The ultimate warmoth neck and fret quality poll!!

[ByteFrenzy]

Two necks, both perfect. OK, they're basses so a bit less critical than guitars, I guess, but I recently did a it of tweaking on my J-bass because I initially set it up with a lot higher action than my Thinline, and lowered it to a point that's bordering on ridiculous - still without buzz or dead spots. I'm actually going to raise it a bit again, but only because it feels more comfortable that way.
By the way, can we please enter the poll once for each neck? Marko has seven necks, tfarny four, Doug three and me two. That should count in the stats...

 

[DangerousR6]

Two necks, both perfect. OK, they're basses so a bit less critical than guitars, I guess, but I recently did a it of tweaking on my J-bass because I initially set it up with a lot higher action than my Thinline, and lowered it to a point that's bordering on ridiculous - still without buzz or dead spots. I'm actually going to raise it a bit again, but only because it feels more comfortable that way.
By the way, can we please enter the poll once for each neck? Marko has seven necks, tfarny four, Doug three and me two. That should count in the stats...

Don't forget Jack, he's done 21......how bout that...
And Rene I'm with ya on the action set up. When I built my VW, I was surprised to at how "rediculously" low the action is. I mean my real EB EVH didn't even compair, seriously. And it is a $3000 guitar......

 

[buttmonk]

Two necks, both perfect. OK, they're basses so a bit less critical than guitars, I guess, but I recently did a it of tweaking on my J-bass because I initially set it up with a lot higher action than my Thinline, and lowered it to a point that's bordering on ridiculous - still without buzz or dead spots. I'm actually going to raise it a bit again, but only because it feels more comfortable that way.
By the way, can we please enter the poll once for each neck? Marko has seven necks, tfarny four, Doug three and me two. That should count in the stats...

Thanks for the info. Yeh, this is a statistics thing so once for each neck is the way to go. I think I set the multiple reponses per user to 50 so that should be enough for most people.

 

[ildar]

Over the 20 years I've been buying W necks-about 15 so far-only one had any issue, and that was with fret ends poking out slightly, which is a perfectly reasonable condition. Construction has been excellent, materials superior and then some, and overall a humongous value for my money.

 

[koshersteel]

the only issue I ever had with a neck was when they sent me the wrong one, I changed my order from a strat headstock to a KWS but still got the original neck. They were really cool about it and covered shipping and rushed me the new neck in about 10 days.

 

[guitlouie]

Two Warmoth necks thus far, zero issues.  My setup guy even commented that he was impressed with how little he had to do to get them right,  by which I mean truss rod adjustment, and let 'er rip.  Where did you hear the negative comments?  I always try to consider the source with these types of things.

 

[DangerousR6]

Two Warmoth necks thus far, zero issues.  My setup guy even commented that he was impressed with how little he had to do to get them right,  by which I mean truss rod adjustment, and let 'er rip.  Where did you hear the negative comments?  I always try to consider the source with these types of things.

That's basically all I had to do, tighten truss rod and check with a straight edge in both cases, and viola, I was ready to jam...... arty07:

 

[buttmonk]

Two Warmoth necks thus far, zero issues.  My setup guy even commented that he was impressed with how little he had to do to get them right,  by which I mean truss rod adjustment, and let 'er rip.  Where did you hear the negative comments?  I always try to consider the source with these types of things.

Thanks!

I have been thinking about a Warmoth neck for a couple of years now and have been on many different diy guitar boards, and of course you see many different stories, some good some bad, some false and some just from people who got unlucky I suppose. I wanted to try to get a realistic picture before taking the plunge.

 

[simple]

I just spent the last few hours assembling a new Warmoth guitar from new parts. No fret issues and plays extremely well right off.  I have multiple guitars stage ready. I have rounded the corners of the fret ends on two of them and that's all the fret work they've had.  

I think the most important thing to remember about buying any new neck is that you may have to work on it or have work done on it to be all it can be for your specific desires. If you always expect to have a fret level, you will never be dissappointed. Now isn't that a peaceful way to live?   :laughing7:

 

[DangerousR6]

I just spent the last few hours assembling a new Warmoth guitar from new parts. No fret issues and plays extremely well right off.  I have multiple guitars stage ready. I have rounded the corners of the fret ends on two of them and that's all the fret work they've had. 

I think the most important thing to remember about buying any new neck is that you may have to work on it or have work done on it to be all it can be for your specific desires. If you always expect to have a fret level, you will never be dissappointed. Now isn't that a peaceful way to live?  :laughing7:

Exactly, expect the worse hope for the best..... :icon_thumright:

But more times than not I'm usually on the optimist side of the spectrum, I don't worry about the negative until she rears her ugly head..

 

[buttmonk]

Thanks all for your input and constructive criticism :hello2: I think I will probably go for the purchase and just prepare that there is a small chance that additional fret work will be needed.

If were gunna do this poll again I would certainly ask the questions differently. But anyways, I still learned something from it.

 

[BobR55]

How could a manufacturer dress frets not knowing the string guage and setup preferences of the user? Moreover, each piece of wood bends differently. You won't know what frets will be high or low until you bolt it on, string it up and adjust for play. Fret levelling is not something a replacement neck manufacturer can do.

 

[exaN]

How could a manufacturer dress frets not knowing the string guage and setup preferences of the user? Moreover, each piece of wood bends differently. You won't know what frets will be high or low until you bolt it on, string it up and adjust for play. Fret levelling is not something a replacement neck manufacturer can do.

That is very true, Warmoth provides you with the basics so you can make the guitar the way you want it.

I have played only 1 Warmoth neck so far and it is very playable even without any fret work. If I knew someone who could do fret work I would probably still have it done just for the sake of having a "perfect" neck.

 

[clearerphish]

*No, neck was perfect!

:headbang:

 

[Spider]

Over 10 years I've had 3 Warmoth necks and they've all been perfect - and I'm really fussy. Just tried to reflect that by voting 'no my neck was perfect' 3 times but when I tried it for a second time I got locked out of the poll.

Which makes it totally unscientific, if anyone hadn't already worked that out for themselves

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I checked "other problem," but it was a finish issue and had nothing to do with the integrity of the neck.  Warmoth built me another one.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

not sure what to say to the OP beyond what has already been clarified by Gregg, Wylee, and others. are you asking these fret questions because you don't know how to level, crown, and detail the frets yourself?

an experienced builder would instead be asking these questions:

- are the fret slots cut too deeply (leaving large gaps under the installed frets) or too shallow (causing the fretwire to be mashed to the side when pressed into place)?
- are the fret slots of the proper width (not too tight causing the neck to backbow, or too loose so that the frets will easily creep)?
- are the frets ends glued into place, and if so with what type of glue?
- are the frets properly seated?
- are the fret locations properly located for the scale that was ordered?


leveling, end detailing, crowning, polishing - these are all things that are part of the very basic first set-up you should do on a new build, and they are essentially insignificant in what you received when purchasing a new neck. the items I list above are not easily remedied and have potential to pose significant issues over the life of the neck. since you're not referencing these in your poll, I suspect you haven't heard of any issues on these items - right?

all the best,

R

 

[JaySwear]

the 3 i've gotten have been perfect! no setup needed at all. an adjustment to the action to get the guitar up and running and that was it. really couldn't be much happier with them if i tried :icon_biggrin:

 

[ognolman]

I've never had a problem with Warmoth necks. I've had two five string bass necks, one fretted, one lined fretless.

My only complaint about Warmoth necks is that I wish there were an option to use graphite stiffening rods rather than the steel rods, to cut down on the weight.

Otherwise, I am very satisfied with Warmoth necks.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Two necks for me, both perfect.

My Tele neck nut had to be slightly filed on a couple of strings, no biggie.
My Soloist neck had to have the Floyd nut slightly shimmed, no biggie.

The reason I say "no biggie" on both of them is because both of those things are part of a proper set-up. Not a workmanship issue. And for most people, those two things wouldn't even have been an issue. My luthier has been working on my guitars for 29 years and knows how I like them and does everything he can to get them there.

People need to remember that we are not buying ready to play guitars. We are building guitars from quality parts. If Warmoth was shipping complete guitars they would be doing these things as part of the set-up and sales process.

Before you even attempt to do the set-up on your new Warmoth, you should string it up and play it for a couple of days, no matter how bad it needs the set-up done. You've got to get it settled in before the set-up is done. If you run out an do a set-up before the guitar has settled in, you'll be thinking you got bad parts once it settles in more and needs another set-up.