New necks

[PeterTSkelton]

Hi folks

First post on this forum, and what better way to start than with some brand new out of the box Warmoth goodies?

Up first is a long term wish list item, pretty straight forward in that it's a Vintage/Modern build one piece maple neck (with bonus Birdseye as it was sold) out of the showcase. I had this outfitted with stainless 6105 frets and a white Corian nut, with Vintage style tuner reams.

The second is one of the currently touted Padouk necks, also out of the showcase. Like the maple one, this has SS6105 frets and a Corian nut (this one in black). This is a 59 roundback profile, as it was either that or a standard thin profile which I don't want.

I went ahead and set about the maple neck, installing the vintage tuners I'd also ordered. I've been sorely tempted to buy a drill press recently, however I haven't yet bitten the bullet on this, so I went old fashioned way, and using a block of wood and a hammer I drove the ferrules in to the front face of the headstock. Then I carefully lined up the tuning machines on the back of the headstock and using the two end units as a guide, I squared them up and marked out the two end screw holes. Another old fashioned trick, I used some masking tape as a depth guide and incrementally installed the tuning machines, working down the line and installing one at a time to keep them square, and relying on a careful eye and steady hands to keep the holes nice and even.

I then broke out my much used and much beloved Strat. Once upon a time she was a MIM black strat with a 21 fret maple neck, white scratchplate and standard SSS pickup configuration. Years ago I came across a 22 fret MightyMite neck which wound up on the MIM body, along with several different electronic configurations along the way.

Two minutes and the MightyMite neck was off, and a quick fit test showed that the neck screw holes were all in the right place so on she went. Tightened up and then strung up with a new set of Super Slinkys. A quick sanity check online and the roller string retainer was installed.

 

[DangerousR6]

Welcome, and nice. I'm usually a sucker for maple, but i like that padouk... :headbang:

 

[Murdock]

so how good is  the fret work on there neck's to they level and crown them or do you have to do that?

btw i like the touted Padouk neck

 

[rgand]

Those are fine necks. Congratulations. Thanks for the pics.

Welcome to the forum. :icon_thumright:

 

[Schneidas]

Love the Padouk!!!!!

 

[stratamania]

so how good is  the fret work on there neck's to they level and crown them or do you have to do that?

btw i like the touted Padouk neck

A lot of folks use Warmoth necks without doing any fretwork. It probably depends on your needs and expectations for the frets.

The ends have usually been bevelled but there is no levelling or crowning done. So you either have to do it yourself or have someone do it for you.

 

[PeterTSkelton]

Thanks all. I was finally convinced to pull the trigger on the Clapton carve neck after a recent trip to Chicago, whereupon I dragged my better half to the Guitar Center who had not one but two Clapton strats on the rack. After walking myself into the glassroom and picking up the Clapton strat, after the first minute I was completely sold on the neck profile.

My hands just don't work well on a standard Fender contour, my thumb wraps around the top of the neck when it shouldn't which makes for sore fingers much quicker than I'd like. The soft V keeps my thumb where it should be on the back of the neck when its supposed to be there, but it's not so big that I can't get a good stranglehold on the thing for modified barre chords and suchlike.

However, $1600 is much more than I can justify dropping on a guitar, so I thought back to Warmoth where I used to spec up crazy guitars as a teenager which were well beyond my reach, especially after shipping to England and associated import taxes were taken into account.

Now I find myself firmly esconsed on this side of the pond, and the temptation of excellent prices out of the showcase finally did the trick.

The padouk neck is currently sitting in a draw, waiting for a satin finished Dakota Red body to appear in the showcase for me to pounce on. That one is getting some locking tuners and a wilkinson two point tremolo setup for those days when I'm in a Joe Satriani mood. Probably will get a set of DiMarzio PAF Joes for that one, but time will tell.

It's a beautiful piece of hardwood though. I've loved Padouk since the days when Warmoth actually had a photo of a Padouk strat body on their hardwoods information page. I don't know that I need an entire body made of the stuff, but my oh my does it make for a beautiful neck. I'd had got that one Clapton carved too, but they didn't have them on the shelf and I'm pretty sure that the roundback will work out well having spent some time with a Ritchie Kotzen telecaster.

 

[AirCap]

I've been finishing and assembling Warmoth bodies and necks since they were known as Boogie Bodies (over 30 years), and only once has a neck required more than the tiniest bit of a level. As far as I'm concerned - Warmoth necks are THE standard of quality. Fender, Gibson, and everyone else should be shooting for Warmoth standards when they make a neck.

 

[PeterTSkelton]

So far out of the box the maple neck has been a great player. It's started to settle a little bit which is obviously to be expected, I bought some new Allen wrenches today so I can give the truss rod a tweak as required, and eventually I'll have a decent tech give it a proper setup. Really very impressive as delivered though.