Strat Conversion neck Questions and Sound Comparison

[chicken-]

I would like to see them add a note to the tuner hole selection that you will need to drill 1-2 more holes on the back yourself with precision in order to install any tuners. At least then people can do the research and buy what they need (My Sperzel locking tuners call for a #36 drill bit and two 5/32" deep holes for each tuner. #36 drill bit isn't something most people have laying around and to do this safely you need a stop collar to go with it which again, not easy to find one that small.)

I would also put a mention that all nuts are cut for standard 10 gauge string sets instead of just claiming they are near perfect.

Having your employees inspect the product prior to shipping should've already been their policy though, this is where I'm disappointed in their efforts to make up for it.

 

[Cagey]

Maybe a note would be good, although I doubt anyone would read it. They were probably thinking that most people would realize that these aren't kits, they're just parts, and more than "some" assembly is required. Plus, there's a limit to how much they can recommend. Everybody likes to do things differently, and if by following a recommendation they ended up with less than stellar results, they'd likely want to come after Warmoth for telling them to do something arguably wrong. If anyone, the tuner folks should tell you how to install their tuners, not the neck maker. I'm almost surprised Warmoth goes so far as to drill the main peg holes for the tuners, since they vary in diameter from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model.

 

[stratamania]

Whilst I can understand being a little frustrated about the nut you could have also done your own research about tuner holes and so on.  I mean expecting to be told every last detail of what you will need for your tuners by a neck manufacturer when you can find this link in literally seconds is stretching it a bit.  It's a bit like expecting the body to be drilled for pickguard screws, which they are not.

http://www.sperzel.com/installation.php

What happens if someone selects Schaller type tuner holes, there are lots of different tuners that fit those holes some requiring screws and some not. That raises a lot of other questions of what might be needed or what someone needs to research.

Nuts (it does not mention anything about string gauge in the nearly perfect description)

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/StringNut.aspx

Lots of us on here are happy to help with questions new folks have about their build or assembly but the vast majority of us are not Warmoth staff so we cannot do anything about complaints or expectations.

 

[Logrinn]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I've received three necks (24"-Scale Mustang type) and the nuts have been near perfect. The final adjustment on one of them have been done by a very qualified tech. But the other play almost as well without any additional work. I use 009's.

On a Fender that I put new tuners and I didn't want to drill additional holes I used Hipshot's Universal Mounting Plate that fixates the tuners without screws.

 

[chicken-]

From what I could tell Sperzel only has one set of holes for all of their tuners so I assumed that was standard. I will admit to inexperience on my part for those issues but it's easy to assume you can install Sperzel tuners when you select it in what is available for drilling options.

All that aside, they made a mistake and took their time making it right and opted to do the bare minimum in doing so which still stinks if you ask me and not something I would take pride in as a company.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I consider myself a pretty skilled craftsman, and even though I've hammered who-knows-how-many nails, I still hit my thumb from time to time.  Does that mean I suck?  No, it just means I hit my thumb due to a moment of inattention.  The same is true of any company that provides services.  Before the "pride" of a company is ruined, they really need to show a tendency to hit there thumb on every other nail.  It's pretty obvious that is not the case with Warmoth.  Does it suck that you got the one bad nut out of the year; yeah it does, but I thinks that pretty far from proving that they sell an inferior product and/or don't care about their work.

As far as the tuner complaint goes, I'll echo Cagey; these aren't kits.  I'm actually happy that I don't have to measure and drill the main tuner holes if I don't want to.

 

[stratamania]

I think you made your point several posts ago.

Seriously what do you expect them to do, fire people, put the whole of the factory production on hold, to handle your nut. Ask for resignations or an election....

Really you are making this out to be far worse than it actually is. It's getting old like a Pentium II running XP.

 

[musicispeace]

If it helps anyone coming into this as a new experience I came into this parts guitar thing after having quit music and guitars entirely for about twenty years. (As in I didn't even buy any music during that time) So I came in knowing a little from having owned a couple of Ibanez guitars back in the day but was not up to speed at all on the parts guitar experience. I had a learning curve and many moments of "why didn't anyone tell me that." This forum was a great find and members have been extremely informative and consistently generous with information. So I would highly recommend exploring this forum and asking questions here for one thing.

Having now interacted with people from local guitar techs (mostly useless on all fronts) to the customer service experience with Warmoth, USACG, and Musikraft I have had some very helpful experiences and also dealt with a lot of what I despise about the guitar-shop-guys subculture in many manifestations. I conclude you have to be a good detective and collect info, ask questions, and look at the totality of what you have gathered. No one's customer service is perfect. (except for maybe Bare Knuckle pickups in the UK) As I have said previously, at least one of the other neck makers in the US will NOT ship you a neck with a nut installed even if you asked them to. So it has its pros and cons but a lot of users opt to get a nut cut specific to each guitar. Others have been happy with pre-installed and some further dialing in. I did get one body (out of several I have ordered from Warmoth) where it appeared that whoever routed for the pickups was having a bad day.

At the risk of boring anyone who already knows this, parts casters involve decisions about what you want to build (or have built), what individual components you want to utilize, gathering these components, dealing with anything that comes up as an issue at even that stage, skilled assembly and even more skilled set up to play properly.

As others have said, there is the parts route and the kits route. Partscasters seem to generally be of higher quality than most kits and the emphasis is that they are comprised of raw parts. Its creating an instrument out of thin air and are always, to some degree whether a little or a little more so, an experiment. Yet when successful they are a custom instrument tailored exactly to you.

I have waited literally months for hand would pickups, I will not name who delivered the wrong neck wood with the right fretboard because someone did not fully read my order,  I've sorted through local techs who should not be calling themselves technicians or be allowed to interact with consumers, and yet in the end I have instruments I would not trade for any Fender Custom Shop guitar that cost less than a third of that to bring into existence. They have little resale value but the truly custom aspect of them is of far greater value to many of us, especially for the ones doing their own work on them.

So, ask questions and be a good detective. The music culture leaves A LOT to be desired but there are many of us who are glad to help others avoid problems to the extent we can.

 

[NonsenseTele]

I didn't read all answer, so I'm answering to the original post.

Yes, shorter scale change the tone.
To my ears to better. It's a little bit fatter tone and 25.5 is a bit more snappy.
To me at least 85% of the tone is pickup + amp, then scale length and then the rest. Specifically live gig... I'm pretty sure that live, with guitar, bass, drums and vocal, no one can tell if it's mahogany or alder body, if it's maple or rosewood fingerboard...
Most "facts" about guitar tone falls apart on blind test, specially alive...

I really think single truss rod vs double truss rod is SO subtle that on a blind test 99% of the guys that says it changes tone won't be able to tell...
And stability wise and longevity wise, double truss rod is MUCH better.

If I tell you a advice, go for double truss rod with out thinking twice.
Shorter scale is about taste, some like it longer, some like it shorter. I feel more difference on the low E string, but mind that with pickup choice and amp tweaking it will be not so big difference as people say, it's not day and night...

 

[chicken-]

So I finally got my neck to somebody trustworthy to drill the holes and got it all set up. My first impression is that the workmanship is good and I don't think I need any additional setup other than smoothing out the fret ends and perhaps having the nut adjusted a bit as I'm still having some issues there with my tremolo (strings going sharp after tremolo use).

I recorded a bunch of different things with my old neck and repeated the process with the new neck (same strings) and here's the first set of comparisons I did. Just an A chord and moving through all the pickup positions from top to bottom. It alternates between Old Neck and New Neck for each pickup position. No effects, straight into a Tascam 2x2 recorded in Reaper.  It really makes me wonder how much of the difference is wood/scale vs the dual action truss rod, it's definitely a "snappier" sound like some predicted happens with the dual action.

http://www.prounreal.org/temp/StratNeckCompare1.mp3

Edit: The dull sounding strings was due to too much bow in the neck, after adjusting it has returned to a more familiar sound (acoustically). It didn't seem to make any difference plugged in but I updated the recording anyway.

 

[Frankencat]

If they made a conversion neck without the side adjust I would try one but for now, no dice.

 

[Logrinn]

If they made a conversion neck without the side adjust I would try one but for now, no dice.

Because ..?

 

[Cagey]

A surprising number of people feel the access hole for the side adjust mechanism is just too unsightly to bear. One of those things that once seen, cannot be unseen. I don't understand it, as you almost have to deliberately look for it to see it in the first place. On the other hand, many of those same people have no problem with the monstrous furrow gouged out of the face of the headstock for a traditional truss rod adjustment point. I mean, it's right out in plain sight where you have no choice but to see it, and so obscene that many designs include cover plates for it. Why is that acceptable while a little 1/4" hole out of sight on the underside of the neck is not?

 

[Logrinn]

^^^
Exactly this!

 

[BigSteve22]

A surprising number of people feel the access hole for the side adjust mechanism is just too unsightly to bear. One of those things that once seen, cannot be unseen. I don't understand it, as you almost have to deliberately look for it to see it in the first place. On the other hand, many of those same people have no problem with the monstrous furrow gouged out of the face of the headstock for a traditional truss rod adjustment point. I mean, it's right out in plain sight where you have no choice but to see it, and so obscene that many designs include cover plates for it. Why is that acceptable while a little 1/4" hole out of sight on the underside of the neck is not?

Yeah, what he said!  :sign13:

 

[aarontunes]

If they made a conversion neck without the side adjust I would try one but for now, no dice.

We make a bunch. Try any tiltback conversion neck....Hombre, Warmoth, Vortex, Arcade, Tiltback Strat, etc.


No side adjust in sight. Just a good-old-fashioned, obscenely monstrous furrow gouged in the headstock.  :icon_thumright:


(Don't worry though...we provide a cover to hide it.)

 

[Cagey]

Mmmm... Obscene monster furrow...​

 

[rgand]

If they made a conversion neck without the side adjust I would try one but for now, no dice.

We make a bunch. Try any tiltback conversion neck....Hombre, Warmoth, Vortex, Arcade, Tiltback Strat, etc.


No side adjust in sight. Just a good-old-fashioned, obscenely monstrous furrow gouged in the headstock.  :icon_thumright:


(Don't worry though...we provide a cover to hide it.)

Well, hey. With a guarantee like that, why not? :icon_biggrin: