TheProfessor said:
Hi:
Thinking about getting a neck for a project my son has started.
In your experience, how much fretwork/nut adjustment is required on new Warmoth necks?
Are they playable out of the box?
Thanks,
The Professor
To answer - very little.
There are three issues to be concerned with: Truss rod, frets and nut.
One at a time -
Truss rods are made to be adjusted, in order to compensate for the pull of the strings on the neck. You'll need to get it all assembled and then see how the neck behaves under tension. Usually you'll need to tighten the adjuster a bit. How much is unknown, as it varies with strings, and the wood of the neck itself. Also, know that the neck will usually "settle" and bow a little more during its first week or two of being strung up and under tension. There are threads here on how to set up the truss rod, such that the amount of clearance between a taught string and middle frets is about .010-.015 or so. Its more of a feel thing than a super critical "to the thousandth" measurement. This is basic guitar set up.
Frets are likely to be nearly perfect from Warmoth. They will probably require NO leveling at all. The word there is probably. You might find some little sharp edges that could use a little polish with 600 or 800 grit paper... just the end, not the surface of the fret. HOWEVER - if the finish covers the frets, you'll need to scrape the finish off. Some folks just play the finish off, others scrape it. The Fender factory uses - literally - a nail with a little circular indentation filed into it as a finish scraper. Something like a 6p nail. Occasionally you might see a high fret - very rarely, and this can be home remedied by tapping it down with a plastic mallet. VERY VERY rarely, you might need some leveling, and this is best left to a neck expert. Having gotten seven or so Warmoth necks, I've never needed any leveling, and had one very easy to set-in-place high fret. No big deal really.
Nuts... Warmoth gets them "playable" but not really ideal. Final nut setup is something most any guitar tech can do, especially since they'll be working with a really precisely installed item to begin with. You can do it at home too - but you'll need some nut files, some reading on how to do it, and a nut to practice on, to see how the files cut and get used to them. Its easy to do if you're used to working with files to do some medium fine work. The "hard part" is knowing how deep to cut the slot - and Frank Ford has an excellent online tutorial on nut setup on his www.frets.com website. Frank is arguably the best repairman on planet Earth for acoustics, and his techniques work exactly the same on electrics (most agree acoustic work is more difficult and demanding than solid body work, so learn from Frank - a true gentleman too).
And thats it really. Warmoth necks are very very good, very precise, and a joy to set up. Rare is the problem. A good guitar setup man can work with them easily. Warmoth necks are probably a good deal better than production Fender necks, custom shop necks excepted, but they are not 100 percent plug and play, as no instrument part can be - far too many variables.
I don't know your experience, but mine is one of working with my hands my whole life. I'm able to drill a hole straight, able to file a slot a little deeper without wandering or altering its position (key word there is "little" deeper, which is all you'll need). I'm able to not go nuts with fine sandpaper to polish a rough corner on a fret. You only want to remove the rough, not reshape the thing. I'm able to scrape some clear wood finish off a metal part without gouging things all to heck.
If you posses this sort of "not over the top" skills, then the neck, and perhaps a father son project would be a great thing to undertake. If you dont.... then be prepared to spend perhaps another $75 or so for final fitting, nut work, scraping, etc.... depending on local rates.
