Hello everyone! First time poster here, showing off what I worked on over Christmas.
Here's my first Warmoth build, a mahogany tele body with a birdseye maple neck.
I really love the simplistic look of it. It was strongly inspired by Rob Chapman's mahogany tele's, which have dark stains and satin finishes. Chapman's have carved tops, but a flat top tends to feel more natural to me when playing. The finish is tung oil with Minwax on top. I used about five coats of tung oil, let it dry for about a month, and used dark finishing wax on the body and light wax on the neck (two layers on the body, one on the neck). The dark wax really fills in the grain nicely on the mahogany. I liked the feel of the tung oil-only neck, but I hear that Warmoth won't acknowledge the warranty on a neck unless it has a finish on it. :icon_biggrin: Still feels great though.
A closer look at the body. I'll go into detail on some of the parts.
Pickups:
At the bridge is a Nordstrand NDC with Shush Puppies at the middle and neck. The Shush Puppies are noiseless single coils, meant for a strat. I tried out their NVC pickup at the bridge of my Mexican Fender strat (meant to have a more traditional tone) and loved it, so I was encouraged to try these out. They have all the strat character and jangle, but they're super quiet and have a unique tone to them that's quite refined. I could see them working with jazz as well as the blues/rock and country styles that strat single-coils are known for. I'll post sound clips as soon as I get a few spare hours.
The NDC is definitely my favorite of the bunch, however. Nordstrand's website calls it a "traditionally innovative new pickup that combines the best characteristics of a single coil with with the noise-rejecting fatness of a humbucker," if that helps you get an idea of the concept. I ordered the version with "hot" winding and used a push-pull pot on the volume knob to switch it between series and parallel wiring. In series, it sounds quite a bit like a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickup. Fatter and higher output than a typical strat pickup, but with more bite than a humbucker. The Quarter Pound's highs tend to be a little too shrill when a lot of distortion is laid on it, but the NDC doesn't seem to have that problem. It's still not a metalhead's pickup, though. In parallel, it sounds more like a traditional strat pickup. It's great to have that flexibility, but I can't say much else about it since I don't play much of the bridge pickup when I'm going for a typical strat tone. You still get that signature bridge+middle strat sound when you put the NDC in parallel.
This brings me to the wiring. Other than what I've mentioned, I put in a 5-way strat switch with typical strat wiring. Here's a pic on the inside:
I used shielding tape instead of shielding paint in the control cavity and pickup cavities. I usually use shielding paint, but didn't want to wait for it to dry. The tape also looks pretty cool.
Next up is the bridge.
Bridge:
This is a Babicz Fixed 6 Hardtail (original series). Babicz's philosophy is that the more contact between the string and the bridge and the bridge and the body, the more sustain you get. That's why the entirety of the saddles slide along the base of the bridge and the bridge itself is more massive than a typical hardtail. I'd like to make a comparison video that compares the sustain between this guitar and a strat or Les Paul, but none of these would really be comparable considering all of the other variables involved. The sustain is plenty, though. This thing is SOLID! Not a hint of buzzing, the strings truly cannot be moved in the saddle, and everything fits together snugly. Additionally, the saddles lock in two places:
The cams inside the saddles are locked by the left screw, while the right screw rotates the cam to adjust the action. There's a screw on the side of the bridge which locks the saddles in place after the intonation is adjusted.
Very nice, very solid. Love the color as well. Black hardware can really set off guitars with simple aesthetics like this one.
Let's talk about the neck.
It was listed as "Bonus Birdseye" on the Warmoth showcase. This means it costs the same as a plain maple neck and the birdseye apparently wasn't good enough to justify pricing it higher. The birdseye on the back of the neck is a little muddy and has an imperfection (see above), but it looks quite good on the headstock:
I'm happy I went with it. You can't see it but it has a Graph Tech TUSQ nut that I installed in it. The profile is standard thin and the frets are the same size as an American strat. The feel is somewhere in between that of my Ibanez RG and my D-shape MexiStrat. Very fast, comfortable. I've enjoyed having the side adjuster for the truss rod as well.
Here's a view of the back and the tuners:
Tuners:
These are Hipshot's Grip Lock open-gear tuners. I went with staggered posts to eliminate the need for string trees and show off the birdseye. I'm not picky about tuners on a non-trem guitar--there's so many choices that are virtually the same, locking or not. But come on, how many open-gear tuners are out there that don't look like they were made in the 40's? These things look amazing and have a nice even feel when turning them through their full range. I haven't had tuners with this type of locking system before, but it's not at all a hassle to use and makes changing strings a lot easier. As for tuning stability, I've only had them for a week and haven't really put them to the test in a gig; all I can say is that I haven't had to adjust my tuning much while messing around at home.
Some more pics:
Take a closer look at the bridge pickup here:
A word to the wise--use high-density foam when mounting pickups directly to the body, and make sure that it supports the entirety of the pickup. The pickups don't need to be recessed as far as you think (pickup rings and pickguards make them look like they are further into the body) and can probably just sit on top of the foam, more or less. I didn't use high density foam here and the pickup is leaning because the foam moved underneath it since it wasn't pressed tightly. Next time I change my strings I'll make the change.
Welp, that's about it. If you want to see more pics or have any questions, I'm here. I'll leave you with one last pic:
This is the view with a couple of the other guitars in the basement, happy at home. On the left is an EVH build I did for fun one summer (built with a Squier, the only upgraded part was the Seymour Duncan pup at the bridge).
arty07:
Here's my first Warmoth build, a mahogany tele body with a birdseye maple neck.
I really love the simplistic look of it. It was strongly inspired by Rob Chapman's mahogany tele's, which have dark stains and satin finishes. Chapman's have carved tops, but a flat top tends to feel more natural to me when playing. The finish is tung oil with Minwax on top. I used about five coats of tung oil, let it dry for about a month, and used dark finishing wax on the body and light wax on the neck (two layers on the body, one on the neck). The dark wax really fills in the grain nicely on the mahogany. I liked the feel of the tung oil-only neck, but I hear that Warmoth won't acknowledge the warranty on a neck unless it has a finish on it. :icon_biggrin: Still feels great though.
A closer look at the body. I'll go into detail on some of the parts.
Pickups:
At the bridge is a Nordstrand NDC with Shush Puppies at the middle and neck. The Shush Puppies are noiseless single coils, meant for a strat. I tried out their NVC pickup at the bridge of my Mexican Fender strat (meant to have a more traditional tone) and loved it, so I was encouraged to try these out. They have all the strat character and jangle, but they're super quiet and have a unique tone to them that's quite refined. I could see them working with jazz as well as the blues/rock and country styles that strat single-coils are known for. I'll post sound clips as soon as I get a few spare hours.
The NDC is definitely my favorite of the bunch, however. Nordstrand's website calls it a "traditionally innovative new pickup that combines the best characteristics of a single coil with with the noise-rejecting fatness of a humbucker," if that helps you get an idea of the concept. I ordered the version with "hot" winding and used a push-pull pot on the volume knob to switch it between series and parallel wiring. In series, it sounds quite a bit like a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickup. Fatter and higher output than a typical strat pickup, but with more bite than a humbucker. The Quarter Pound's highs tend to be a little too shrill when a lot of distortion is laid on it, but the NDC doesn't seem to have that problem. It's still not a metalhead's pickup, though. In parallel, it sounds more like a traditional strat pickup. It's great to have that flexibility, but I can't say much else about it since I don't play much of the bridge pickup when I'm going for a typical strat tone. You still get that signature bridge+middle strat sound when you put the NDC in parallel.
This brings me to the wiring. Other than what I've mentioned, I put in a 5-way strat switch with typical strat wiring. Here's a pic on the inside:
I used shielding tape instead of shielding paint in the control cavity and pickup cavities. I usually use shielding paint, but didn't want to wait for it to dry. The tape also looks pretty cool.
Next up is the bridge.
Bridge:
This is a Babicz Fixed 6 Hardtail (original series). Babicz's philosophy is that the more contact between the string and the bridge and the bridge and the body, the more sustain you get. That's why the entirety of the saddles slide along the base of the bridge and the bridge itself is more massive than a typical hardtail. I'd like to make a comparison video that compares the sustain between this guitar and a strat or Les Paul, but none of these would really be comparable considering all of the other variables involved. The sustain is plenty, though. This thing is SOLID! Not a hint of buzzing, the strings truly cannot be moved in the saddle, and everything fits together snugly. Additionally, the saddles lock in two places:
The cams inside the saddles are locked by the left screw, while the right screw rotates the cam to adjust the action. There's a screw on the side of the bridge which locks the saddles in place after the intonation is adjusted.
Very nice, very solid. Love the color as well. Black hardware can really set off guitars with simple aesthetics like this one.
Let's talk about the neck.
It was listed as "Bonus Birdseye" on the Warmoth showcase. This means it costs the same as a plain maple neck and the birdseye apparently wasn't good enough to justify pricing it higher. The birdseye on the back of the neck is a little muddy and has an imperfection (see above), but it looks quite good on the headstock:
I'm happy I went with it. You can't see it but it has a Graph Tech TUSQ nut that I installed in it. The profile is standard thin and the frets are the same size as an American strat. The feel is somewhere in between that of my Ibanez RG and my D-shape MexiStrat. Very fast, comfortable. I've enjoyed having the side adjuster for the truss rod as well.
Here's a view of the back and the tuners:
Tuners:
These are Hipshot's Grip Lock open-gear tuners. I went with staggered posts to eliminate the need for string trees and show off the birdseye. I'm not picky about tuners on a non-trem guitar--there's so many choices that are virtually the same, locking or not. But come on, how many open-gear tuners are out there that don't look like they were made in the 40's? These things look amazing and have a nice even feel when turning them through their full range. I haven't had tuners with this type of locking system before, but it's not at all a hassle to use and makes changing strings a lot easier. As for tuning stability, I've only had them for a week and haven't really put them to the test in a gig; all I can say is that I haven't had to adjust my tuning much while messing around at home.
Some more pics:
Take a closer look at the bridge pickup here:
A word to the wise--use high-density foam when mounting pickups directly to the body, and make sure that it supports the entirety of the pickup. The pickups don't need to be recessed as far as you think (pickup rings and pickguards make them look like they are further into the body) and can probably just sit on top of the foam, more or less. I didn't use high density foam here and the pickup is leaning because the foam moved underneath it since it wasn't pressed tightly. Next time I change my strings I'll make the change.
Welp, that's about it. If you want to see more pics or have any questions, I'm here. I'll leave you with one last pic:
This is the view with a couple of the other guitars in the basement, happy at home. On the left is an EVH build I did for fun one summer (built with a Squier, the only upgraded part was the Seymour Duncan pup at the bridge).
arty07:
