Questions about the Regal/Royale builds

[Lumberjack]

I'm currently planning to order parts for a new Warmoth "Les Paul Style" guitar, which means I'll choose either the Regal or the Royale body and a Regal 24 3/4" neck. But Before I make the final order, I still have some questions that I'd you guys to answer:

1. Is the standard Les Paul wood combo of mahogany body and neck, taking into consideration that mahogany is a "soft" wood, suitable and durable enough for a bolt-on construction type? I know some forum members already own Regals with these specs, so I'd like to know if they've encountered some problems of any kind with the mahogany bolt-on construction.

2. If the guitar weight is no problem, should I choose the solid over the chambered body type?

3. Are the humbucker cavities big enough for a fender spaced humbucker or are the cavities made for gibson spaced humbuckers only?

 

[dmraco]

1. Mahogany is very solid.  You will NOT have an issue.  If you look a high percent of guitars have mahogany bad bolt on necks.  I personally have 3 and no issues.

2.  This is up to you.  I prefer solid but the chambered models perform well and are lighter.

3.  F spaced hums are the same dimension as other hums.  Just the pole spacing is different.

Good luck!!!

 

[line6man]

Is the standard Les Paul wood combo of mahogany body and neck, taking into consideration that mahogany is a "soft" wood, suitable and durable enough for a bolt-on construction type?

Huh? People make guitars out of pine! I have never heard anyone tout any wood as unsuitable in durability for a neck joint, much less one of the most common body woods in existence.

And yeah, humbucker spacing is about pole pieces, not coil geometry.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

This is a mahogany explorer body with a rosewood/macassar ebony baritone neck attached:

No problems at all.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Think some clarification is needed on one point:

3. Are the humbucker cavities big enough for a fender spaced humbucker or are the cavities made for gibson spaced humbuckers only?

'F-spaced' humbuckers are the same size as other humbuckers.
However, some people use the term "Fender size humbuckers" to refer to the very large 'Wide Range' pickups Fender made in the 70s. (And the recent reissues.) Those pickups are significantly bigger than normal humbuckers and so do not fit in the same space. So make sure you are not confusing your terms and you are in fact after 'f-spaced' and not 'Fender size'.
Note, there is also 'tembucker', unique to Seymour Duncan brand pickups, which are narrower north-south and wider east-west than normal humbuckers. They fit in most humbucker mounting rings, but not all, and pickguards usually need to be cut specifically for them. Again, double check your pickup brand and the way you intend to mount the pickups.

Bear in mind that if you are making an LP-like guitar, with the usual tune-o-matic or wrapover bridge, you should use standard humbuckers; 50mm at the bridge and 48mm at the neck is usually what fits best. F-spaced or trembucker pickups are unnecessary and, depending on the design of the pickup, be worse.

Warmoth lists the dimensions of all their routing/pickguard cutting on their site, every pickup manufacturer/seller lists the pickup dimensions on their pages and if you are using mounting rings or a pickguard you can almost always find the dimensions for thoe wherever they are sold, too. So if you are in any doubt about what it is you want to use, just do a quick Google search for the item, look at the measurements and check them against the Warmoth measurements.

 

[Lumberjack]

Thanks for all these helpful answers! It's good to know that the F-spaced / Trembucker pickups are supposed to be the same in size as the Gibson spaced ones. I was just asking because I replaced a normal spaced DiMarzio humbucker in my Fender Strat with a Seymour Duncan TB-4, and the TB-4 didn't actually fit the pick guard, so I automatically assumed that they made the trembuckers bigger in size than the normal humbuckers. Thanks for clarifying this issue for me!

Another question that just lately came to my mind is whether I should choose a normal Graphtech TUSQ nut or go for the TUSQ XL version? The reason I'm asking is that they don't offer the white TUSQ XL for the angled conversion necks and I plan to do a white binding, so the black version would look a bit out of place.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Yeah, trembuckers don't fit in some pickguards/mounting rings because Seymour Duncan, for some bizarre reason, changed the dimensions just enough to cause problems. Uncovered trembuckers can usually be forced into a normal humbucker mount, but trembuckers with metal covers do actually demand their own mounting rings which only Seymour Duncan make. Cheeky gits. But yes, the actual routing itself is the same.

I've had both TUSQ and TUSQ XL nuts and I can't tell the difference. Go with whichever one comes in the colour you prefer.

 

[stratamania]

The Tusq XL is apparently better with tremelos, so the normal Tusq will be fine on a fixed bridge guitar.

 

[Lumberjack]

Just a quick question before I place my order: Do I have to order one curved short humbucker mounting ring and one curved tall humbucker mounting ring? Will they match the royale curvature or will I have to do some work myself to make them fit?

Also, do you know of any foolproof way on how to install these mounting rings so that they fit precisely? I've never worked on curved tops, so any help is appreciated.

 

[Cagey]

I can't answer your question with certainty, not having built a Regal or Royale yet, but I do have carved top VIPs, Teles, and 1 Soloist here. In all cases, the carve flattens out around the pickups, so you don't have to worry about curvature on mounting rings. Looking at Showcase pics, it seems the same is true for your body as well.

Problem is more likely going to be finding flat-bottomed even-cut plastic rings. Seems like I had a helluva time last time I needed some, so you may end up having to do some sanding anyway if you want taller rings. I've always used metal rings on the carved tops.

 

[stratamania]

Mounting rings here's the solution to curvature.

http://youtu.be/qBusI7wEjOc

 

[Prometheus]

Yeah, the sandpaper inverted on the top is the way to get a perfect fit. A year or so ago, for my Gretsch 5420, I got an ebony TOM bridge base and made a couple of ebony ring risers from scratch. It was a real pain, for two reasons. 1) ebony is a heck of a lot harder than plastic, and 2) the 5420 is hollow, so the top flexed, so I couldn't give it much pressure. It was a b__ch, and took forever. To top it off, the top curves slightly in all directions, so I couldn't scrub very far either - I'm talking like 3/4" or so.
Anyway, it does make for a perfect fit. Just be careful that you don't mess up the overall angle... they've got to remain parallel to the strings.

 

[Lumberjack]

But isn't Warmoth offering curved mounting rings that should fit the curvature of their own bodies? Or is this curvature just a clue as to how it could look?

 

[Cagey]

I think they're just curved- or slanted-bottom mounting rings like you'd get anywhere, not anything designed for a specific body they make.

They don't make "kits", they just sell parts. It's up to you to make them work. Nothing is really coordinated, per se. Although, they're not opportunistic. They don't generally sell stuff that can't be used on the body/neck parts they do manufacture.

But, don't take my word for it. Call 'em. Probably be less than a 1 minute call.