Seraphina arrives

[Prometheus]

I can't believe it's finally here. It had got to the stage where I thought it'd never come. After I'd browsed the forum to death, researched and agonized over all the choices, I was finally ready to go, except for a few questions about laminate choices. I first phoned Warmoth on July 27, and today it finally, finally arrived.

I know, you might be thinking "what's the big deal, that's like, about 6 weeks". But you see, I phoned about this order July 27, 2013 !!! So, more like 58 weeks. Painful. In talking with the guys at Warmoth, I gather that every once in a blue moon, there's an order that is just cursed. For no particular reason other than pure dumb luck, that order was mine.

At this point I've got to mention somebody. The unlucky individual at Warmoth that picked up the phone that day was Cary. And as time went by, and unfortunate circumstances rose and fell, Cary was there swingin' for me. I tell ya, the guy has the patience of a saint. Even at those times along the way when I was about to lose my patience and give up on the whole thing, he kept his head and delivered customer service above and beyond the call of duty. So, far from this being a rant against long delivery times, I offer a testimonial to a level and quality of customer service that is second to none. And if anybody is interested in the saga, I could hash out the high and low points of this guitar's journey into the world over the last 405 days.

Here's the boxes (I can't believe I stopped to take pictures) and the body. Alder Soloist, flame maple top blue-dyed.

 

[Prometheus]

And here's the neck. Vintage Modern Warhead, Bocote, Clapton profile, ebony skunk stripe, black ebony fingerboard, no inlays, MOP side dots

 

[Prometheus]

I've started a Work In Progress thread here http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=24041.0

 

[bagman67]

Seriously, that's a sexy bunch of parts!

 

[Prometheus]

Thanks, Bagman! Yeah, I'm lovin' 'em. I tried my best to capture the colors correctly. What you see (depending upon your monitor) is pretty darned close. If anything, it's just a bit darker overall. These pics show the central blue as being brighter than it looks in person. Overall, it's pretty dark, kind of like a deep sapphire. And exactly what I was looking for.

And now I'm getting geared up for creating a color-matched dye formula for the peghead veneer.

 

[Rob]

That looks great. Very rich color.

 

[Cagey]

That's a gorgeous body! And that neck ain't no slouch, either. Gonna be one helluva fiddle.

 

[Re-Pete]

I'm curious how you rate Warmoth well, when the order took too long to complete. I mean, a custom shop archtop build would take that long but not parts machined on CNC? Seriously they took your money - I presume -  in 2013 and you are only now seeing the product?

I have done 3 projects with Warmoth and have always been satisfied with their product. But man, if they took 58 weeks to make some parts I'd be singing a different tune. Or talking to my bankers about reimbursement about 12 weeks in...

I admire your patience, your persistence and obviously Warmoth must have done the customer service recovery job of the decade to win you over.

I'm sure once the guitar is assembled and your playing it a while you will still remember the time it took to get to you, but a lot of the frustrations you must have felt along the way, would have dissipated.  The guitar looks great!  :icon_thumright:  :rock-on:

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, I'd be interested in hearing about what kind of problems ate up that kind of time. I mean, I'm not always the most punctual supplier so I'm not without sin, but 58 weeks? Hell, you could almost grow the wood  :icon_biggrin:

 

[bbl4ck]

That really, really sucks that it took so long to get your parts.
But damn, those are some nice looking pieces of timber. 
That is really gonna be a beauty  :glasses9: and I can't wait to see her together.
Be sure to keep the pics a rollin'.
:kewlpics: :rock-on:

 

[Prometheus]

The whole thing was just a string of bad timing and unfortunate circumstances.

When I first called, one of my biggest questions was about the UC selection. There were only a few for the Soloist in flame or quilt maple, and none of them really rang my bell. But that was because their stock of those laminates was down. At the time, the Soloist was still a single-lam top, and needed thicker stock than the double-lams. There were a few things on the shop's plate but I was told that they'd get to cutting some more UC thick lam choices.

But before that, they went through the process of moving to new shop facilities. Taking advantage of the slower summer season. And that naturally took a while.

On Labor Day I learned that the decision had been made to revamp the carved-top Soloist, into a double-lam like the others. But this would require making a new CNC program and going through all the prototyping process. That got into their busy season, but the double-lam Soloist was approved just before Christmas. I didn't want to order it sight-unseen, so I waited until January before they had their first production sample all done up.

All that seemed reasonable to me. Maybe I'm too accommodating, but I have also worked in environments where there's a lot of regular through-put to take care of. That buys the groceries. And at the same time ("spare" time), trying to develop upgrades products and services. Tack that onto the mercy of fluctuating inventory and a production facility move .... well, I can empathize. Sure, I wanted my parts. But I wanted particular parts. And I could have easily gotten any number of other bodies at any point in this process, but I had decided what I wanted, and never was in the mood to change.

There were discussions about the neck, which was a holdup, because I was wanting a very non-standard combination of options. It looked like it was a go, but it got refused. So it was changed, and changed again, and finally settled. So finally, late winter or early spring, my order was finalized. (so no, they were NOT holding my money that whole time)

Unfortunately, during construction of the neck, my UC Ziricote fingerboard failed. These things happen - wood is organic, and no two pieces are the same. I didn't like the alternate UCs they had on hand, waited for more, and didn't like those either. Finally settled on black Ebony, but that took a while too.

There were other little things along the way since then too. And every time a decision had to be made, it'd come off the line. It all finally culminated in the inevitable agonizing wait for the finishing. And sometimes the backing-and-forthing dialog was slower than I liked. And yes, sometimes I was frustrated. Sure. Anybody would be. Of course, I could have just ordered something out of the Showcase and had it in a week. But it's not like I don't have a guitar (or two, or three, or...).

So why do I give them a thumbs-up? Because, as I said, the majority was bad luck, and bad timing. And due to my stubbornness for insisting on getting a very particular body and neck. But it's thumbs-up because at no point in this process did I feel as though I was being stalled, or put off, or back-burnered. On the contrary, I know for a fact that the powers-that-be were directly involved in quite a few approvals for these pieces, and numerous progress updates. Cary QA'd the neck when it was done, coached the paintshop boys on my preference for the dyeing, and did all the final QA on the entire shipment before it went out the door. Those things, and others, and who-knows-how-many phone calls and emails, is in this day and age "going the extra mile".

Sometimes things take longer than we want. Sometimes stuff happens. The trick is to not get hung up on it. Actually, in the meantime, I've designed and built from scratch an onboard power regulator, other onboard active electronics, a few special side projects, written a small treatise detailing the build, and educated myself about dyeing and finishing veneers. So I've put my waiting to good use. Oh yeah, and every now and then, I would play one of the guitars I have now.

It's been a long haul, but I'm really happy with my parts, and my next order will also be with Warmoth.

 

[Prometheus]

Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, it's all just so gorgeous. And now I'm scared to death to start taking tools to it. Note that there are no control holes, no neck mounting holes, and no jack hole. In case you didn't see the mention above, I've started a build thread http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=24041.msg350397#msg350397

 

[Cagey]

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense now.