Hey, all.
I'm a first time Warmoth builder and new to the Warmoth forums. I already submitted this for GotM August, so I apologize for having done things backwards
Someone mentioned that having an unboxing thread or an in progress thread was appreciated rather than just having a guitar show up in GotM out of nowhere. I had no idea people would care, but it's awesome that they do! In order to make amends and bring everyone into the fold on my thought process for the build, I wanted to create a new thread here. Next time, I'll be sure to document the whole process in the right order, from the beginning
I'm 37 and have been playing guitar since I was about 12. I've got a bunch of guitars that I've been collecting since I was a kid - American Fat Strat Deluxe (Mid-90's), Roland VG-Strat (2010's) that I put Fender Custom Shop '69 pickups in, CIJ Fender 50's Tele Reissue (Mid-90's) with Bigsby and Texas Special pickups, Martin HD-28, Burns' Brian May Signature, Les Paul Standard (2002), Schecter Bass, and Danelectro Longhorn Bass. I'd still love to get a Gretsch and a Rickenbacker some day. That said, I stumbled upon Warmoth, was incredibly impressed, and thought, it seemed like it would be really cool to build something totally custom, unique, and super high end for the cost of getting another guitar that a bunch of people have.
My main axe has always been a Stratocaster, especially my mid-90's Fat Strat that I got when I was around 16. I love the strat neck, look of the body, and single coil sound (Hendrix, Knopfler, and SRV probably being the biggest influences on most of my playing -- there's some EVH and Jerry Garcia in there, too -- the latter influencing the flexibility I was looking for). Since it's a Fat Strat and has a humbucker in the bridge, I could never get that 'Strat bridge' tone. I always thought about putting a coil split in it, but never did. I play everything from jazz through to (wannabe) shred, with blues / blues rock being my 'sweet spot'.
While I prefer the single coil sound, I love the humbucker sound, too. I wondered if I could get something that could do it all. That's when I discovered the Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups (essentially 4 pickups in one - single coil rail, P-90 (for some Neil Young goodness), series humbucker, and parallel humbucker (this has actually become my favorite). I knew these were the ones!
In the process of researching the P-Rails pickups, I found some combos that used the Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails pickup in the middle position with push/pull wiring that allowed for the full spectrum of scenarios while keeping the guitar clean.
Since I'm a 'Strat guy', I was looking for having a Strat electronics layout, but not necessarily with another 'Strat'. I also don't have any hollow/semi-hollow guitars, although the Brian May is chambered. The Tele is one of my favorite guitars and Warmoth offers both thinline and chambered Teles with the Strat contours/sculpting. Ultimately, the thinline version didn't allow for the strat electronic layout, so I went with chambered. This was perfect! -- Something a bit different, yet still familiar. Admittedly, the f-hole is purely cosmetic, but I wanted it.
For the neck, of course it had to be a Strat neck! That said, I was interested to see what a standard strat width and profile would feel like with the slightly shorter Gibson scale. I don't really care for the Gibson necks in comparison to Fender necks, personally, but thought this might be an interesting combo. I thought, "Let's give it a shot!"
Body Woods -- I went around and around with this. All my current electrics are stained or painted 'standard' woods and finishes. I wanted something 'special' -- high grade and natural...something that had an almost high-end acoustic vibe. I was initially looking at a rosewood top, influenced by George Harrison's rosewood Tele, but I ended up going with a satin finish birdseye maple top on a chambered, roasted swamp ash body -- the swamp ash stemming from both my existing reissue Tele and Fat Strat.
Neck -- I've always preferred maple necks on strats, again, back to my Fat Strat. I wanted something beyond the normal quatersawn or rock maple. So, flame it was. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with a maple fretboard as it just all seemed a little to homogenous...it needed some contrast. Ebony is also bright sounding, like maple, but gives the contrast. The Macassar Ebony has caramel veins running through it, giving a more rich appearance (the photos don't really show it, though). Macassar it was! I love abalone dots, so that choice was easy.
Hardware -- I'm not a fan of gold, personally, although I think it would have looked good with this build, and since I knew I wanted a rear route for the clean look, I wanted to go with chrome knobs. I chose the schaller, staggered locking tuners because I love locking tuners and didn't want string trees, again for the clean look. I went with the LSR roller nut because it has been good to me in the past. I was originally wanting to put the 2 pt. Fender tremelo on, but it didn't fit the route that Warmoth offered. I researched the Wilkinson tremelo, and it seemed to be an even better choice...it is!
This guitar was less than a Ric 360, but it still was an investment and something very special to me, so I wanted it 'built right.' There's a luthier here in town (Austin, TX) that has worked on guitars for Bob Dylan, Gary Clark Jr., etc., and I've had him set up my guitars in the past with outstanding results. He's got the only plek machine in TX. I wanted him to build it -- no chances
The guitar turned out EXACTLY like I imagined, in every way! Warmoth is INCREDIBLE!
Have a great day, y'all, and happy building!
I'm a first time Warmoth builder and new to the Warmoth forums. I already submitted this for GotM August, so I apologize for having done things backwards
Someone mentioned that having an unboxing thread or an in progress thread was appreciated rather than just having a guitar show up in GotM out of nowhere. I had no idea people would care, but it's awesome that they do! In order to make amends and bring everyone into the fold on my thought process for the build, I wanted to create a new thread here. Next time, I'll be sure to document the whole process in the right order, from the beginning I'm 37 and have been playing guitar since I was about 12. I've got a bunch of guitars that I've been collecting since I was a kid - American Fat Strat Deluxe (Mid-90's), Roland VG-Strat (2010's) that I put Fender Custom Shop '69 pickups in, CIJ Fender 50's Tele Reissue (Mid-90's) with Bigsby and Texas Special pickups, Martin HD-28, Burns' Brian May Signature, Les Paul Standard (2002), Schecter Bass, and Danelectro Longhorn Bass. I'd still love to get a Gretsch and a Rickenbacker some day. That said, I stumbled upon Warmoth, was incredibly impressed, and thought, it seemed like it would be really cool to build something totally custom, unique, and super high end for the cost of getting another guitar that a bunch of people have.
My main axe has always been a Stratocaster, especially my mid-90's Fat Strat that I got when I was around 16. I love the strat neck, look of the body, and single coil sound (Hendrix, Knopfler, and SRV probably being the biggest influences on most of my playing -- there's some EVH and Jerry Garcia in there, too -- the latter influencing the flexibility I was looking for). Since it's a Fat Strat and has a humbucker in the bridge, I could never get that 'Strat bridge' tone. I always thought about putting a coil split in it, but never did. I play everything from jazz through to (wannabe) shred, with blues / blues rock being my 'sweet spot'.
While I prefer the single coil sound, I love the humbucker sound, too. I wondered if I could get something that could do it all. That's when I discovered the Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups (essentially 4 pickups in one - single coil rail, P-90 (for some Neil Young goodness), series humbucker, and parallel humbucker (this has actually become my favorite). I knew these were the ones!
In the process of researching the P-Rails pickups, I found some combos that used the Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails pickup in the middle position with push/pull wiring that allowed for the full spectrum of scenarios while keeping the guitar clean.
Since I'm a 'Strat guy', I was looking for having a Strat electronics layout, but not necessarily with another 'Strat'. I also don't have any hollow/semi-hollow guitars, although the Brian May is chambered. The Tele is one of my favorite guitars and Warmoth offers both thinline and chambered Teles with the Strat contours/sculpting. Ultimately, the thinline version didn't allow for the strat electronic layout, so I went with chambered. This was perfect! -- Something a bit different, yet still familiar. Admittedly, the f-hole is purely cosmetic, but I wanted it.
For the neck, of course it had to be a Strat neck! That said, I was interested to see what a standard strat width and profile would feel like with the slightly shorter Gibson scale. I don't really care for the Gibson necks in comparison to Fender necks, personally, but thought this might be an interesting combo. I thought, "Let's give it a shot!"
Body Woods -- I went around and around with this. All my current electrics are stained or painted 'standard' woods and finishes. I wanted something 'special' -- high grade and natural...something that had an almost high-end acoustic vibe. I was initially looking at a rosewood top, influenced by George Harrison's rosewood Tele, but I ended up going with a satin finish birdseye maple top on a chambered, roasted swamp ash body -- the swamp ash stemming from both my existing reissue Tele and Fat Strat.
Neck -- I've always preferred maple necks on strats, again, back to my Fat Strat. I wanted something beyond the normal quatersawn or rock maple. So, flame it was. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with a maple fretboard as it just all seemed a little to homogenous...it needed some contrast. Ebony is also bright sounding, like maple, but gives the contrast. The Macassar Ebony has caramel veins running through it, giving a more rich appearance (the photos don't really show it, though). Macassar it was! I love abalone dots, so that choice was easy.
Hardware -- I'm not a fan of gold, personally, although I think it would have looked good with this build, and since I knew I wanted a rear route for the clean look, I wanted to go with chrome knobs. I chose the schaller, staggered locking tuners because I love locking tuners and didn't want string trees, again for the clean look. I went with the LSR roller nut because it has been good to me in the past. I was originally wanting to put the 2 pt. Fender tremelo on, but it didn't fit the route that Warmoth offered. I researched the Wilkinson tremelo, and it seemed to be an even better choice...it is!
This guitar was less than a Ric 360, but it still was an investment and something very special to me, so I wanted it 'built right.' There's a luthier here in town (Austin, TX) that has worked on guitars for Bob Dylan, Gary Clark Jr., etc., and I've had him set up my guitars in the past with outstanding results. He's got the only plek machine in TX. I wanted him to build it -- no chances
The guitar turned out EXACTLY like I imagined, in every way! Warmoth is INCREDIBLE!
Have a great day, y'all, and happy building!
