Dear fellow Warmoth enthusiasts,
This guitar is a birthday present from my wonderful wife - it was one of those guitars that I have been dreaming of and now that it has materialized it turned out to be even better I imagined it.
I always liked the tones that Gilmour and Knopfler got when they were playing with EMG single coil pickups. I am obviously neither Gilmour or Knopfler or ever will be, but I wanted to have this option in my arsenal. I just don't like the way Fender made guitars are finished, their color choices, the fretboard radius etc. etc. ... and of course the EMG DG20 preassembled Gilmour kit takes the cake for being but ugly. Hence going the Warmoth routine again seemed to be the best choice, again.
The wood choices are all standard - Alder body and maple neck. I did not want to toy around with proven and established choices here.
I have discussed the aesthetics of the guitar with my wife and we settled on a quilt maple top with blue dye finish and black back. The quilt maple is of very high grade and was a unique choice. In my opinion it looks truly stunning and the guys at Warmoth did such a wonderful job with that finish! I also love the way it blends into the black back. For the neck - I am a die hard ebony fretboard fan and hence black ebony was the choice. The radius is 10-16 compound and the profile 59' roundback, which I have on all three of my Warmoth guitars. My wife suggested black MOP dot inlays. When I launcehd the order I got a reply from the people at Warmoth telling me that this was a bit odd as the effect will be rather subtle - but this is what was intended and a day later they sent me another email saying that it will look great. The headstock was finished in the same quilt maple blue dye and I think that it looks really nice together with the neck and body.
In terms of hardware, the the GraphTech Earvana black TUSQ nut seems to be of high quality and the Schaller mini-locking tuners are also a proven good choice. Although I am not really a tremolo user, I figured that a Strat is only a Strat with a tremolo (even if I may eventually leave it bloacked) and went with a recessed Wilkinson VS100. The Gilmour type pickguard was assembled from a black Warmoth guard (much nicer than Fender ones imho), the EMG SA single coil set, the EMG EXG and SPC Hi/Lo and mid boost kits. I am a complete moron with a soldering iron but putting together the EMG electronics was a piece of cake. The only think I had to tinker with a bit was to connect the battery cable with the battery box (I did not want to disassemble the pickguard everytime I chance the battery).
The assembly of the guitar went really smooth and easy - I guess for somebody who is experienced it would not have take much more than an hour. It took me 3 or 4 hours, also because I was celebrating it. I have made a rough setup and tuning stability and intonation were not a problem. I put d'Addario 11's on it. It will see a professional luthier for a full setup soon.
Well, it already looks great and I am really happy with the outcome. Warmoth guitars are simply the best! ... now I hope that the regal's are coming online again to build the final Les Paul'ish guitar that I want to have.
Have a nice weekend everybody and enjoy music and guitars!
This guitar is a birthday present from my wonderful wife - it was one of those guitars that I have been dreaming of and now that it has materialized it turned out to be even better I imagined it.
I always liked the tones that Gilmour and Knopfler got when they were playing with EMG single coil pickups. I am obviously neither Gilmour or Knopfler or ever will be, but I wanted to have this option in my arsenal. I just don't like the way Fender made guitars are finished, their color choices, the fretboard radius etc. etc. ... and of course the EMG DG20 preassembled Gilmour kit takes the cake for being but ugly. Hence going the Warmoth routine again seemed to be the best choice, again.
The wood choices are all standard - Alder body and maple neck. I did not want to toy around with proven and established choices here.
I have discussed the aesthetics of the guitar with my wife and we settled on a quilt maple top with blue dye finish and black back. The quilt maple is of very high grade and was a unique choice. In my opinion it looks truly stunning and the guys at Warmoth did such a wonderful job with that finish! I also love the way it blends into the black back. For the neck - I am a die hard ebony fretboard fan and hence black ebony was the choice. The radius is 10-16 compound and the profile 59' roundback, which I have on all three of my Warmoth guitars. My wife suggested black MOP dot inlays. When I launcehd the order I got a reply from the people at Warmoth telling me that this was a bit odd as the effect will be rather subtle - but this is what was intended and a day later they sent me another email saying that it will look great. The headstock was finished in the same quilt maple blue dye and I think that it looks really nice together with the neck and body.
In terms of hardware, the the GraphTech Earvana black TUSQ nut seems to be of high quality and the Schaller mini-locking tuners are also a proven good choice. Although I am not really a tremolo user, I figured that a Strat is only a Strat with a tremolo (even if I may eventually leave it bloacked) and went with a recessed Wilkinson VS100. The Gilmour type pickguard was assembled from a black Warmoth guard (much nicer than Fender ones imho), the EMG SA single coil set, the EMG EXG and SPC Hi/Lo and mid boost kits. I am a complete moron with a soldering iron but putting together the EMG electronics was a piece of cake. The only think I had to tinker with a bit was to connect the battery cable with the battery box (I did not want to disassemble the pickguard everytime I chance the battery).
The assembly of the guitar went really smooth and easy - I guess for somebody who is experienced it would not have take much more than an hour. It took me 3 or 4 hours, also because I was celebrating it. I have made a rough setup and tuning stability and intonation were not a problem. I put d'Addario 11's on it. It will see a professional luthier for a full setup soon.
Well, it already looks great and I am really happy with the outcome. Warmoth guitars are simply the best! ... now I hope that the regal's are coming online again to build the final Les Paul'ish guitar that I want to have.
Have a nice weekend everybody and enjoy music and guitars!
