I paid the tax. Was it worth it for Flame Maple? I doubt it...... I didn't get anything THAT exciting, and I picked it out. I kinda wonder what I would have received if I just rolled the dice? Would I do it again..... probably not, but then again I doubt it if I will ever buy another guitar body for myself again. I'm all about scratch building my bodies now.......
Ok so I am sitting here thinking about how to wrap this post up..... and I came up with this: I paid $75 for a piece of maple that was roughly 12X24 (I know these numbers aren't perfect, but for the math they work) and 1/8" thick. A board foot is 12X12X1"........ so by my math, a board foot of flame maple I paid $300 a board foot for the maple on my guitar. (there is roughly 1/4 a board foot of wood in a lam top) Is it worth $300 a board foot..... Phuck NO!!!!!!! Maybe to put it into that perspective....... All those top boards you can pick out, although they are nice looking and what not, it is just another way for Warmoth to really make a lot of money. Almost everywhere around the country maple runs about $6-8 per board foot. And Warmoth charges $300 per board foot at the minimum for the privledge of picking out your own top...... You don't want to know what the actual price of the board would be if you picked out a $225 top? I'm gonna tell you, it is $900 a board foot. Now keep in mind there is no extra labor involved on their end for the honor of picking out your board, no more labor than a lam top you didn't pick out. Smart money is on letting them decide........ once the costs of materials comes into play. Now that I did this math problem, my mind is made up, no more Warmoth's for me.......
