looking for some honest advice from people who have actually built or owned partscasters

[Ernst Johann]

It's not about "building" one partscaster. It's about planing/building one after the other, at least for me...

• research
• order
• wait
• sand
• stain
• finish
• solder
• drill
• screw
• play
• repeat

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

I would appreciate any honest experiences, especially from people who have built Warmoth-based guitars or have gone through the same kind of hesitation.

fwiw, I have built three Warmoth instruments: two basses, and one guitar.
(I also owned another Warmoth bass that I bought 2nd hand, pre-assembled.)

Anyone who tells you it will wind up costing more than a factory guitar is correct! ...though it does depend on which factory they're talking about.
Squire, Sire, Harley-Benton, Carlo Robelli... yeah, you can probably get two of their guitars for the price of one Warmoth build.
But Fender, Gibson, PRS? Dream on. Your Warmoth will cost a fraction of what those factory guitars sell for.

...and there's a good chance your Warmoth will be as good as a Fender, or Gibson (or maybe PRS).

Your Warmoth will definitely not have the resale value of a Fender or Gibson or PRS (or even of a Squire, Sire, Harley-Benton, or Carlo Robelli). If resale value is at all important to you, don't waste your time building a parts guitar.

But your Warmoth guitar will -- or at least can -- be unique. And it's pretty hard to put a pricetag on an instrument that you designed to your specifications and that has all the features that you want.

I recommend it highly...at least once. My most recent Warmoth parts guitar is sort of a Tele/Strat hybrid, and while I really like the way it came out, I also realized that it doesn't quite fulfill my desire for a pure Telecaster. So I'll probably get around to buying a factory-made Telecaster one of these days. But my Warmoth Tele/Strat hybrid isn't going away, because it's definitely not a Strat nor a Tele, and it's definitely uniquely mine, and, oh yeah, that No Resale Value thing.

 

[Shellcaster]

fwiw, I have built three Warmoth instruments: two basses, and one guitar.
(I also owned another Warmoth bass that I bought 2nd hand, pre-assembled.)

Anyone who tells you it will wind up costing more than a factory guitar is correct! ...though it does depend on which factory they're talking about.
Squire, Sire, Harley-Benton, Carlo Robelli... yeah, you can probably get two of their guitars for the price of one Warmoth build.
But Fender, Gibson, PRS? Dream on. Your Warmoth will cost a fraction of what those factory guitars sell for.

...and there's a good chance your Warmoth will be as good as a Fender, or Gibson (or maybe PRS).

Your Warmoth will definitely not have the resale value of a Fender or Gibson or PRS (or even of a Squire, Sire, Harley-Benton, or Carlo Robelli). If resale value is at all important to you, don't waste your time building a parts guitar.

But your Warmoth guitar will -- or at least can -- be unique. And it's pretty hard to put a pricetag on an instrument that you designed to your specifications and that has all the features that you want.

I recommend it highly...at least once. My most recent Warmoth parts guitar is sort of a Tele/Strat hybrid, and while I really like the way it came out, I also realized that it doesn't quite fulfill my desire for a pure Telecaster. So I'll probably get around to buying a factory-made Telecaster one of these days. But my Warmoth Tele/Strat hybrid isn't going away, because it's definitely not a Strat nor a Tele, and it's definitely uniquely mine, and, oh yeah, that No Resale Value thing.

As good as? I find myself replacing every fender neck I own as fast as I can scape the duckets together with a Warmoth neck. Standard thin with 111/16s nut, boatneck with a 15/8s, or even with a standard thin with a 15/8s nut on one is "my version of a shred/wizzard" neck. I can only use 2 of my fat fingers to play an A cord on that and I'll take it over any modern Fender or Gibson neck any day. I have what I want the way I want it and the odds of me buying a left-handed guitar at current boutique prices is less than nil. I locked at the cost of a good local luthier to replane and refret a fender neck, then looked at the price of the tools I don't have to learn to do it my self, and sold it on eBay to start funding my next Warmoth build lol.

Edit update: If anyone understood that text-to-speech post I made at work not paying any attention to do all the mistakes it made you deserve the Nobel prize for writing lol

 

[Heavy Rock]

I consistently find the guitars I've built more fun to play. It's more satisfying and I'm drawn to them more than my other guitars.
Even when I refinished my off-the-shelf LTD, it became more fun to play. Any work I put into a guitar has that effect to me.

I build them because I enjoy the process and because they are unique.

Also, I never sell gear so I don't care about resale value.

I think the unique factor and that they're your creations that's the strongest point about them.

Even my Fender HM Strat which is a very cool guitar to me, doesn't feel like that. But it's still a limited run so I'm drawn to it more than any regular off-the-shelf guitar.

Build one. If you like the guitar and the process it'll be worth it. If you don't, you'll have the doubts out of your system.

 

[Heavy Rock]

... "partscasters" which to me is a dirty label. ...

Yeah, I always felt this way too, about the term. Like as if something that was roughly and quickly put together.

Even though some of the most iconic guitars in rock history were built by different parts roughly put together, which I find super cool.

 

[Shellcaster]

Yeah, I always felt this way too, about the term. Like as if something that was roughly and quickly put together.

Even though some of the most iconic guitars in rock history were built by different parts roughly put together, which I find super cool.

I dunno, I think "partscaster" has it's place. The strat I am waiting on the final parts to finish I got little turtle decals to put on the headstock of and my brown guitar and the one I'm just starting. The "brown guitar" is just that, the rebuilt strat I'm getting a decal made that says "Ratacaster' because like a rat rod, the only parts left original is the body, the pickups (which are fairly hot for basic American standard pickups which is why I kept it at all) and the tremelo block. Even the tremelo plate was curled when I got it and the saddles rusted and shot. I ordered some graph-tech saddles made is tusq XL to match the nut because the only place that sells "left handed American standard/deluxe saddle" wanted 15 bucks each plus shipping! The body itself is routed to be a HSH "super strat" with "50s style contours" and baptized in enough poly to survive a nuke like everything else was in the late 90s..."Ratacaster' seemed appropriate lol

The next one I just got my Warmoth box today so I can officially start is going to be my unfinished dinky-caster... It's going to be my "Shell-caster" cause of my love for turtles where I got my screen name from lol

"Parts-caster" to me has just become another term to loosey identity a certain style/group of guitars. Just like "S-type"/T-type/Les Paul/V-body/etc..." it's only a negative thing if you make it that way

 

[Shellcaster]

Oh, and I picked "Shell-caster" because the pickplate I ordered for the electronics is blue shell... I'm real creative like that lol.

 

[Heavy Rock]

I dunno, I think "partscaster" has it's place. The strat I am waiting on the final parts to finish I got little turtle decals to put on the headstock of and my brown guitar and the one I'm just starting. The "brown guitar" is just that, the rebuilt strat I'm getting a decal made that says "Ratacaster' because like a rat rod, the only parts left original is the body, the pickups (which are fairly hot for basic American standard pickups which is why I kept it at all) and the tremelo block. Even the tremelo plate was curled when I got it and the saddles rusted and shot. I ordered some graph-tech saddles made is tusq XL to match the nut because the only place that sells "left handed American standard/deluxe saddle" wanted 15 bucks each plus shipping! The body itself is routed to be a HSH "super strat" with "50s style contours" and baptized in enough poly to survive a nuke like everything else was in the late 90s..."Ratacaster' seemed appropriate lol

The next one I just got my Warmoth box today so I can officially start is going to be my unfinished dinky-caster... It's going to be my "Shell-caster" cause of my love for turtles where I got my screen name from lol

"Parts-caster" to me has just become another term to loosey identity a certain style/group of guitars. Just like "S-type"/T-type/Les Paul/V-body/etc..." it's only a negative thing if you make it that way

Yeah absolutely. Undoubtedly it's wrongly embedded in my mind for some reason. Maybe by reading posts by gear snobs here and there who think only factory guitars can be good.

By the way, the graph tech saddles have become my new favorite. They're definitely an upgrade in the right guitar. In mine, I used a Floyd Rose Original 1984 baseplate and the graph tech LB63 saddles. The string definition is perfect. I wish they made a locking nut with that material or at least the locking blocks.

 

[Shellcaster]

Yeah absolutely. Undoubtedly it's wrongly embedded in my mind for some reason. Maybe by reading posts by gear snobs here and there who think only factory guitars can be good.

By the way, the graph tech saddles have become my new favorite. They're definitely an upgrade in the right guitar. In mine, I used a Floyd Rose Original 1984 baseplate and the graph tech LB63 saddles. The string definition is perfect. I wish they made a locking nut with that material or at least the locking blocks.

Thanks for the heads-up I'm actually really looking forward to them...I had to buy a "fender deluxe" left handed tremelo plate, which is somehow cheaper than the 86-07 right handed "American standard" plate... Even though it's literally the same plate. I'm hard on guitars but I've never curled a bride plate before it even seen one. I'll put pictures on the thread when I swap it out. It's wild. Lol

Guitar snobs gonna be snobby, that will never change...I know I was accidently spoiled from a young age by Warmoth necks. Other than a lefty 61 hard tail Strat that hung on the wall for years at the Tukwila Guitar Center for years they'd let me play time to time I never played a fender neck I liked, or Gibson really. The only fenders I ever left "stock" were old MIM Standard Strats I would buy, play for a purpose, and then resell. I keep one at my parents as I visit often and don't care to lug guitars on planes unless I'm being paid to

I've been a huge Fender fan boy I've been through the years. Simply because they used to be the only company that pretended to think of lefty players. With everything they're pulled over the last decade and especially recently I doubt I'll ever buy a new, or even used fender again. There's too much good stuff out there. I plan to order one CBS strat headstock from Warmoth for my next guitar and that's it. I even ordered my first Gotoh 102 bridge instead of a Fender one. I don't want them to get the licensing fee on my order but I want the look so I have to pay to play as they say. In honestly there's probably enough good used fenders out there to keep all of us playing happily well into the next century.

I'll take my personally spec'd "dirty partscaster" over a Mexican made Ventura 3 or ultra and come out ahead every time

 

[Heavy Rock]

....
I'll take my personally spec'd "dirty partscaster" over a Mexican made Ventura 3 or ultra and come out ahead every time

Haha 100%!