New Red Dye Warmoth Stratocaster!

[Chriscross]

Here's my new Warmoth Stratocaster!
Here are some specs:

Body:
Chambered Stratocaster
Contoured Heel
Red dye top, Trans red back
Droptop clear masked binding
Wilkinson Recessed rout

Neck:
Stratocaster Neck
Goncalo alves neck with pau ferro fretboard
Wolfgang back contour
SS6105 frets
Warmoth Compound Radius
Mother of pearl face dots
Graphtech TUSQ nut
Schaller locking tuners

This thing has got to be the best guitar I'm ever gonna have! The tone on this guitar is phenomenal, the slickness of the fretboard is just absolutely amazing, and the overall look of the guitar is just perfect!  :headbang:  arty07:  :guitarplayer2: I can't thank Warmoth enough for this amazing build. There are some minor, very, very minor, problems with the guitar, although very minor. Being a completely different guitar from my old guitar, I'm gonna have to get used to the feel of the neck. Also, I unknowingly screwed on all the screws on the neck without thinking twice. Because the body has a contoured heel, the fretboard started to crack just at the 17th fret.  :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:
Fearing that the worst could occur, I took off the screws, found which screw was the short one that I misplaced, and fixed the problem. The crack instantly closed up, and the neck was saved! I'm still wondering if the crack would somehow, in any way possible, might ruin the neck. If you rub your finger along the area where the crack was, you can feel a slight bump. Other than that, AMAZING GUITAR. Thanks Warmoth!

 

[m4rk0]

Brilliant!!
did you finish that yourself?
what pickups did you use?

is that a wilkinson VS400 ? does it fit in the VS100 recess ???

 

[Chriscross]

Brilliant!!
did you finish that yourself?
what pickups did you use?

is that a wilkinson VS400 ? does it fit in the VS100 recess ???

Warmoth finished the guitar for me, if I tried, I wouldn't even be able to get the color right! The pickups I used were the Seymour Duncan JB trembucker in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker in the neck. The tremolo is a VS401 tremolo, and it fit perfectly in the recess. Because it is a recessed rout, you can see little a gap on one side of the trem, if that's the right terminology. Compared to the hipshot tremolo, you can't even see the routing for the tremolo unless you knew the routing was bigger and really looked at the bridge for a minute.

From this

To this

EDIT: Just a note to anyone reading this page about the Wilkinson VS401 or a Wilkinson Recessed tremolo rout, if you are not a die hard hipshot fan, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT buy a hipshot tremolo for a Wilkinson Recessed rout. The trem has the smallest tremolo base plate I can find, which means that the base plate will not cover the whole routing, leaving two, large gaps on either side of the base plate. I would recommend any Wilkinson product, preferably the VS100 or VS401, for they have wider base plates. The VS401, though, has a wider base plate than the VS100, but I've seen guitars that still look great with a Wilkinson recessed tremolo and a VS100 tremolo.    

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Looks great!!!  :headbang1:

Great pup choice too if you don't like EMGs.  :icon_thumright:

 

[exaN]

SICK Strat, I love red guitars :guitaristgif:

 

[hannaugh]

That's pretty!  Neat looking bridge too.  I like it!  Congrats.  ccasion14:

 

[Patrick]

that goncalo alves is sexy!  :headbang:

 

[hannaugh]

Show us the back of the neck!

 

[Superbeast520]

Awesome looking guitar, very classy and cool, not the typical strat for sure, Good job!!! :icon_thumright:

I wouldn't worry about the neck crack as it closed, but I guess you could always fill the hole with wood glue then put the screw in again and turn it till the crack opened up slightly and let the glue find its way into the crack, or wipe some into the crack from on top, though there is always the risk of cracking it worse than before.....

 

[Chriscross]

Show us the back of the neck!

Here it is!

This is one very cool neck, totally lives up to the raw neck hype. If you run your finger along the goncalo alves, it seems the neck is on the rough side, but while playing, I can just slide my hand across the neck easy. The stainless steel frets also help me to really help bend the strings easily. The wolfgang contour, I don't know if its a good or bad thing, but I can't feel a difference at all from my old guitar neck. I guess the fact that the neck feels so natural to me to play is a good thing then. The crack on the neck kinda bugs me a bit though, but I guess there is no problem I can point out because of it.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Yum yum, that's a special guitar.

 

[jimbo]

Great finish, but amazing neck!
I'm digging the grain of the headstock a lot.

 

[Assumer]

How do you like the pickups?  I have a warmoth strat that plays like a dream but I am realizing I am a humbucker kinda guy.  It currently has fender vintage noiseless but I was thinking about changing them for humbuckers.

 

[Chriscross]

How do you like the pickups?  I have a warmoth strat that plays like a dream but I am realizing I am a humbucker kinda guy.  It currently has fender vintage noiseless but I was thinking about changing them for humbuckers.

If you're already leaning towards that humbucker sound, or maybe like that juicy, les paul sound, I would totally go with humbuckers. I'm really not a single coil type of guy as well, although with the right amp, single coils will sound amazing. In the end, I went with Seymour Duncan humbuckers. These pickups are a great pair to play with, and I absolutely love them, no downsides to them. Because both pickups have four conductor cables, I can get both the humbucker sound as well some single coil clang, which can sound really nice sometimes, since I have a five way super switch. If your guitar is routed for HSH, I would totally go for humbuckers, but if it's routed for SSS, I could suggest single coil sized humbuckers, but I have never worked with those or really took a good look at them. Overall, humbuckers are what I love and will love for the rest of my life. 

 

[Assumer]

Thanks, I have a HHH route so going full size will be no prob. 

 

[Unwound G]

Good looking Strat.  SD's Jazz and JB combo is one of the best for most genres and they balance perfectly.

 

[Spartan117]

beautiful simply beautiful 

 

[MedianMusic1]

Great looking guitar. The neck is especially nice...

 

[Chriscross]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! I've finally gotten over the neck crack since the goncalo alves neck, pau ferro fretboard, and stainless steel frets fee WAY too amazing compared to previous guitars I've played. I hope that I can enter this guitar in the April 2010 guitar of the month poll!