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Time yet again for another suggestion/complaint

rubendlr

Junior Member
Messages
39
Why is it that Jaguars, Mustangs, and Jagstangs only have the option of the traditional tremolo?  Even Fender themselves have models with TOM bridges.  The Jazzmaster doesn't seem to have this limitation.  It think it would be great if they could be offered with more bridge choices, both non-trem and more modern trem choices, like Wilkinson and Floyd Rose.
 
My guess is that there isn't a huge call for those bodies, and of those they're probably generally going to someone who wants all that "vintage" stuff, so they don't want to spend the programming time to set up the CNC for different bridges that would only sell a few copies a year. I notice you can get them with no bridge route at all, so if you're really hardcore, you could set one up to taste that way.

But, I do agree the options for better hardware would be a Good Thing. I know I'd never put a Jaguar/Jazzmaster bridge on a guitar for myself.
 
Cagey said:
My guess is that there isn't a huge call for those bodies, and of those they're probably generally going to someone who wants all that "vintage" stuff...

And yet the W makes them just off spec enough to drive off all the vintage guys. If they want to make money off the vintage offset crowd. They can make them to spec, it would draw a whole new crowd, and why Warmoth doesn't  do that I don't know.

Just an old complaint of mine.
 
I gotta agree with KG; the jazz/jag tail piece shall not be repeated in my collection. The one I do have was a baritone to start, but got a switching of necks already. tail piece behaves better with the reduced tension, -but that makes me wonder why the #*%@ is it the ONLY option on the bass VI? I'd have built one of those a long time ago, if it wasn't for that blasted crazy trem route on every single one of them suckers in the showcase.

Maybe the trouble is that I am a hardtail guy at heart, maybe it's preconceived and baseless notions I have about tuning stability and trems in general, or whatever. To sum it up, I guess I'll say that I am on board with wanting some more bridge options on some of these off-set waist, old-timey bodies.
 
I did some work for one of the members here on a Bass VI and the tailpiece just got the spring removed and the adjuster nut tightened all the way up. That effectively turns it into a hardtail, but you still get the vintage appearance if you like that sort of thing.
 
Altar said:
And yet the W makes them just off spec enough to drive off all the vintage guys. If they want to make money off the vintage offset crowd. They can make them to spec, it would draw a whole new crowd, and why Warmoth doesn't  do that I don't know.




"To spec" has historically been a moving target.  Warmoth makes them the same every time, so they differ  from each version of "spec" the same way every time.
 
What I mean is that the jags and mustangs are kind of odd ducks. They are too limited for the "modern" guys to buy in, and yet the vintage guys can b!tch for days about the incorrect pickguards, the refusal to work with U.S. parts, the incorrect routing... Nothing that improves it, either. There are reasons you don't see hardly any in the W's gallery.
 
In 2005 I got a lovely Mustang body from Warmoth with no bridge route, and put on a hardtail string-through. I just poked through the builder and you can still specify no bridge, so you can have any hardtail bridge you want. Drill, baby, drill. But it looks like if you want a tunematic, the CNC robot has to cut the Mustang bridge whammy slots?  :icon_scratch:

The problems as I see it, are: the CNC cuts are not divided into small enough groups so as to get one thing without the other, and; they just don't have 'the guy' who can pull a body out of the line and do stuff. I offered to send them a free 17/64" drill bit and pay - whatever - to drill my upcoming $400+ neck for the threaded inserts I use - but "the neck holes are drilled by the CNC machine" so.... ptphptht..... and I had to go off the reservation to get the Jaguar body for it, as Jaguars are in the same boat. I needed a swimming pool route and I wanted no forearm contour, and it just... can't be done. But I'm sure I'll still buy from them, and equally sure that there are many wonders to be found "off the rez", too.  :icon_thumright:
 
Did you ask them if they would do it?  There are a lot of options that are not listed on the website that you can get if you just ask.  The tech I talk to sometimes said he knows someone who has a Warmoth Jag with a TOM/Stop, and there are a couple in the gallery with different bridges.  They might all be bridges that the customers routed themselves, but you never know until you ask them directly if they will do it or not. 

I plan on building a jaguar at some point, and if they won't do the TOM/Stop then I'll either get a used body on ebay or I'll drill it myself.  Ain't no way I want a vintage style Jag trem on my guitar. 
 
Don't forget that if you want the TOM/stoptail, you also need the angled neck pocket, which Warmoth probably also doesn't offer on these bodies

The easiest way to get a hardtail on one of these bodies would probably be to get no bridge rout then use a non-string-through Strat type hardtail. That way you'd only have to get the bridge itself in the right place and not worry about drilling the string-through holes accurately.

I'd love a 12-string Jag-Stang, but I somehow doubt it's going to happen.
 
I could've sworn I'd seen some with t-o-m on the forum.  There is an aftermarket plate I've seen online that effectively makes it a hardtail.

As far the Bass VI, I have my own theories/opinions as to the limited options.  Like raw necks, stainless frets, and shielding, if I spout them enough they will become accepted as fact.  The Bass VI neck and body Warmoth makes isn't interchangeable with a Fender body or neck.  I think they want to make one, but for whatever reason they didn't make it Fender compatible, probably weren't allowed too.  I'm just speculating, but once given a choice of neck, fretboard, body, even lam top wood, why would I buy a Fender over a Warmoth Bass VI?  Oh yeah, the Warmoth comes with that hideous bridge too. Visually, the Warmoth is superior, but functionality is the same, and Fender wins that price war.  As is Warmoth's Fender stuff is strictly parts, that is, Fender wants you to build a halfmoth.  The Bass VI, kind of being in novelty purgatory land, Fender can't have the most competition for an already small niche market come from a company they license to make parts. 
 
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