New Member, New Warmoth Owner

[ARRITDOR]

Hey guys and gals, newbie forum member and Warmoth owner here.  I just bought 2 lefty Warmoth guitars used from Guitar Center.  I think I got a good deal, but I'll post a NGD when I get them in about three days so maybe this weekend.

One is a strat with a right-handed neck.  The bridge (and neck?) p/u's are some kind of rails type, the middle looks like a standard black single coil.  The body looks like a darker burst finish with a Wilkinson trem.
The tele I'm kind of excited about.  Lefty rosewood neck, "transparent teal" finish (not sure about that yet) and what look to be Filtertron p/u's.  If they're the real deal that will be awesome.

I've been playing off and on since the mid 80's and have read good things about Warmoth throughout the years so I can't wait to get my hands on these!

 

[juwel1998]

Hello ARRITDOR,

first of all  WELCOME to the forum. Lucky you, you are going to be a Warmoth guitar owner sooner than me, even thought I was on the forum before you.......

Hope, you're going to have a lot of fun playing those guitars.


Bye  JULIA

 

[B3Guy]

welcome to the forum. I'll baptize you with one of our favorite phrases: pics or it doesn't exist  :icon_thumright:

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Welcome to Warmoholic's Anonymous, My name is Patrick...

 

[B3Guy]

"hi, patrick . . ."

 

[Doughboy]

For those about to build. We salute you!!!  arty07:

hhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbGPIERaTTg&feature=colike

 

[Cagey]

First of all, welcome to the forum! We have a lot of fun here pursuing a lot of fun, and are always glad to see someone join the group.

Something you should know... Warmoth also makes right-handed guitar parts, so you don't have to suffer those left-handed guitars if nobody's holding a gun on you. They can be repaired/reconfigured easily. We have the technology, and there's a lotta high-priced talent floating around here willing to share the deepest, darkest secrets of building a guitar. No charge, of course. It is the way, the truth, and the light. Otherwise...

You realize that if you don't cooperate, it's bonk, bonk, on the head?​

I'm just sayin'...

 

[ARRITDOR]

Thanks for the warm welcoming everyone.  Love the Star Trek reference.  Something I should have noted:  I am a lefty!  So these will work great (for me).  You guys need more lefties on here right?  And Warmoth is very lefty friendly.  Don't worry though, I won't be one of those guys that just posts "too bad its backwards" on every new build/NGD thread.  And I will post pics soon after they arrive at my door.

I do have a question - maybe it's a topic for another post but... Warmoth parts are made in USA.  They're high-quality (from what I can ascertain, not having first-hand experience myself).  So why can I purchase a used Warmoth guitar that costs $1000 in parts for $300?  Seems a little out-of-whack and when you consider the labor even more so.

And sorry if this has been asked before, but what does the quality of a typical recently built Warmoth strat or tele compare to (assuming a decent build)?  Fender MIA Deluxe? MIA? MIM?

 

[Cagey]

Warmoth parts are very high quality, much more so than what any OEM puts out. Buy one, and you'll see. They're amazing. But, they're still just parts. Build something out of them, and you have what's considered a "parts guitar". It's also considered "used" whether it has been or not. So, the price reflects those things. It's pretty rare to see a Warmoth go for much more than $800, no matter how much it cost to put together. You'll see them listed higher on eBay, but if you check the "completed" listings, you'll see what they actually go for.

The usual motivation for putting together something with Warmoth parts is to have something of a "custom shop" timbre without the $5,000 price tag. You can often do quite well for less than $1,500 that'll include nothing but ultra-premium parts.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The quality and selection are generally only surpassed by the custom shops of high caliber.  And even then it is darn close, if not better.  The parts are not finished, as in, they do not make guitars, just parts.  Because of this, and the fact that the larger companies have been selling there products for a long time because of the name on them, the Warmoth guitars generally do not command the same resale price as a big brand guitar.

While everyone here hopes that the Warmoth company does well, we also are real fans of the exotic choices, and low prices for incredible work.  Also, most of us are not going back to ever buying a guitar off of a wall at a store.  It is like growing up on a farm, and getting real tomatoes and sweet corn.  You just can't go back to mediocre stuff after getting used to it.  So it is nice that the price is really reasonable for the quality of work and materials.
Patrick

 

[Cagey]

It is like growing up on a farm, and getting real tomatoes and sweet corn.  You just can't go back to mediocre stuff after getting used to it.  So it is nice that the price is really reasonable for the quality of work and materials.

Mmm... real tomatoes...

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

It is like growing up on a farm, and getting real tomatoes and sweet corn.  You just can't go back to mediocre stuff after getting used to it.  So it is nice that the price is really reasonable for the quality of work and materials.

Mmm... real tomatoes...

Dammit, why did you guys have to bring up tomatoes!  I almost forgot that its going to be another nine months before we get a decent tomato again.  If I had the money I'd buy a house in New Zealand or somwhere in the southern hemisphere so I could follow the tomato season year round.

Oh, and back on topic, Warmoths are first class.  They just don't have the name recognition factor that the big brands do.  Also, since they are all assembled by enthusiasts, they don't command such a high price on resale because no one knows the skill level of whomever put together that particular instrument.  If you look on ebay its not too hard to find examples of atrocities that people have committed while trying to assemble a Warmoth without the proper skills or attention to detail.  Its not rocket science, but it is possible to screw it up if one is impatient or just a plain hack.

 

[swarfrat]

The quality and selection are generally only surpassed by the custom shops of high caliber.  And even then it is darn close, if not better OEM'ed. 

 

[anorakDan]

It is like growing up on a farm, and getting real tomatoes and sweet corn.  You just can't go back to mediocre stuff after getting used to it.  So it is nice that the price is really reasonable for the quality of work and materials.

Mmm... real tomatoes...

Like the uber-delicious, organic tomatoes I grow in my organic garden. Mmmmm

 

[reluctant-builder]

Yes! Welcome, fellow lefty. Always nice to have some brethren on the boards.

Yeoman Rand had the worst hair in the cosmos.