I could not fit the batteries into the tight cavity routs on that particular shape of body when I got it all in and tried to assemble. But even jerry-rigging a 9v battery and stringing it up, you could tell the combo was not a match....That EMG system now is housed in a mahogany body, quilt maple top body and a koa neck with an ebony board, and it is no surprises that the more mellower woods give the EMGs a better environment to work in. But the 2nd project is still lingering on and I have found other obstacles with my later pickup choice that is challenging me. I may have to consider a 3rd pair of pickups yet.....

In short, do your research, ask a lot of questions (I wasn't on this forum when I started that 2nd project - or the forum wasn't around then), be 100% certain of what tonal goal you wanna get and find out what wood combos and pickup selections best achieve that. This forum is great for asking questions, but more importantly, there's a stack of completed projects you can see have come together and the combos used by the owners to get that look and sound.

What Marko - er, The Central Scrutinizer - said about it being addictive is true too. GAS is a horrid disease. :sad:

 

[Strat Avenger]

I have 3 Warmoth projects and 2 of them are very well done and match exactly what I set out to do. The 2nd one could be best described a s a Work In Progress (for a very long time) where my choice of components have clashed with each other and things have not gone so smoothly. So while everyone is trumpeting the advantage of being able to spec out wood selections, pickups etc. just be aware - through diligent research - that sometimes, some parts won't go with what you are wanting to do.

For example, I like heavy electric guitars. If I could get the solid bodied version of a Gretsch White Falcon in solid mahogany I'd be in 7th heaven, even though it would throw my back out! In this 2nd project, I though that getting an all maple body would be the bee's knees, nice and heavy, good sustaining properties etc. WRONG. I had also planned to shove an EMG system into that body, but that pickup/ body wood combo (with a maple neck with ebony fretboard!)  proved very sterile to the point it would have irritated most people's ears. Also when speccing out your body and neck, you have to be 100% certain that you have all things covered. I forgot to spec out a battery box, and only found I could not fit the batteries into the tight cavity routs on that particular shape of body when I got it all in and tried to assemble. But even jerry-rigging a 9v battery and stringing it up, you could tell the combo was not a match....That EMG system now is housed in a mahogany body, quilt maple top body and a koa neck with an ebony board, and it is no surprises that the more mellower woods give the EMGs a better environment to work in. But the 2nd project is still lingering on and I have found other obstacles with my later pickup choice that is challenging me. I may have to consider a 3rd pair of pickups yet.....

In short, do your research, ask a lot of questions (I wasn't on this forum when I started that 2nd project - or the forum wasn't around then), be 100% certain of what tonal goal you wanna get and find out what wood combos and pickup selections best achieve that. This forum is great for asking questions, but more importantly, there's a stack of completed projects you can see have come together and the combos used by the owners to get that look and sound.

What Marko - er, The Central Scrutinizer - said about it being addictive is true too. GAS is a horrid disease. :sad:

Yes, there are pros and cons. In my case, I already knew exactly what I wanted.

You could put EMGs on a slab of balsa wood and they still sound like EMGs. Almost defeats the purpose of having a solid maple body.

 

[OzziePete]

I have 3 Warmoth projects and 2 of them are very well done and match exactly what I set out to do. The 2nd one could be best described a s a Work In Progress (for a very long time) where my choice of components have clashed with each other and things have not gone so smoothly. So while everyone is trumpeting the advantage of being able to spec out wood selections, pickups etc. just be aware - through diligent research - that sometimes, some parts won't go with what you are wanting to do.

For example, I like heavy electric guitars. If I could get the solid bodied version of a Gretsch White Falcon in solid mahogany I'd be in 7th heaven, even though it would throw my back out! In this 2nd project, I though that getting an all maple body would be the bee's knees, nice and heavy, good sustaining properties etc. WRONG. I had also planned to shove an EMG system into that body, but that pickup/ body wood combo (with a maple neck with ebony fretboard!)  proved very sterile to the point it would have irritated most people's ears. Also when speccing out your body and neck, you have to be 100% certain that you have all things covered. I forgot to spec out a battery box, and only found I could not fit the batteries into the tight cavity routs on that particular shape of body when I got it all in and tried to assemble. But even jerry-rigging a 9v battery and stringing it up, you could tell the combo was not a match....That EMG system now is housed in a mahogany body, quilt maple top body and a koa neck with an ebony board, and it is no surprises that the more mellower woods give the EMGs a better environment to work in.. But the 2nd project is still lingering on and I have found other obstacles with my later pickup choice that is challenging me. I may have to consider a 3rd pair of pickups yet.....

In short, do your research, ask a lot of questions (I wasn't on this forum when I started that 2nd project - or the forum wasn't around then), be 100% certain of what tonal goal you wanna get and find out what wood combos and pickup selections best achieve that. This forum is great for asking questions, but more importantly, there's a stack of completed projects you can see have come together and the combos used by the owners to get that look and sound.

What Marko - er, The Central Scrutinizer - said about it being addictive is true too. GAS is a horrid disease. :sad:

Yes, there are pros and cons. In my case, I already knew exactly what I wanted.

You could put EMGs on a slab of balsa wood and they still sound like EMGs. Almost defeats the purpose of having a solid maple body.

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted too!  Dismissing my projects when you have no idea WHY I did these, (by saying "Pfft EMGs - why bother spending on a maple body") is quite naive I think.... I am happy with the EMGs in the current guitar.