Koa strat done (finally)

[crash]

Here's pic and all the specs on my 1st Warmoth guitar.  These pics are still with my phone.  They are much better quality than the last ones I posted.

Body:
Koa on Koa
720 mod to the neck pocket
Clear gloss finish
Bought it from the showcase
Routed for recessed Wilkinson

Neck:
Warmoth Pro - standard thin
Wenge/Ebony
10"-16" radius
Black dot fret markers
Gold 6105 frets
1-11/16 nut width
Graphtech black nut

Hardware:
Schaller black locking tuners
Graphtech string tees
Wilkinson V100 tremolo
Custom neckplate (Thanks Doug!)
Ebony knobs

Electronics:
500k volume pot
Treble bleed added to the volume pot
250k tone pots
Bottom tone pot is used on both the middle and bridge pickup
4700pF and 5600pF Tropical fish for the tone capacitors
Lace Sensor pickups:  Hot gold, Hot silver, Purple (will be moving the Hot silver to the bridge and adding a Hot gold to the middle)

So far I have to say I love it!  :blob7:
With the gold frets, the strings bend effortlessly

 

[rapfohl09]

Wow man, that is exceptionally beautiful!

 

[jalane]

That's a really nice looking piece of Koa!

 

[Disco Scottie]

Killer! That is a good-looking machine. And it's the second one I've seen recently with camouflage fretboard dots... I'm gonna have to do that at some point. Can you see them decently when you're playing it, or do they get lost in the color?

 

[rapfohl09]

I saw black dots on a dark pau ferro board and it looks awesome, I really want to try it on my next neck.

 

[Gabe]

that's a pretty cool guitar. I have one question though: what's the point of fret markers if you can't see them?

 

[DangerousR6]

Man, that thing ROCK's Chris....Absolutely stunning.... :headbang1:

 

[Cagey]

Wow! That thing is gorgeous! I seriously like that a lot. With minor differences, I could easily see me building something like that for myself.

 

[Bruno]

Two *Graphtech string tees* are absolutely necessary?
The schaller lock tuner aren't staggered?

 

[Cagey]

Schaller locking tuners aren't staggered - they're all short. A locking tuner doesn't need any vertical shaft room to wind on like the old-fashioned units did. He didn't need the string trees at all, especially on a Warmoth neck, but there's a mindset out there that says you do so some succumb to it. Call it dogma or an article of faith, where facts have nothing to do with anything.

String trees are a compensatory measure for poorly cut nuts, pure and simple. They have nothing to do with tone, and a lot to do with tuning problems. They're to be avoided whenever possible.

 

[crash]

I can see the black dot inlays just fine.  I just thought that white, cream or abalone would stick out like a sore thumb.

On the string tees, I guess my understanding was that they were needed unless you had an angled head.  :dontknow:

 

[Danuda]

Wow that is pretty!  Maybe the strat I build will be Koa.  I was going to go swamp ash but man...

 

[Cagey]

On the string tees, I guess my understanding was that they were needed unless you had an angled head.  :dontknow:

A lot of people think that, so don't feel bad. If you'd have asked around, chances are you would have been told 4 out of 5 times or more that you had to have them. But, it's only true if you've got a production neck from some puppy mill like Fender. They make a bajillion necks a day and don't have time to cut the nuts properly, so they give them a lick and a promise and put trees in front of them to prevent problems. They've been doing it since the late '50s, early '60s.

 

[Doughboy]

Now that, young sir, is a classy guitar.  ccasion14:

 

[AutoBat]

I popped a (one) roller string tree on my neck cause the high E kept wanting to jump ship (w/schaller locking tuners on board)

 

[Nando Vallart]

Lovelly!

 

[Firebird211]

Schaller locking tuners aren't staggered - they're all short. A locking tuner doesn't need any vertical shaft room to wind on like the old-fashioned units did. He didn't need the string trees at all, especially on a Warmoth neck, but there's a mindset out there that says you do so some succumb to it. Call it dogma or an article of faith, where facts have nothing to do with anything.

String trees are a compensatory measure for poorly cut nuts, pure and simple. They have nothing to do with tone, and a lot to do with tuning problems. They're to be avoided whenever possible.

I have a box of Schallers awaiting a new build, on a Strat, I wasn't going to use the string trees either.  I took a close look to see if they were staggered or not, before, so I can tell which ones to put where.  They all seem to be pretty short, but I notice I have three short, and the other three even shorter.

 

[Cagey]

I popped a (one) roller string tree on my neck cause the high E kept wanting to jump ship (w/schaller locking tuners on board)

It's not the tuners, it's the nut. You could have garbage tuners like Klusons on there, and it'd be ok as long as the nut is cut right. But, properly cut nuts are few and far between. A lot of techs think they know how to do it, and will even charge you to do yours, but few actually understand what needs to be done and how to do it. They just file slots that will fit the string set you say you're going to play and call it good.

 

[AutoBat]

I popped a (one) roller string tree on my neck cause the high E kept wanting to jump ship (w/schaller locking tuners on board)

It's not the tuners, it's the nut. You could have garbage tuners like Klusons on there, and it'd be ok as long as the nut is cut right. But, properly cut nuts are few and far between. A lot of techs think they know how to do it, and will even charge you to do yours, but few actually understand what needs to be done and how to do it. They just file slots that will fit the string set you say you're going to play and call it good.

Very possible, considering I'm the only one that's messed with my neck outside of the W factory.  Since I've never cut or modified a nut, I roll with it how it came.  Still the best neck I've played on anyone's guitar I've ever played.
I'm sure it could be improved with a skilled hand, but this has not been the year for financial stability in my house.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, finances are a sore point for a lot of people now, and our Marxist-in-chief along with what few minions he has left seem pointedly determined to make that situation worse. But, a properly cut nut isn't very expensive. We're very fortunate around here in that there's a shop that'll do exceptionally good work while treating it as a loss-leader, but no matter where you are it shouldn't cost much more than $25-$30 to have a good nut installed. Best way to go is to have an LSR nut put on - they're sorta "string agnostic", and you can adjust their height with shims if need be. The nut itself is expensive - figure $40 or so - and installation isn't "standard" so they might hit you a little harder there, but you'll never have to worry about your nut again.