Review of new Warmoth neck, for first time buyers and semi-amateur builders

[Hodgo]

For perspective, most of us who reside in the PNW are spoiled in the sense that humidity conditions tdo not really alter from Warmoth to Customers, We can pretty much play them right out of the box.

I never thought about that, but yeah. Never had a Warmoth product until I moved out here.

 

[Hodgo]

I agree with all of your replies and I can't argue as I'm about as local to Warmoth as I can get without cutting through their lawn to get to work every day. Rose tinted nostalgia... Maybe... But I have my brown guitar which is "technically" a 99 and my 2000 American standard strat I got very used awhile back and as far as the necks go the difference is night and day. I never said it was on the level of a custom shop or bespoke/boutique but at least the one I have/ ones I have had are just as good if not better then the American STANDARD counterparts of the same era... Your milage may vary and thank you all for your responses

When I said Player Series - I think Players are as good today as AmStds were in the 90s. Manufacturing in general is very good now.

 

[jhamnett]

I found my Warmoth neck pretty dang playable out of the box. I only set the truss rod during setup. And I tend to do fretwork on every guitar I own. But ymmv since that was shipped PNW -> Boston in December so not a ton of humidity issues.

I did hit the back of the neck with a 0000 steel wool pad but that's another story. Got that satin finish super smooth now.

 

[rauchman]

I have zero complaints with W necks. I have 3 (1 Wolfgang, 2 Standard Thins). All are roasted maple shafts with SS frets, with 1 having an ebony board and also being a 24.75" Tiltback Strat.

Maybe my mindset is different in that all 3 of these necks were used on builds starting from unfinished bodies. I expected to be doing some very fine sanding on the back and fine tuning the frets. While I found all 3 very playable before doing anything, the work I did made them better.....lower action with very polished frets and butter smooth on the back of the neck..... effortless playing.

I would assume if you're working with a custom builder, then yes, I'd expect exceptional fret work and a perfect drop in neck for the instrument.
However, I've always seen the Fender based bolt on's as a starting point. Great instruments that can really shine with some TLC. While I haven't played a zillion examples, any sample I've bought or played in a store have had neck work on par with W's in terms of fret work. In both cases, very playable out of the box, but with some TLC become really good. I'm totally good with that, and all 3 W necks I've sampled were very good out of the box.

 

[Shellcaster]

I remember this ancient thread. I've been around in one form or another since 2009ish. I can remember about 3 of these folks and it always came off as some people just aren't happy unless they're complaining about something. They're parts, they're good parts. If you want custom work you need to pay someone to do custom work, which as likely as not would start with said good parts, cause Warmoth is good stuff.

Warmoth was more than custom work... For a broke left handed kid with unusually freakishly strong hands it was my ONLY solution. And being a kid basically it was my custom shop as well. My first guitar was a Yamaha that was a knock off Ibanez that had their in house knock off of a Floyd Rose on it I accidentally ripped the set screw for it out of the body. The to lead pickup and the trem in my brown guitar are from that Yamaha as I was given a Carvin humbucker for the bridge position once I seriously started learning to play.

While I was learning to build the brown guitar bit by bit I got a Korean made Squier Strat as my next guitar in-between and loved it and literally played it to death. Trying to be like SRV and playing on 13's I pounded valleys into those poor brass frets in a year. My then I learned this "local parts company made Fender necks and had a discount/blemish" section with "cheap parts". I got my first "vintage" solid maple neck with a 7.25 radius and 6105 frets for less than a price of a new Squier. It took a little work to make an American neck fit a metric body but once it did I thought I finally knew what love was.

I love my American strat but I bought it used so I could afford it. Had to redo some wiring, a new jack, action and intonation, all the basics, but the frets once again are worn down and for the price of a quality regret around here I can get a Warmoth neck custom spec'd and finished for about a hundred bucks more. It will be my first time using stainless steel frets and now I'm much older, arthritis has set in, and I only play on 11's I'm sure it will last me 3 lifetimes...

It's custom shop to me

 

[Shellcaster]

I have zero complaints with W necks. I have 3 (1 Wolfgang, 2 Standard Thins). All are roasted maple shafts with SS frets, with 1 having an ebony board and also being a 24.75" Tiltback Strat.

Maybe my mindset is different in that all 3 of these necks were used on builds starting from unfinished bodies. I expected to be doing some very fine sanding on the back and fine tuning the frets. While I found all 3 very playable before doing anything, the work I did made them better.....lower action with very polished frets and butter smooth on the back of the neck..... effortless playing.

I would assume if you're working with a custom builder, then yes, I'd expect exceptional fret work and a perfect drop in neck for the instrument.
However, I've always seen the Fender based bolt on's as a starting point. Great instruments that can really shine with some TLC. While I haven't played a zillion examples, any sample I've bought or played in a store have had neck work on par with W's in terms of fret work. In both cases, very playable out of the box, but with some TLC become really good. I'm totally good with that, and all 3 W necks I've sampled were very good out of the box.

I am the custom builder, I'm a little rusty bud for my 9th grade science final I set for hours wrapping copper wire around a bar magnet by hand. I made a crappy slide guitar with it for my final project. I used my wood and metal shop classes to lean how to cut, trim, sand, and finish making a guitar body from a wood blank. I wish I had stuck with it and leaned C'n'C and how to do a neck/frets from scratch. I'm by no means some "professional quality luthier" but I can make me happy. Before the Internet if you wanted anything left-handed AND nice you had to be rich, know someone that worked for a guitar company, or figure it out...

I got a C on my science final so I'm half way there I guess lol

 

[Shellcaster]

When I said Player Series - I think Players are as good today as AmStds were in the 90s. Manufacturing in general is very good now.

That's funny because I got a used 2022 tequila sunrise finished player plus the same time I got my used 2000 American standard. As nice as the player plus was with the locking tuners, S1 switch to use the neck and bridge pickup, and that killer finish along with all the other special features I ended up keeping the American standard disbite needing much more work. It wasn't because of the "made in America" logo either (though to my unlisted surprise it does have tex-mex pickups which I think are made in Mexico now lol).

I kept it because along with being 2 pounds lighter it is simply the most comfortable guitar I've ever played out of the hundreds I've been lucky enough to own/borrow/use. A guitar that feels like it is perfectly made for you, at least to me, is worth a hundred "high end" guitars that are miserable to play. I ordered this Warmoth neck I'm waiting for now for the tequila sunrise Strat but I ended up trading that guitar for my current amp so the new neck will go on my American strat till I can afford the refret and then prolly I'll put it on my other Mexican Strat for comfort.

Sorry for the long rants, I just don't get too have these discussions much "IRL" and I'm getting excited for the new neck to come soon lol