Questions on the age of a Warmoth Tele neck...

[TaylorPlayer]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this forum but I am glad to have found it since I can't seem to get any better answers anywhere else, even from the Warmoth customer service.

I was very lucky in making a trade for a Tele on Craigslist. The guy said it was a Warmoth built Tele with a Birdseye Maple neck. I went to see it and fell in love immediately. He had only had the guitar for about 5-6 years after picking it up used from the original owner. He had completed a refinish with Nitro after stripping off the poly from the one piece Swamp Ash body as well as installed Sperzel locking turners and some hand wound pickups he had made.

The guitar has instantly become my #1 and I love it to death. I have never owned a guitar with a neck this beautiful before but in my search to try and date how old the neck is, nobody seems to have a clue due to a couple of interesting differences from any Warmoth neck I have seen. I contacted Warmoth customer service and within a day had a response from Bob Randolph at Warmoth saying
"Hi, Paul,

Thanks for writing.
I do not know how old that neck is. Nothing here is definitive and traceable. I’m thinking it must be pretty old, like back in ‘90’s, ‘80’s maybe. We haven’t used red neck production numbers in my 10 years here. "

Here is the thing about the neck. It has a Red stamped production number of 390 on the butt end of the heel. It seems during my search that I read somewhere that red stamp meant it was a custom order which makes sense as the neck has no inlays and has a 10" radius according to the stamp in the pocket. I am showing some photos in the hopes that someone has an idea of the approximate age of this neck. Any help you can offer is appreciated!  I really love this guitar and the neck is almost 3D with the birdseye.   :hello2: FWIW The Fender logo was already on the headstock when I got it.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I've never cared much for birdseye maple, but that fretboard is gorgeous.

 

[TaylorPlayer]

I've never cared much for birdseye maple, but that fretboard is gorgeous.

Thanks... it is a beauty!  :icon_biggrin:

So I take it that nobody has seen a red production stamp before? Everything about this screams custom neck. The 10" radius, the lack of inlay. I was just trying to narrow this down to possibly an 80's or 90's neck. Maybe it's weird, but I like to have a rough idea of how old my guitars are.

Any information would be appreciated.

 

[JimBeed]

I may be quoting wrong on this one, but if i remember some people saying that warmoth was once called something else,
which has slipped my mind at the moment, but as it has the warmoth turtle logo on it,
and i believe one of the w words on the back of the neck is warmoth, i  would guess it must be after they changed there name,
but before the guy you talked to was working there, so  from name change to 2001, sometime like that maybe?
But the other members will know more of its past existance i think.
Lovely guitar though :icon_thumright:

 

[Mor Paul]

Boogie Bodies

 

[Wyliee]

The red number is just a production number.  Production numbers are three digits in length and will be reused over time.  I've been at Warmoth for 6 years and never seen one marked in red pen.

Still..... it is a great looking neck and guitar!!

 

[TaylorPlayer]

Thanks for the nice comments.

It isn't even done in pen, it is a red stamp into the wood.

 

[Paul-less]

That is a beautiful tele, same specs as I want, all except the birdseye neck. I prefer Quarter Sawn, but it's still beautiful

 

[TaylorPlayer]

That is a beautiful tele, same specs as I want, all except the birdseye neck. I prefer Quarter Sawn, but it's still beautiful

Dumb question, but what is the main difference between Quarter or Flat sawn? Stability or looks?

 

[Cagey]

Stability. You kinda have to know your lumber to notice any difference in appearance, although quartersawn is usually thought to look better. Also, some pieces of flatsawn are almost quartersawn, and vice-versa.

The stability thing isn't particularly important in modern guitar necks. Even old-fashioned truss rods do more for stability than quarter vs. flat sawn. Modern double trusses stabilize things so well that most people go years, and sometimes forever without ever having to compensate the neck.

All that said, if given a choice, you'd probably want quartersawn. But, I wouldn't pay too much of a premium for it.

 

[bagman67]

Stability. You kinda have to know your lumber to notice any difference in appearance, although quartersawn is usually thought to look better. Also, some pieces of flatsawn are almost quartersawn, and vice-versa.

The stability thing isn't particularly important in modern guitar necks. Even old-fashioned truss rods do more for stability than quarter vs. flat sawn. Modern double trusses stabilize things so well that most people go years, and sometimes forever without ever having to compensate the neck.

All that said, if given a choice, you'd probably want quartersawn. But, I wouldn't pay too much of a premium for it.

Handy diagram demonstrating how they classify quarter-sawn, rift-sawn, and plain-sawn logs, with resultant surface grain patterns in oak.

Edit:  I think that photo has the quarter- and rift-sawn photos reversed, but I could be wrong.

 

[bagman67]

And one more:

 

[Kei]

turtle neck.

 

[stubhead]

I've actually read the argument that flatsawn wood sound "springier" and more resonant than quartersawn, because the wood is flexing in direct opposition to the string tension. Certainly, if you want to do the non-whammy whammy trick of pushing on the neck to lower the pitch, you'd want a more flexible neck. I don't.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

I've actually read the argument that flatsawn wood sound "springier" and more resonant than quartersawn, because the wood is flexing in direct opposition to the string tension. Certainly, if you want to do the non-whammy whammy trick of pushing on the neck to lower the pitch, you'd want a more flexible neck. I don't.

I'd like too see the test that was fair enough to prove that theory.  :laughing7:

 

[TaylorPlayer]

So, based on my photos above, what type of cut was made for my neck?

By the way, I am still trying to nail down an approximate age of the neck in question......

 

[stubhead]

In the shot with the number, you can see how the grain runs across the wide way - so it's flatsawn. If the grain ran perpendicular, it'd be quartersawn. If I remember right, there's no such thing as quartersawn birdseye? because the eyes would then be peering sideways.... You don't have to feel bad about flatsawn, Leo Fender built guitars with those necks for 40 years before anybody ever worried about this stuff, and I'm told that some people using old Fenders have actually been successful at playing music on flatsawn necks! Imagine that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdYRzH10L2M&feature=related

 

[TaylorPlayer]

wow... thanks for sharing the video. SRV has always been a favorite of mine and I love Little Wing but have never seen that video before. I enjoyed watching the making of the guitar and I will say for sure that if Stevie played a flat sawn neck, I can sure say it's good enough for me!  :rock-on:

Truth be told, I know much more about acoustic guitars and wood than electric guitars because I have played acoustics for about 30 years now. I got into electrics only a few years ago, but what I have found out over the last 3 years of trying every kind of electric known to man is that I like Teles and Strats the best. Funny too because my dream electric was always a Gibson Les Paul, but I have traded away 2-3 different Les Paul guitars because they were just uncomfortable to me. I always thought that Strats looked kind of cool and Teles were ugly, but I have more than changed my mind. I now have 2 Teles and a Strat. My Strat and both my Teles weigh in between 7.2 and 7.4 lbs whereas every Les Paul I have onwed was over 10 lbs. I guess even at close to 50 years old, you can learn something new. Leo was ahead of the curve when he came up with these style guitars. I also love that Strats and Teles seem to be easier to work on and adjust than a set neck guitar like a LP.