Hi
Here I was thinking I would get my guitar delivered well into February (because of the 8-10 week period calculated by Warmoth), much to my surprise when I woke up this morning (a bit late I must say) my sister told me she had picked up something from the Postal Office, I proceeded to look for a magazine or a bank statement or heck even a Music Catalog (the usual stuff) but it never crossed my mind that my Warmoth Soloist would be there!
I was so surprised because I didn't expect it to arrive so soon, the lack of a confirmation e-mail from Warmoth contributed to the situation, I was hoping to change the delivery address to a relatives house to use UPS or something (I live in Mexico just south of the border with California) instead of USPS as recently I read a few horror stories involving them, happily, Murphy's Law didn't apply this time and USPS DELIVERED THE GOODS (pun intended). The only negative thing is that the Trembucker (JB) arrived with one of the covers (the black one) broken and the windings are exposed, I guess I'll have to return this to warmoth??
Everything was neatly packed and the boxes weren't damaged in any way. I proceeded to open up this baby (the neck first) and was surprised with the attention to detail and superior craftsmanship involved in this labor of love Warmoth are doing. First to come out where the pair of Humbuckers (SD JB-Jazz combo in zebra configuration), the cases where roughed up a bit but these always break (damn plastic), and seeing as the boxes where in excellent condition I didn't make much of it, the neck is a Cream bound Standard Thin Birds eye maple with rosewood fretboard and cream dot markers and 22 .6150 frets. I've had a few Jackson's in my time (mostly mid level guitars) and none of them came close to this, I opted for a fenderish satin finish (as I love my strat's feel) and the figuring is a nice touch (not too over the top), what can I say, I'm a sucker for bound fretboards.
The body is astounding and has a nice 3d look to it, the finish is everything I hoped it would be (I was a little nervous as I've seen a variety of Cherry Bursts and none where the same), Warmoth once more delivered with this, I can't stop looking at it, it's a Flame Maple Top with a Mahogany back finished in trans red with cream binding, a flat top (no forearm contour) and a contoured heel, I'm planning on installing the humbuckers directly to wood to get a cleaner look and to see if there's actually a difference between this and installing pickup rings. A Wilkinson vibrato will complete the package, I actually like Floyds and was fairly skilled in setting them up and changing strings fast but I wanted to explore the tone and feel of this type of bridge (I have a standard 6 screw on my Strat anyways so I should be okay). I also ordered a set of locking tuners and all the necessary hardware from Warmoth and I'm planning to assemble as much as I can and then take it to a shop to be set up and drilled.
I can't wait to play this baby!! I'll update with my impressions and maybe some sound samples when I get around to it. I thought of going the Warmoth route a few times in the past, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner.
P.S. Sorry about the picture's quality, I don't have a camera with me so I took a few with my cell phone.
EDIT: It's finally here, I went to pick her up this morning and so far it plays like a dream and sounds just as I imagined, I'll post some pics soon.
Here I was thinking I would get my guitar delivered well into February (because of the 8-10 week period calculated by Warmoth), much to my surprise when I woke up this morning (a bit late I must say) my sister told me she had picked up something from the Postal Office, I proceeded to look for a magazine or a bank statement or heck even a Music Catalog (the usual stuff) but it never crossed my mind that my Warmoth Soloist would be there!
I was so surprised because I didn't expect it to arrive so soon, the lack of a confirmation e-mail from Warmoth contributed to the situation, I was hoping to change the delivery address to a relatives house to use UPS or something (I live in Mexico just south of the border with California) instead of USPS as recently I read a few horror stories involving them, happily, Murphy's Law didn't apply this time and USPS DELIVERED THE GOODS (pun intended). The only negative thing is that the Trembucker (JB) arrived with one of the covers (the black one) broken and the windings are exposed, I guess I'll have to return this to warmoth??
Everything was neatly packed and the boxes weren't damaged in any way. I proceeded to open up this baby (the neck first) and was surprised with the attention to detail and superior craftsmanship involved in this labor of love Warmoth are doing. First to come out where the pair of Humbuckers (SD JB-Jazz combo in zebra configuration), the cases where roughed up a bit but these always break (damn plastic), and seeing as the boxes where in excellent condition I didn't make much of it, the neck is a Cream bound Standard Thin Birds eye maple with rosewood fretboard and cream dot markers and 22 .6150 frets. I've had a few Jackson's in my time (mostly mid level guitars) and none of them came close to this, I opted for a fenderish satin finish (as I love my strat's feel) and the figuring is a nice touch (not too over the top), what can I say, I'm a sucker for bound fretboards.
The body is astounding and has a nice 3d look to it, the finish is everything I hoped it would be (I was a little nervous as I've seen a variety of Cherry Bursts and none where the same), Warmoth once more delivered with this, I can't stop looking at it, it's a Flame Maple Top with a Mahogany back finished in trans red with cream binding, a flat top (no forearm contour) and a contoured heel, I'm planning on installing the humbuckers directly to wood to get a cleaner look and to see if there's actually a difference between this and installing pickup rings. A Wilkinson vibrato will complete the package, I actually like Floyds and was fairly skilled in setting them up and changing strings fast but I wanted to explore the tone and feel of this type of bridge (I have a standard 6 screw on my Strat anyways so I should be okay). I also ordered a set of locking tuners and all the necessary hardware from Warmoth and I'm planning to assemble as much as I can and then take it to a shop to be set up and drilled.
I can't wait to play this baby!! I'll update with my impressions and maybe some sound samples when I get around to it. I thought of going the Warmoth route a few times in the past, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner.
P.S. Sorry about the picture's quality, I don't have a camera with me so I took a few with my cell phone.
EDIT: It's finally here, I went to pick her up this morning and so far it plays like a dream and sounds just as I imagined, I'll post some pics soon.
