ThisIsHuhWow404
Junior Member
- Messages
- 43
As a terminally online amateur bedroom guitarist I know all about the faux pas of naming guitars and the memes about "Roberta" but I’ll make an exception for this thread.
This is my first Warmoth custom build. I’ve been fantasizing about doing this for a while, probably over a decade, and now I’m just waiting for all my parts to arrive. I’ve probably talked to my Sweetwater rep on the phone more times this week than I’ve talked to any of my parents or siblings all month, but it is what it is.
I’ll chronicle my building here so you can see it, and to use as a reference for myself as I’m in the process.
In the past, I’ve modified a MIM Telecaster into "Ship of Theseus" levels, leaving the frets, the wood of the body and neck, and the polyurethane on the headstock the only remaining elements to come from Fender’s factory, so this isn’t 100% unexplored territory for me, but still my first true custom guitar.
It’s intended to be a more "modern" guitar compared to everything else I’ve even owned. I like a lot of different music, and have gone through a lot of different phases. I listened to a lot of progressive/metal in the vein of Opeth, BTBAM, Protest the Hero, The Faceless, Devin Townsend, Steven Wilson when I was a vulnerable teen. I want to build something that captures that part of my musical identity while still being uniquely mine.
I’ve only ever owned one really cheap Ibanez GIO (that was basically a Strat that said Ibanez on the headstock), a couple Fenders (and Squires) and Gibsons (and Epiphones), a far cry from the aforementioned music. More vintage and basic. Not very progressive or forward thinking. Nothing I’ve owned has ever really scratched that itch for me.
I have a Gibson SG Modern with 24 Frets/Ebony/Burstbucker Pros that can basically do whatever I want, and it’s probably my most prized possession, but it still looks like a Gibson SG at the end of the day. And I’m kind of afraid to leave the house with it. It’s a limited exclusive from Chicago Music Exchange with a black body and gold hardware, kind of reminiscent of the Black Beauty Les Paul Custom, but as an SG. There’s a constant internal battle inside me between the guy who wants to play his guitar and have fun, and the speculator who thinks I might have something worth something one day if it’s in good condition.
I had looked into some Charvel, Ibanez, Ernie Ball Music Man, Suhr, and PRS guitars to scratch this itch. All of them either had some design I disagreed with and wished was different, or was way out of my price range, or both.
So, that brings me to Melinda.
I impulse purchased a Seymour Duncan Custom Floor Shop version of the Sentient/Pegasus (Trembucker) set with Red/Black Zebra bobbins because I figured I’d never see them again. I wanted the Pegasus over the Nazgul or Black Winter because I’m bigoted against ceramic magnets. I was upset about how those two sets came in a bunch of different colors but Pegasus only comes in one sole blacked out color. As soon as I saw the red set on Reverb I just had to jump on it immediately. It’s not difficult to order Seymour Duncan Custom Floor Shop pickups from an authorized dealer, but apparently they scaled back a lot recently and only offer custom bobbins and covers on standard humbuckers now, no trembuckers, so it was a real now or never situation.
Everything else about the build ran downstream from that.
I initially planned on doing this as a Soloist, but looking into it just happened to coincide with Warmoth offering the Meadowhawk as a standard option, and I thought maybe there was some cosmic significance to the timing. So, I said "F it, this is a Meadowhawk now.”
I named it after the character from Opeth’s Still Life. The colors kind of remind me of that album’s cover and it’s in line with it musically.
Melinda
Body
Meadowhawk (Solid)
Right Handed
Rear Route
Wood: Roaster Alder/Flame Maple Cap
Neck: Humbucker (Wood Mount) (24 Fret Reposition)
Middle: Strat
Bridge: Humbucker (Wood Mount)
Controls: Volume, Tone 1, Tone 2, Upper Toggle
Bridge Route: Trem (Gotoh 510)
Jack: 19mm Side Hole
Contours: Tummy, Forearm, Heel
Neck Pocket: Strat w/720 Mod
Finish: Black Cherry Burst Dye (top), Clear Clean Line (back), Satin
Neck
Meadowhawk (Modern Tiltback)
Shaft: Roasted Maple
Fretboard: Indian Rosewood
Frets: SS6115
Profile: Wolfgang
Radius: 10-16 Compund
Tuner Hole Size: Gotoh/Grover
Nut: 43mm Modern Medium, Black TUSQ
Inlays: Meadowhawk, White Pearloid
Side Dots: White
Finish: Clear Satin Nitro
24 Fret Overhang
Hardware
Bridge: Gotoh 510-TS-FE1, Chrome
Tuners: Gotoh SG381-07 MG-T Locking Tuners, 3+3, Chrome
Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan Sentient
Middle Pickup: Seymour Duncan STK-4m
Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan Pegasus
Pickup Switch: Free-Way 3x3-05 (Switching will be provided below)
Volume Pot: Bourns 500k Low-Friction Potentiometer, Audio Taper, Split Shaft
Tone Pot (2 of them): Bourns No-Load 500K Potentiometer, w. Detent, Split-Shaft
Knobs: Some cheap red Strat knobs with black letters I found on Amazon
Pickup Switching
This is basically the same as the Charvel Pro Mod-DK24, one of Melinda’s biggest inspirations, but with the option for both humbuckers together added on.
The Free-Way 3x3-05 is a three way toggle-style switch with 6 positions. It’s like two different banks of three positions. The two different banks are accessed by having the switch in the "up" position and "down" position. I want to use the up position for standard LP controls and down for the coil splits. Free-Way labels the down position as 1-2-3 and up as 4-5-6, with 3/6 being the bridge direction and 1/4 being the neck. I’ll follow that convention here. It might look confusing but I promise it will be intuitive in practice.
1 - Neck Outer Coil + Middle
2 - Neck Inner Coil + Bridge Inner Coil
3 - Bridge Inner Coil + Middle
4 - Neck Humbucker
5 - Neck Humbucker + Bridge Humbucker
6 - Bridge Humbucker
Misc
I think I have all the big essential stuff to get started, be it in my possession, in transit, or being constructed. I ordered the neck plate, neck plate pad, and the special contoured heel screws from Warmoth. As of right now, I still need a tremolo cover, control plate(s), foam and screws for mounting the pickups, and need to double check I have all the necessary drill bits and soldering material. And that wax stuff for the screws. And strap buttons. Do I still have copper tape left from when I shielded my Tele? And there’s other stuff I’m probably forgetting.
Coda (for now)
I’m overall excited about doing this.
My only gripe with Warmoth is the lack of Luminlay dots on 24 fret necks. I would have ordered them in a heartbeat, even if they only went up to the 21st fret like the scallops do.
I have two apprehensions on my part. First, I’m having second thoughts about deciding to do direct mounting instead of pickup rings. I’d prefer direct mounted pickups in this context, but now it’s starting to look a little more complicated than I previously thought, and I’m not a professional luthier at all. Second is the thought lurking in the back of my mind that maybe I should have gone with the Soloist or Strat body instead so I could have Free Way’s 10 position 5-way blade give me 4 more pickup options, but I think I’ll be fine. I’d almost certainly never use the middle pickup by itself and there’s no need for series/parallel options on a guitar with humbuckers in my opinion.
This is my first Warmoth custom build. I’ve been fantasizing about doing this for a while, probably over a decade, and now I’m just waiting for all my parts to arrive. I’ve probably talked to my Sweetwater rep on the phone more times this week than I’ve talked to any of my parents or siblings all month, but it is what it is.
I’ll chronicle my building here so you can see it, and to use as a reference for myself as I’m in the process.
In the past, I’ve modified a MIM Telecaster into "Ship of Theseus" levels, leaving the frets, the wood of the body and neck, and the polyurethane on the headstock the only remaining elements to come from Fender’s factory, so this isn’t 100% unexplored territory for me, but still my first true custom guitar.
It’s intended to be a more "modern" guitar compared to everything else I’ve even owned. I like a lot of different music, and have gone through a lot of different phases. I listened to a lot of progressive/metal in the vein of Opeth, BTBAM, Protest the Hero, The Faceless, Devin Townsend, Steven Wilson when I was a vulnerable teen. I want to build something that captures that part of my musical identity while still being uniquely mine.
I’ve only ever owned one really cheap Ibanez GIO (that was basically a Strat that said Ibanez on the headstock), a couple Fenders (and Squires) and Gibsons (and Epiphones), a far cry from the aforementioned music. More vintage and basic. Not very progressive or forward thinking. Nothing I’ve owned has ever really scratched that itch for me.
I have a Gibson SG Modern with 24 Frets/Ebony/Burstbucker Pros that can basically do whatever I want, and it’s probably my most prized possession, but it still looks like a Gibson SG at the end of the day. And I’m kind of afraid to leave the house with it. It’s a limited exclusive from Chicago Music Exchange with a black body and gold hardware, kind of reminiscent of the Black Beauty Les Paul Custom, but as an SG. There’s a constant internal battle inside me between the guy who wants to play his guitar and have fun, and the speculator who thinks I might have something worth something one day if it’s in good condition.
I had looked into some Charvel, Ibanez, Ernie Ball Music Man, Suhr, and PRS guitars to scratch this itch. All of them either had some design I disagreed with and wished was different, or was way out of my price range, or both.
So, that brings me to Melinda.
I impulse purchased a Seymour Duncan Custom Floor Shop version of the Sentient/Pegasus (Trembucker) set with Red/Black Zebra bobbins because I figured I’d never see them again. I wanted the Pegasus over the Nazgul or Black Winter because I’m bigoted against ceramic magnets. I was upset about how those two sets came in a bunch of different colors but Pegasus only comes in one sole blacked out color. As soon as I saw the red set on Reverb I just had to jump on it immediately. It’s not difficult to order Seymour Duncan Custom Floor Shop pickups from an authorized dealer, but apparently they scaled back a lot recently and only offer custom bobbins and covers on standard humbuckers now, no trembuckers, so it was a real now or never situation.
Everything else about the build ran downstream from that.
I initially planned on doing this as a Soloist, but looking into it just happened to coincide with Warmoth offering the Meadowhawk as a standard option, and I thought maybe there was some cosmic significance to the timing. So, I said "F it, this is a Meadowhawk now.”
I named it after the character from Opeth’s Still Life. The colors kind of remind me of that album’s cover and it’s in line with it musically.
Melinda
Body
Meadowhawk (Solid)
Right Handed
Rear Route
Wood: Roaster Alder/Flame Maple Cap
Neck: Humbucker (Wood Mount) (24 Fret Reposition)
Middle: Strat
Bridge: Humbucker (Wood Mount)
Controls: Volume, Tone 1, Tone 2, Upper Toggle
Bridge Route: Trem (Gotoh 510)
Jack: 19mm Side Hole
Contours: Tummy, Forearm, Heel
Neck Pocket: Strat w/720 Mod
Finish: Black Cherry Burst Dye (top), Clear Clean Line (back), Satin
Neck
Meadowhawk (Modern Tiltback)
Shaft: Roasted Maple
Fretboard: Indian Rosewood
Frets: SS6115
Profile: Wolfgang
Radius: 10-16 Compund
Tuner Hole Size: Gotoh/Grover
Nut: 43mm Modern Medium, Black TUSQ
Inlays: Meadowhawk, White Pearloid
Side Dots: White
Finish: Clear Satin Nitro
24 Fret Overhang
Hardware
Bridge: Gotoh 510-TS-FE1, Chrome
Tuners: Gotoh SG381-07 MG-T Locking Tuners, 3+3, Chrome
Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan Sentient
Middle Pickup: Seymour Duncan STK-4m
Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan Pegasus
Pickup Switch: Free-Way 3x3-05 (Switching will be provided below)
Volume Pot: Bourns 500k Low-Friction Potentiometer, Audio Taper, Split Shaft
Tone Pot (2 of them): Bourns No-Load 500K Potentiometer, w. Detent, Split-Shaft
Knobs: Some cheap red Strat knobs with black letters I found on Amazon
Pickup Switching
This is basically the same as the Charvel Pro Mod-DK24, one of Melinda’s biggest inspirations, but with the option for both humbuckers together added on.
The Free-Way 3x3-05 is a three way toggle-style switch with 6 positions. It’s like two different banks of three positions. The two different banks are accessed by having the switch in the "up" position and "down" position. I want to use the up position for standard LP controls and down for the coil splits. Free-Way labels the down position as 1-2-3 and up as 4-5-6, with 3/6 being the bridge direction and 1/4 being the neck. I’ll follow that convention here. It might look confusing but I promise it will be intuitive in practice.
1 - Neck Outer Coil + Middle
2 - Neck Inner Coil + Bridge Inner Coil
3 - Bridge Inner Coil + Middle
4 - Neck Humbucker
5 - Neck Humbucker + Bridge Humbucker
6 - Bridge Humbucker
Misc
I think I have all the big essential stuff to get started, be it in my possession, in transit, or being constructed. I ordered the neck plate, neck plate pad, and the special contoured heel screws from Warmoth. As of right now, I still need a tremolo cover, control plate(s), foam and screws for mounting the pickups, and need to double check I have all the necessary drill bits and soldering material. And that wax stuff for the screws. And strap buttons. Do I still have copper tape left from when I shielded my Tele? And there’s other stuff I’m probably forgetting.
Coda (for now)
I’m overall excited about doing this.
My only gripe with Warmoth is the lack of Luminlay dots on 24 fret necks. I would have ordered them in a heartbeat, even if they only went up to the 21st fret like the scallops do.
I have two apprehensions on my part. First, I’m having second thoughts about deciding to do direct mounting instead of pickup rings. I’d prefer direct mounted pickups in this context, but now it’s starting to look a little more complicated than I previously thought, and I’m not a professional luthier at all. Second is the thought lurking in the back of my mind that maybe I should have gone with the Soloist or Strat body instead so I could have Free Way’s 10 position 5-way blade give me 4 more pickup options, but I think I’ll be fine. I’d almost certainly never use the middle pickup by itself and there’s no need for series/parallel options on a guitar with humbuckers in my opinion.
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?! (and, yes, I name my guitars, but they're kept mostly to myself as a reference for writing/recording)
