Death by Uberschall
Master Member
- Messages
- 4,162
Max said:
Agreed. I put everything together myself and let my local luthier do the neck adjustment and set up. Cost me $40 and the guy is really good!!!
LP bodies prices insane?
- Thread starter Ang3lus
- Start date
Agreed. I put everything together myself and let my local luthier do the neck adjustment and set up. Cost me $40 and the guy is really good!!!
AprioriMark
Hero Member
- Messages
- 1,710
I appreciate that you guys are into doing that yourselves, and I am for my player guitars, but anything that I'm spending over 1k on, I'm having a professional take care of.
-Mark
-Mark
AprioriMark
Hero Member
- Messages
- 1,710
Not getting into e-peen contests, but I know what goes into putting a guitar together. I'd build a half dozen Warmoths before you could walk, son! Hahaha, I'm just kidding, but you get the idea. I just know the difference between a hobby and a profession, and I'd want it done perfectly if I'd already spent that much. That's my own weirdness.
-Mark
-Mark
Mark, the thing I don't think you're getting is that the Warmoth stuff is BETTER, much better, than the Gibson stuff. I've owned two real deal les pauls: a black beauty, back in the 90s, that I used to think was the best guitar i would ever own, and a white studio, also 90s, that I loved except for the pickups. The black beauty was the standard that I would measure other guitars by. My warmoth LP is a better guitar hands down, both in bling and in playability. I definitely consider the Gibsons in the store to be an inferior product to what I've already got in my Warmoth. The fact that it costs less is just a bonus. Actually, I snagged this (barely) used from someone on the forum, ebayed the neck and pups, and rebuilt it to my own liking with a custom neck, and it cost me around a grand (with hardcase and fretwork) when all was said and done. Read this thread, and then go find a Gibson for sale with a top this nice: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=5195.0
2000$, wow, thats pricey...
body: 1400
neck: 380
regular duncans, pots and other hardware: 200
total: my latsest warmoth incarnation.
and i already had a spare bridge and tailstop, took the stoptails I got with the kahler, which I didn't use and bridge studs for 5$ on ebay.
for 2100$, it would be including my new pickups. but thats REALLY expensive! 2000$ is really too much for a regular mahogany/maple body'd les paul. my body was 1400$, because of the woods and stuff. a normal body would be around 700, 800 dollars, including binding and finish!
so, it would be more like:
800+480+250=1500. you can't have a gibson for that amount of money, no way. maybe a carvin, but not with a rosewood or wenge or padouk or bubinga or canary neck, no custom neck contours, no custom scale length, no compound radius, no pickups of YOUR choice, no hardware of your choice, etc etc. I don't want an OFR, I want a gotoh floyd. I don't want sperzel, I want gotoh. for example.
really, warmoth isn't overpriced, it really isn't. 1400$ is by the way CHEAP for a 2 piece solid indian rosewood back with singlepiece purpleheart top with binding...
body: 1400
neck: 380
regular duncans, pots and other hardware: 200
total: my latsest warmoth incarnation.
and i already had a spare bridge and tailstop, took the stoptails I got with the kahler, which I didn't use and bridge studs for 5$ on ebay.
for 2100$, it would be including my new pickups. but thats REALLY expensive! 2000$ is really too much for a regular mahogany/maple body'd les paul. my body was 1400$, because of the woods and stuff. a normal body would be around 700, 800 dollars, including binding and finish!
so, it would be more like:
800+480+250=1500. you can't have a gibson for that amount of money, no way. maybe a carvin, but not with a rosewood or wenge or padouk or bubinga or canary neck, no custom neck contours, no custom scale length, no compound radius, no pickups of YOUR choice, no hardware of your choice, etc etc. I don't want an OFR, I want a gotoh floyd. I don't want sperzel, I want gotoh. for example.
really, warmoth isn't overpriced, it really isn't. 1400$ is by the way CHEAP for a 2 piece solid indian rosewood back with singlepiece purpleheart top with binding...
bpmorton777
Hero Member
- Messages
- 1,651
les paul axcess.....$3500. probably still more than your custom warmoth with floyd
Brian
Brian
Orpheo said:
$2000 was for everything, including a set of new Rio Grande humbuckers, Schaller locking tuners, TOM and stopbar, electronics, knobs, nuts, bolts, screws, straplocks, a few new drill bits, shipping from various vendors, etc etc etc. That's the total for the project. I don't have the exact prices of the body and neck on hand but they were like $800 and $650 respectively, or something like that.
I definitely watched my overall spending to keep it to $2k which was a limit I set for myself. (Of course now I might spend a bunch of money for some nifty upgrades... but that's for other threads)
Everyone here is missing the point. While there is no doubt that you can build a Warmoth guitar better looking and cheaper than a Gibson it doesn't explain WHY the prices on the LP bodies have doubled over the last 2 years. A premium body two years ago cost you $550...now cost you $995 or more. Warmoth quality hasn't changed, the economy has gone down, and the price of wood has not doubled in two years...that's what's insane.
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom
Epic Member
- Messages
- 8,318
What's not to understand? Gregg said it early on in this thread. It's called a free market. Something is only worth what someone will pay for it. Apparently, the market will allow $995....or more.
lafromla1
Hero Member
- Messages
- 837
lilguitar said:
Actually the price of wood has increased with the amount of deforestation that has occurred, specifically in the last few years as more homes have been built then ever before, so they are taking any and all wood available. Also, I believe a few Warmoth employees have mentioned that they have not increased any prices in the last few years (until recently) while major manufacturers have, so W is due for a price increase. Couple that with increasing utility costs, increased cost of goods (other than wood), maintenance on machinery, increased salaries, increased property, liability and health insurance...you get the idea.
If you're building a great guitar at a price still lower then what the majors are selling theirs for, are you not still getting a good deal?
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom
Epic Member
- Messages
- 8,318
I don't know about increased salaries. All I hear about is benefit and pay cuts just to keep companies afloat. And am I to understand houses are being framed with quilted maple?
1. They hadn't raised prices in almost a decade or something. Have you noticed the price of health care in the last decade?
2. Gregg stated at some point that at the old pricing, carved tops were a money loser.
3. You and I don't know much about the price of high quality, 3/4 inch quilted / flamed maple slabs, do we? Why presume that you're being unfairly gouged, then?
4. Even if carved tops at the new pricing are Ws most profitable item, so what? Every manufacturer makes more profit on some items than others - and its very common to do what warmoth seems to be doing, which is selling volume at the lower end for lower margins (alder strat bodies) and getting higher margins at the upper end (carved tops, unique choice tops). That's a pretty normal business model.
5. Can we stop whining now?
2. Gregg stated at some point that at the old pricing, carved tops were a money loser.
3. You and I don't know much about the price of high quality, 3/4 inch quilted / flamed maple slabs, do we? Why presume that you're being unfairly gouged, then?
4. Even if carved tops at the new pricing are Ws most profitable item, so what? Every manufacturer makes more profit on some items than others - and its very common to do what warmoth seems to be doing, which is selling volume at the lower end for lower margins (alder strat bodies) and getting higher margins at the upper end (carved tops, unique choice tops). That's a pretty normal business model.
5. Can we stop whining now?
Similar threads
