My Warmoth Superstrat

[Superbeast520]

O.K. I know most of you guy's have seen my first Warmoth build,but I play this guitar 4-5 hours a day and am absolutely in love with it.
So for the record and the new site I felt compelled to show it off again.

I used this Sadowsky as a planning Idea: http://www.sadowsky.com/stock/view/feat_4046.html

Details:  Quarter sawn Maple neck with a one of a kind Brazilian Rosewood fret board, 1 5/8ths earvana nut (though not pictured)  Fatback neck profile, compound radius vintage modern style, with SS6115 - Stainless steel frets, abalone dots, finished in Vintage tint gloss.

Black Korina Rear routed strat body, Flame Koa laminate top, with black line accent also finished in Vintage tint gloss.

Hipshot Hardtail bridge .175 thick baseplate model, Schaller locking tuners, Tele style knobs and switch tip, 5 - way switch, 1 volume and 2 tone controls, Rio Grande pickups, Muy Grande humbucker at the bridge, Tallboy humbucker at the neck, and Dirty Harry jr. single coil in the middle. Its strung up 11-14-18-28-38-56 and sounds HUGE!!!!


Hipshot hardtail link:    http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=19      .......you can buy the .175 baseplate model here

Hipshot hardtail dimensions:     http://www.hipshotproducts.com/files/all/6stg_fixed_dims.pdf

Stew Mac spec print of the Hipshot Hartail:       http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_non-trem_bridges/Hipshot_Hardtail_Bridge.html?tab=Specs#details


This guitar is soooo Bad!!!!!!!!!

Im still working on Ideas and plans for my next one,and though it is taking some time to get it all together, I am always delighted to plug this baby in. It took me 8 months from planning to completion,but by and far the most precious and well spent 8 months of my entire guitar playing and buying history.

I put the "NEW PICS" at the bottom........

Click on pictures for a larger more detailed view, click bottom right corner for even better resolution......
















O.K. here's some new pics with some changes I have done, first I swapped the knobs to traditional flat top tele knobs and have the earvana nut installed along with an additional string tree for better tone. I also gave the neck the satin treatment by lightly sanding off the heavy gloss for  way smoother playing. I aged the hardware and fashioned some Cool Brass strap knobs, from some fancy drawer handles....Im even happier with it now, It feels worn and used and will look great when I get my custom made strap which is also aged and has a brass buckle that will match perfectly.


Click on pics for larger view, click again for higher resolution.....




















These are the latest and probably the final revisions to my Superbeast, I made a Standard Style Brass nut as I found only with a standard style nut do I get the same inflections and tones as on the records I jamm to quite often (Hendrix and Stevie Ray).

I feel I won't be returning to the Earvana or any other compensated nut again, but I gave it my shot for the last couple years and though the notes and chords are richer and more detailed sounding, its just not the same as "Old School".

Also I finally recieved and Proudly boast my New Custom Made Strap, from The Absolutely Awesome Artist:
Chantal Cordey        http://www.pccord.com/deluxe_guitar_straps.htm

I actually consulted her about making me a custom made strap way back when I first ordered my body and neck from Warmoth, but she said it would be best to wait untill the Guitar was finished to decide on the look and style of the strap.

We E-mailed back and fourth the whole time and here is the final creation,  

Heres what she said it was made from; Quote: "I used 3 mm vegetables tanned leather cowhide,  dyed and aged to try to best complement  the color tones of the woods on your guitar . The all lot is sealed with 3 kinds of leather sealers ...( I rigorously test all my straps for color fastness , something I don't think too many people bother doing ) .
I used 2 different cowhides and used the softer one of the 2 for the shoulder part , its lined with Italian garment grade calf skin suede . Buckle is an old army belt buckle .The inlays are Stingray skin, as used on samurai sword handles and wait for it ...See if you can guess what is in the oval inlays ? hey hey . Yep its not Stingray ..Now think back Chris .
All parts are glued with a strong shoe maker glue and the all lot is "saddle"  stitched ( lingo for hand stitched ) with the strongest grade wax thread out there. Should last for ever ."

The small black ovals are made of "Unborn Goat"  How Cool is that??  and the black squareish sections are "Sting Ray" Awesome!!!!  

  Thank You so much Chantal!!!!

Click on pics for close ups and click on again for better resolution....you may have to refresh your browser to click again...

















...........Jammin The Beast to some Hendrix............


You can view my "Black Cat Strat" here:   http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=11714.0

 

[m4rk0]

This is one of my favorites!!
the Korina/Koa combination looks so sexy! very nice!
I am planning something similar.. with the exception of a Ziricote neck though

 

[WarmothRules]

with those fat strings do you tune it to standard?

 

[dudesweet157]

with those fat strings do you tune it to standard?

If you think 11's are big, try playing 13 flatwounds tuned up to standard on a big ol' jazz box.  It's got killer tone, but you can forget about string bending.

 

[Superbeast520]

Hey guy's, well right now I am actually tuning to D,  I found I liked the Hendrix tunes he did in D off the Band of Gypsys album and on the song Voodoo Chile (the original version) on Electric Ladyland not "the slight return version" thats in E flat, I started playing in E flat in 2003 when I became obsessed with Stevie Ray Vaughan and his bluesy jamms, which led me to 13-58's and a bout of carpel tunnel and some really numb fingers...hahahhahahahaha....
I went lighter getting into some Satriani / Vai stuff but couldn't stand the tone loss, I percieved after using such heavy gauges, so I have come to the compromise, 11-14-18-28-38-56  and that seems to let me get the sounds I like best.
I usually opt for Bluesy lead lines and I have pretty strong hands now from bending on these so I've become accustomed to that, Oh, as well as waking up at night with numb fingers.....hahahahhaa

 

[Axe]

Love the Koa dude :headbang:

Nice work!!

 

[lucB18e]

hi

how did you manage to get such a wonderful fretboard from warmoth ?  .... It's killing me.

Did you get the "I want an awesome, one of a kind' fretboard option ? or was it a 'just' a good surprise ?

Luc

 

[Superbeast520]

Hey lucB18e,  Man Im still not sure if the powers that be we're just way cool too me or if I just got luck of the draw.
I was blown away when I opened the box and there it was, believe me.
I read your other post and hope what ever you decide on its everything you hoped, my advice is order custom and do your waiting like I did (about 4 months) because everyone I have heard order custom, or at least the guy's I've seen on here we're really pleased.
I paid a little extra, but only in standard options I wanted, nothin secret or special, just did my best to describe what I hoped to get, called incessantly, (sorry guy's) and prayed....hahahaha, well good luck to you,wish ya the best.   :icon_thumright:

You know the crazy thing is I can't get a neck pic that even comes close to how it looks up close in person, amazing!

 

[snouter]

Beautiful woods on that, especially the flame koa! 

 

[simple]

Yes, the Koa is beautiful. It looks like you got one ripping looking Brazilian Fingerboard there too!

 

[Superbeast520]

Yeah, its something else for sure,I like it aged and worn a bit more, cause it was almost too pretty... but make no mistake its a players instrument, I have it set up just the way I like it, for maximum tone, its not for everyone, as that translates to super high action ( a slide player would feel right at home on here ) but if a guy is into Bluesy lines or slower more melodic type shred then its tops for that.
So Greg, tell us straight up, do you guys sometimes send a couple sweet pieces this way or that or is it just luck of the draw??????
Ahh, don't bother answering, I know what the standard answer is gonna be, .....I still think maybe theres a few acts of Super Coolness that go on down there.......anyway, Thanks to the guy's at Warmoth, I only assembled what they sent me. 

 

[simple]

Yeah, its something else for sure,I like it aged and worn a bit more, cause it was almost too pretty... but make no mistake its a players instrument, I have it set up just the way I like it, for maximum tone, its not for everyone, as that translates to super high action ( a slide player would feel right at home on here ) but if a guy is into Bluesy lines or slower more melodic type shred then its tops for that.
So Greg, tell us straight up, do you guys sometimes send a couple sweet pieces this way or that or is it just luck of the draw??????
Ahh, don't bother answering, I know what the standard answer is gonna be, .....I still think maybe theres a few acts of Super Coolness that go on down there.......anyway, Thanks to the guy's at Warmoth, I only assembled what they sent me. 

You have to remember that one person's "sweet peice" is another's junky garbage. Someone ordering a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard might expect a solid dark brown and recieve what you got and be appalled! He'd call us up screaming and calling us names because it was highly figured.

Now if I'd seen your fingerboard before they glued it on, I would have stole it and stashed it for my next project!  :laughing11:  I mean, your work order didn't say Superbeast so how would have known it was yours?  :laughing11:  All kidding aside, we really try and do the best we can on every single order.

 

[Superbeast520]

Yeah, its true, I heard one guy say, He thought because Brazilian Rosewood is supposedly endangered or protected that all that goes out is stump wood that just looks cool and that luthiers of old would have considered it second rate or worse and tossed it, Me well, sheese loise, I couldn't be more happy with my piece of "stump wood" hahahahaahhahah............

Yes its also true, I had never ordered anything but a pickgaurd from you guy's before that and though I was on the old forum quite a bit, was more than likely never heard of as far as orders go, ............(I still think someone was just way cool) ..hahahahahaha
and I do believe you may have kifed my piece had you seen it ! .......hahahahahahahhaaa!...just kidding! 
Your wife probably wouldn't let ya build another one at the time!  :laughing7:  between you and Eric, sheese you guys are building em as fast as they can take your money!!!!!  :laughing7:  Lucky Guy's!!!!!

Obviously when your first one turns out as well as mine has for me, it sells you heart and soul, so Im hooked, but it also makes it difficult for the next one, I will take my time ( my wife was a bit freaked at my last years purchases about 8 grand ) hehehehehehehehe......and plan the next one so hopefully it can sit equally next to this one.
Thats why I won't go strat next time out, more than likely Gib style, possibly Soloist (depends on which player Im digging when its time to order)......... :cool01:

 

[lucB18e]

Hey lucB18e,  Man Im still not sure if the powers that be we're just way cool too me or if I just got luck of the draw.
I was blown away when I opened the box and there it was, believe me.
I read your other post and hope what ever you decide on its everything you hoped, my advice is order custom and do your waiting like I did (about 4 months) because everyone I have heard order custom, or at least the guy's I've seen on here we're really pleased.
I paid a little extra, but only in standard options I wanted, nothin secret or special, just did my best to describe what I hoped to get, called incessantly, (sorry guy's) and prayed....hahahaha, well good luck to you,wish ya the best.   :icon_thumright:

You know the crazy thing is I can't get a neck pic that even comes close to how it looks up close in person, amazing!

Well I'll go custom I think...  I'm not  generally lucky at games but let's see what I get as neck..... I'm confident  :laughing11:

 

[thumb55]

that is one "to die for" fretboard...I remember seeing it in the showcase and I really wasn't sure what to make of it.  Seeing it finished was like a "oh, so that's what it'd look like" moments.  Congrats!  it's a one in a million.  Too bad Greg and the guys have to put up with all the requests for Brazilian like that though.....Now, if I could just talk you into switching the hardwear color to black or chrome  :laughing7:

 

[Superbeast520]

Hey Thumb,

I bet Warmoth has quite a few interesting pieces that come through, If ya think about how many orders they probably do in a month compared to how many get posted on here it would probably blow our minds, something tells me those guy's see woods that are just unbelievable.

Im not sure if this fretboard was ever in the showcase however, as I ordered a custom Quartersawn Maple, Fatback neck with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard and 1 5/8ths nut with SS6115 stainless steel frets, so Im thinking it was a different neck you saw there, though Greg mentioned he had seen one other similiar to this, so maybe that one.

I do really Love and Cherish this board but as Greg stated Im sure there are alot of guy's that would skip it in a heartbeat.

I wouldn't go Chrome, simply because I actually modeled this guitar after one I seen on a well know custom builders site,(the Koa Top, Black knobs, gold hardware) and he had some in Chrome and Gold hardware and the Chrome seemed to lessen the visual impact, though If I end up getting into some really Heavy band or music, I have considered switching to all Black hardware, which wouldn't be all that difficult, though I did customize the bridge plate by countersinking 2 additional mounting holes for added stability. This bridge is as solidly attached to the guitar as it could possibly be, with 5 mounting screws. So Changing to a Black bridge would mean some tricky matching, ......but then again thats what Custom is all about and why we're all here at Warmoth isn't it.

I will say I like the aged look of the hardware more than before when everything was all uniformly plated, plus I got to round all the edges and smooth any rough spots when I aged the hardware so it is better in many ways.
It was also fun completely taking the guitar apart ( except for the elctronics ) and revamping everything, it was like doing it all over again, very fun, but without the initial headaches.  

 

[thumb55]

So that Brazillian board was not a "Extra"? i.e. an upcharge for a nice piece of figured wood?  Thats luck of all luck..


Still not a fan of Gold hardwear...

 

[Superbeast520]

No Thumb, no extra, anything, just the standard upcharges for the extra details like stainless frets, abalone dots etc. , I didn't even specify any particular choice to the look just asked for and paid for brazilian rosewood, and I hadn't even put the body order in for a month after the neck, as I didn't know what I wanted yet or how much I could spend.

The fact that the neck and body match so well is either purely coincidence or fate as some believe, or someone was following along with my choices, as I did mention on the body order I would like it to match my neck if at all possible, ( which I hadn't even seen yet ) but even then its unlikely that anyone would have gone to the extra trouble of matching 2 seperate order sheets and pieces, ( especially from someone they didn't even know ) and especially when those guy's are as busy as they are.......so its so hard to say how it came together so well, other than the fact that maybe there is a few Cool favors happening but unspoken, but as Greg said and I believe it, they try to do thier best with each and every order........I think we all realize that to be true, which in itself is amazing considering how edgy and particular we can all be about our little piece of guitar heaven..........

Definantly Cool beans no matter, Luck,Fate, or act of kindness....... :icon_thumright:

Yeah I remember early on you mentioned how Gold hardware gets spotty really quickly, and you didn't like it, and at the time I hadn't known what you ment, but since I have come to realize that as well, kinda why Im glad to have stripped alot of it off, as now it isn't obvious after 3 days of playing that it only gets wiped down once every month or two.....hahahahahahahaha

 

[Kostas]

that is one "to die for" fretboard...

I agree. I sent a pic of your fretboard when I ordered mine and asked for orange/light colored Brazilian but I had no luck. Three weeks left to find out how my neck looks like...
Congratulations, you made a beautiful guitar.

 

[RacerR]

Hey man, sweet looking axe.

I have a quick question about the bridge you have installed - did the mounting holes for the Badass fit the bridge mountin holes drilled by Warmoth?

Thanks - Rob.