The original custom guitar shop can't sell me a guitar??

[Dietrich]

Hi Folks,

I was finally ready to have Warmoth build my dream guitar when I found out they don't build guitars!  Must be the language barrier.  I was shocked--It's not like I'm unwilling to pay. 

Anyway, I'm looking for advice as to how to proceed.  Basically, I want a lefty Strat' made with quality timber, a CBS headstock, Kinman pickups, premium parts/wiring/shielding, and I want it PLEK'd.  I'd also like to find out about what is available as far as getting some 3rd party chrome hardware to match that "brushed" look Fender sometimes employs.  To top it off, I'd like a small graphic of my name on the headstock.  Basically, I want this to be the most playable guitar I've ever held, which shouldn't be that hard since being a lefty, I haven't sampled that many. 

I wrote as much in an email to Warmoth, and got a rather terse reply:

. . .

We do not put logos or graphics on headstocks. We do not assemble
guitars, or do any wiring.
As the website shows, we offer bodies, necks, and hardware.

If the item is not on our website, we do not offer it, or offer advice
on it.

. . .

It's a drag when a company acts like it's not even interested in making money.  I mean, would they do it for a million dollars?  How about 100K?  What about 10K?

Since ranting won't get the guitar in my hands, I'll let it go, but I really wanted to get that off my chest and perhaps let someone at or around Warmoth know that they could have made a lot of money.

About the guitar . . .

Any suggestions on where to go?  The only caveat I have is that I do not trust Fender's Custom Shop.  If I do end up buying from Warmoth, how much will they assemble?  Or how hard should it be to find a tech (Florida) capable of doing a first-rate job in bolting all this stuff together and wiring it up?  Us lefties tend to have bad relationships with power-tools, y'know. 

-Dietrich

 

[Nando Vallart]

They won't assemble, PERIOD!

They build replacement bodies and necks (also pickguards and sell parts) only that...

EDIT: I believe you can find easy a guy on Florida who could do it... perhaps you can find somebody here to help you in that, but you should ask it in a polite way

 

[kataar]

well, because of the licensing agreement, they are not allowed to sell guitars per se. the are only allowed to sell guitar parts, and from what I've heard they're on pretty thin ice with fender already.

 

[GoDrex]

Are you seriously going to pay 10K for a guitar?

 

[Wyliee]

Do a search for Michael Dolan Guitars, Pat Wilkins or GMW Guitarworks.  All are very respected builders.  Also look at Mike Lull as they supposedly have a PLEK machine, though I doubt they would do a custom headstock.

 

[Dietrich]

Are you seriously going to pay 10K for a guitar?

Probably not, but I did want to contrast my willingness to pay whatever it took for a little hand-holding from a respected shop.  The licensing issue was one I had not thought about, and sounds like a plausible, albeit disappointing, reason for things.  That a guitar manufacturer can have intellectual ownership over what is basically the standard in solid-body guitar design typifies what's wrong with the way the law deals with intellectual property.  Still, I would've rather been told something--anything--other than, 'No you can't get that, we don't do that.'  They should have a list of respected builders and machinists, and charge a consultation fee for directing you to them and giving advice on how to get what you're after.  It would help guys like me who do not exactly swim in the same circles I did when I was gigging all the time, learning of the new products available and the like.  I'm out of the loop, and could've used the help.  Now I'm stuck here spending all day on the internet researching this stuff when I could be working.  People will pay for mere advice from respected sources, and I think Warmoth would fit the bill.  Anyway, enough of that.

Thank-you Wyliee for the heads-up on those sources.  I'll have a look and those guys.

 

[dbw]

Some guys on this board will be happy to build a guitar for you...  willyk comes to mind.  He's built about eighty Warmoths, he sells custom guitars, and he's even a lefty!

http://www.leftysguitarswapshop.com/willy_k_custom_guitars.htm

Edit: A word of warning... he's AUSTRALIAN.  So... you know. 

 

[guitlouie]

I would guess that Warmoth probably gets a thousand e-mails a day from people asking if they do this, or that, some of which is clearly explained on their website.  To have someone sit and give detailed explanations to every yahoo with an idea of what they should be doing is probably not all that cost effective.  "Custom Shop"  does not necessarily mean "We will do anything at all you can think of". 

 

[jimh]

Trust me when I tell you,  and I'm sure many 'new builders' here will tell you the same thing......

There's nothing more rewarding than choosing / designing something that you want, to your own specification, and then getting the bits and putting it together yourself.  Warmoth is an amazing place to that.  Warmoth are a replacement parts manufacturer, but I'm telling you now that the 'replacement parts' that they produce are far better quality than anything you'd find somewhere like Fender custom shop.  That's not to say that Fender's CS is bad, but I reckon you'd get better quality materials, more options, a more personal touch (I'm sorry about the 'snotty' email you received, there's no need to be that short with a new enquiry) and all of this for an absolute fraction of the cost of a real custom shop.

I always wanted a 'Custom' guitar.  I got some Warmoth parts, as it happened the parts that I got were not overly flashy or way out.  I had it painted (by Warmoth) with an 8-ball graphic for no other reason than I wanted it.  Cant get more custom than that.  Once I'd finished my guitar I showed it here, and some people liked it, some did'nt and some people did'nt get the 8-ball.  But who cares what they think.  It's my guitar and it's what I wanted.

I'm waffling but what I'm getting down to is go out and check out some true custom builder and see what they can do for you, BUT.....dont discount the Warmoth stuff.  You can get some amazing work, just check out some of the stuff the guys here on the forum have been knocking out recently. 
You can go as plain or as mad as you like.  If you want serious quality wood with the faciest tops it's all here, or you can go super simple like mine.  The guys here are all amazingly helpful, some work for Warmoth, most dont, but we/they all have nothing but the utmost respect for new builders (like me) and are always happy to pass on the little snippets of info that you just would'nt get from Fender and the like. 
We all respect and understand each others opinions cos that what they are opinions. 

You say you're out of the loop and could use some help, but thats what this forum is all about.  Getting back in the loop, and were all here to help.  The guys here helped me (and plenty of others) immensly.  You say people will pay for advice, well here it's free.  All you gotta do is ask.
There are guys here that have been doing this for years, (CB, JackTheHack, WillyK) who have a wealth of experience of building all different types.

Doing a scratch build is not something you should be scared of, even if you are a lefty.  Just check out Willyk's stuff, he's a lefty too.
It's great fun, addictive, and you'll end up with an incredible guitar (or many), for a fraction of the cost, and you could still take it your local guy for that Plek setup for the ultimate playablility.

Spend a few evenings trawling through some of the posts here and see what kind of work people are doing.  You'll be a surprised by the quality.
Give it a try, you just might like it, especially if you've got some cash to throw at it.

Either way, let us know how you get on, and what you decide. :icon_thumright:

Cool Bro.
Jim

 

[David]

Have the parts shipped to me and I'll assemble it for you for 9K.

 

[bpmorton777]

I smell a troll. ???

Brian

 

[GoDrex]

Have the parts shipped to me and I'll assemble it for you for 9K.

I'll do it for 2K hahaha

 

[spauldingrules]

Or take the money you would have spent on assembly and buy enough parts for 5 or 10 guitars, practice assembling, keep the best one, and send the rest to me!

 

[RLW]

I smell a troll. ???

Brian

Today was the last day of school in most of the USA. Prepare for a full-frontal 3 month long onslaught of Wookies.

 

[OzziePete]

Dietrich,

Get your head around the concept that Warmoth provides parts -and good ones at that- for the assembly and setup of a guitar.

Their original philosophy was as a replacement parts manufacturer, so that when your old Strat had worn out it's frets and couldn't stand another refret job, the replacement neck offered by Warmoth was available.

In those days (late 1970s -80s ?), Fender may have offered replacement necks, but I think from memory, they were overpriced, hard to get and usually only for warranty claim jobs. Warmoth got a licence agreement with Fender very early on, and probably do OEM work for them though they can't comment about that aspect of their business.

The licence probably prevents them from doing actual assembly and repair work on assembled guitars.

The idea is if you want to replace a neck for a Strat, Tele, Jazz bass or P Bass, then Warmoth can provide that for you. If you want to replace a beat up body for those same models, ditto. Working on the idea of making a custom guitar, as you have described it, is the reverse of the way that Warmoth was set up in the first place IMHO.

They do the necks and bodies under proper licence. Exact shape and specs as the original Fender model, no need to change the style or shape in any way.

Where the 'custom' comes into play is where you can select the materials and finishes used in the body or neck and they can add nice personal touches like binding and styles of markers on the fretboard. They will also drill the neck pegholes to a variety of hole sizes to accomodate a variety of tuners. On bodies they will vary the pickup, control and bridge routs to a larger variety than the original Fender model. And so it goes on with options available to the original model.

Warmoth have steadily widened their capacity to do a larger variety of work on bodies and necks over the years. What was once just a standard neck and body replacement shop now has a fair range of options in build construction, materials used and stylising.

Getting disappointed they won't build the guitar of your dreams is a wrong way to look at Warmoth. They can, more than most, provide you with many of the parts that makes up that guitar - built to a high consistent standard. Get the parts you need, and have a luthier in you area put it together and set it up.

If you want a genuine custom guitar, I'd doubt you'd have very little change from $10K if you are lucky.

 

[DocNrock]

Well said, Orpheo. 

 

[jackthehack]

Don't feed the troll..

 

[stubhead]

http://luth.org/links/makers.htm

If Warmoth does the finishing, it's hard to imagine you having to pay more than $300, $350 to someone to put it all together and level & crown the frets. Any guitar shop that offers full repairs is going to have some guy who does their work - find that guy. If you don't have any tools, or any background in changing your pickups & minor woodworking, a whole build from scratch is going to take a lot of research and a few hundred dollars worth of tools to get it as perfect as you seem to want. I suspect most of us kind of backed into this, you change a pickup here and plug a hole there and before you know it you're covered in sawdust and there's guitars all over the place....  :-\

 

[Orpheo]

Well said, Orpheo. 

I havent said a thing...

though I agree with ozziePete.

At warmoth's, you can get a guitar which is very custom in the sence of 'getting many options at an affordable price with high quality with high consitancy'. If what you want is not available, either work it out with a local luthier, so you can have warmoth's woods and basic body and neck with little modifications (like having a tremking instead of hipshot or kahler or wilkie), or just get the (almost) same thing done at a luthier, or just change your specs a bit so warmoth can make what you want, and still being within your own wishes and specs.

Or just look somewhere else. they're the original 'customshop' in the sence of getting replacementparts for a low price, but the name is misleading. it 'original replacementpartsshop with semi-custom characteristics', but 'original customshop' sounds better i guess

 

[bpmorton777]

I think that was his point!

Brian