Quick question about Warmoth's vintage tint finish

[exaN]

This might be a super obvious thing, but I was looking at vintage tint necks on the showcase and I noticed how greatly the tint varies from neck to neck. My first build had a vintage tint neck and it was definitely darker than most of the ones on showcase. From my experience, Warmoth's photos are pretty close to the real life thing, so I presume they make different tints on purpose for the sake of choice or are the photos not accurate?

 

[Logrinn]

I believe what you are seeing are necks with the older as well as the newer vintage tint. They changed the color some months back (a year?) from the darker yellower, to the newer lighter version.

 

[exaN]

I believe what you are seeing are necks with the older as well as the newer vintage tint. They changed the color some months back (a year?) from the darker yellower, to the newer lighter version.

Not that I don't believe you, but sorting the necks by date doesn't show any kind of drastic change :dontknow:. Unless old necks are relisted and the site sees them as newer? If they actually make them lighter now, that makes me pretty happy. I've always thought the neck on my first build looked a bit too dark.

 

[Logrinn]

Here's Aaron's comment about the color change: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=27400.msg389045#msg389045
It's from november and he talks about the change happening from a month or two prior

 

[exaN]

Here's Aaron's comment about the color change: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=27400.msg389045#msg389045
It's from november and he talks about the change happening from a month or two prior

Ah I see, so never trust the showcase :icon_biggrin:. The new color is so much better too.

 

[Logrinn]

Well, I can't tell you what the deal is with the showcase necks, but perhaps it's a question of several necks being painted, then dried, and as time goes by, eventually they end up in the showcase. So necks with the "older" vintage tint are still turning up in the showcase because of the time required for them to be finished. But soon, perhaps, there'll be none of the old vintage tint left.

Just guessing here ...

 

[Ace Flibble]

Bear in mind that the colour of the wood underneath will be slightly different too. And the thickness the finish is sprayed at and whether it's the first in a batch, in the middle, or at the end will all affect the intensity of the colour.  Not different enough to cause huge variations, but there's always going to be minor shifts.

I've never found any Warmoth-finished piece I've handled—be it a full paint job, dye job, tint, or whatever—has ever matched the website's representations or the showcase photos. As a photographer myself, I can't help but notice that everything I've seen come out of the showcase has the same shift in hue and contrast, consistently, which is a classic sign of photos being edited with uncalibrated profiles on uncalibrated monitors.

Trust in fellow customers when they say that tints have changed and that any tinted neck you get now will have a less vivid tint than previous ones. And no, don't trust in Warmoth's photos, at least as far as hue and saturation are concerned.

 

[exaN]

Bear in mind that the colour of the wood underneath will be slightly different too. And the thickness the finish is sprayed at and whether it's the first in a batch, in the middle, or at the end will all affect the intensity of the colour.  Not different enough to cause huge variations, but there's always going to be minor shifts.

I've never found any Warmoth-finished piece I've handled—be it a full paint job, dye job, tint, or whatever—has ever matched the website's representations or the showcase photos. As a photographer myself, I can't help but notice that everything I've seen come out of the showcase has the same shift in hue and contrast, consistently, which is a classic sign of photos being edited with uncalibrated profiles on uncalibrated monitors.

Trust in fellow customers when they say that tints have changed and that any tinted neck you get now will have a less vivid tint than previous ones. And no, don't trust in Warmoth's photos, at least as far as hue and saturation are concerned.

I've also noticed that Warmoth seems to up the saturation just a bit to make their pieces more attractive. Not too big of a deal if you know what to expect I guess.

 

[primi]

I've never found any Warmoth-finished piece I've handled—be it a full paint job, dye job, tint, or whatever—has ever matched the website's representations or the showcase photos. As a photographer myself, I can't help but notice that everything I've seen come out of the showcase has the same shift in hue and contrast, consistently, which is a classic sign of photos being edited with uncalibrated profiles on uncalibrated monitors.

I bought 2 pieces and was disappointed twice for this very reason. I also work in graphics and my monitors are calibrated. Most of other users don't have them calibrated or at least not properly. And it's OK and their own problem. But Warmoth should still make sure that what they're posting is properly edited, they are running a business after all and all that top end exotic wood stuff and paintjobs - we're buying those with our eyes and there's nothing more annoying (to me at least) than opening that very expensive package you just received only to find it's not really what they were showing you.

 

[aarontunes]

Hey dudes! I'll try to shed some light:

• Yes, we changed our Vintage Tint recipe probably 6-8 months ago. It's lighter now, and better, IMO.

• The dates that items become active in the showcase does not necessarily correlate with the order in which they were completed. They can be out of order for a million different reasons. One example: we do a batch of 50 Maple/Maple necks in the old Vintage Tint. They all get listed on the same day...but only 10 of them are activated as "live listings". The other 40 are left inactive. They sit dormant, until the first 10 have sold through, after-which another 10 are activated. In the meantime, a batch of a dozen Maple/Rosewood necks with the new Vintage Tint are completed, listed, and activated. Then later, another 10 of the old Maple/Maple are activated. See how that might work?

• It's true: here in the marketing department we edit images in Photoshop all the time to make things look juicy. The listing department, however, is a different story. The last thing Warmoth wants is people returning things because they don't look like the pictures in the Showcase. Those guys (or more accurately, ladies) aren't a bunch of part-time art students taking cell-phone pictures. They are darn good at what they do, and I can offer first-hand testimony that they go to EXTREME measures to accurately depict Showcase items. I'm mean, crazy, obsessive lengths. I mean, like, they are insane about it over there. Certifiably meticulous. It's actually kind of disturbing, and I worry about them. Unfortunately, no matter how well they do their job, once those images leave their carefully calibrated monitors, it's a crap shoot. Every customer sees showcase images based on the screen settings of their own particular device. As all you graphic designers and photographers will attest, anybody that thinks it's a slam-dunk to make images look the same across every device has never tried it. It's a Kobayashi Maru of epic proportions.

The good news in all of this is: you don't have to worry too much about what order Vintage Tint necks were sprayed in, or whether you will get a dark on or a light one, because you get to see a picture of EVERY SINGLE one! Multiple pictures, in fact. You get to choose the one with the wood grain pattern and shade of tint you like.


What a great time to be alive!

 

[Cagey]

Personally, I've never been disappointed with what's shown up. Quite the opposite. If I like the picture(s), I know I'm gonna like the real part.

I take that back. I have a "metallic" black cherry carved top Tele that I don't care for. It looked great in the picture, but in real life what Warmoth calls "metallic" is what I'd call "metal flake". Then what they call "metal flake" is what looks to me like a transparent color mixed with the floor sweepings from an aluminum cutting mill. Huge chunks. Like what you'd see on carnival rides, or on Liberace's or Elton John's closet floor. Not hooker dust, but hooker body armor.

But that's just me, that's not anything Warmoth's doing wrong or misrepresenting.

 

[aarontunes]

LOL. I LERVE Warmoth's flake finishes! To me our flake looks exactly like a 70's motorcycle helmet.

Or a carnival ride.

Or Liberace's or Elton John's closet floor.

OK.....point conceded.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, well, it's like they say. One man's premium finish is another man's robot vomit  :laughing7:

 

[mayfly]

Then what they call "metal flake" is what looks to me like a transparent color mixed with the floor sweepings from an aluminum cutting mill. Huge chunks. Like what you'd see on carnival rides, or on Liberace's or Elton John's closet floor. Not hooker dust, but hooker body armor.

That sounds AWESOME!  I'm one step closer to that Don Ritch metal flake telecaster now...

 

[Logrinn]

 

[primi]

For a bit of fun and a nice dose of pretty looking bodies I dare you to name those 2 on this picture that are yellow bursts.  :icon_tongue:

They are all black korina but there will obviously still be a vast variation of raw wood colors. Don't cheat with showroom because these pictures are from my own collection that accumulated over the years and they most certainly sold many of them and hopefully all.

Unfortunately I don't have any in vintage tint so it's getting off topic. Sorry for that.

 

[aarontunes]

Don't worry about being off-topic...the Vintage Tint thing was kind of played out anyway.


As far as the two that are yellow-burst, that's easy. They are that one, and um....that one.


What do I win?

 

[Logrinn]

I'm guessing number 1 and 2

 

[Cagey]

That sounds AWESOME!  I'm one step closer to that Don Ritch metal flake telecaster now...

Perhaps I could interest you in a metallic black cherry carved top Tele? It's got a curly maple neck that's been enhanced by Great Ape at the 12th fret. Cut for humbuckers; installed these Dream 180s. Cagey neck treatment. MSRP is $5,295 but I could let it go for less than that, since I hate its guts.

 

[primi]

I'm guessing number 1 and 2

Number one is black to clear burst, number 2 is indeed black to yellow. So which one is the other yellow burst?