Unstamped?

Fuzzlord1000

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Hi guys. Glad to be here.
Ive always wanted to build my own warmoth, but i have recently been offered a tele in a trade, id asked if it had the turtle stamp in the neck pocket or on the neck, but it doesnt.
Is it likely to be a moody copy?
Any helo greatly appreciated. :headbang4:
 

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Looks like an awesome guitar, but no turtle = no Warmoth in my book. Is it possible a body left the factory without a stamp, or its super old or something? Sure it is. However, my guess is it’s made by someone other than Warmoth. With that said it looks cool, and if you like maybe try to bargain a bit. Good luck!
 
I have no idea what it is other than it being a T style guitar. But it could have been made by anyone as it has no identifying marks.
 
Cactus Jack said:
Looks like an awesome guitar, but no turtle = no Warmoth in my book. Is it possible a body left the factory without a stamp, or its super old or something? Sure it is. However, my guess is it’s made by someone other than Warmoth. With that said it looks cool, and if you like maybe try to bargain a bit. Good luck!

I can assure you that there is no way any Warmoth body or neck will ever leave the premises without a stamping the pocket or heel.  The only way is in the wood pile after it has been thoroughly sawn to the point of dunnage.
 
Even if, for the sake of argument, it were: You have no provenance. Aftermarket parts, warmoth included, don't have great resale, but I certainly wouldn't pay more or buy it because I thought I was getting a warmoth. Even if Ken made it himself but you can't prove it, you just have a slab of wood and a story from some random internet idiot.
 
If it plays good, it's worth something to you, but if you are buying it because ... you know, I was going to say something about the guy whose trying to sell it to you, but I edited it, my advice: walk away.
 
Lets say for the sake of argument that it is actually a Warmoth, and that someone finished that red sparkle ( and I like me some red sparkle) finish over the stamp in the neck pocket. Would one be able to remove the finish without also erasing the  stamp?  Likewise the black paint on the neck heel ?
:dontknow:
 
If you like it, but it for what it is. I mean a Tele is a Tele. The appeal of Warmoth is you can get it a chambered basswood body with a flame lacewood bound top and a puke green sunburst with a left handed bridge pickup on a right hand body if you want... If you just want a vanilla tele, and it suits, grab it. I'm just saying don't buy it because you think it might possibly be a warmoth.
 
The body is definitely not a Warmoth. That body has a flat section for the jack, which Warmoth doesn't do on their standard bodies, only their Vintage bodies; that guitar clearly has the neck routed for a Strat pickup, which Warmoth doesn't do on the Vintage bodies, only the standard ones. The bridge mounting screws also isn't a configuration Warmoth drill for. 

It's possible someone bought a Vintage body from Warmoth then had it rerouted for a Strat neck pickup and had the bridge drilled fresh, but I find that unlikely. How many people would order a finished body from Warmoth if they were going to do their own routings, and how many people would order the Vintage body as a base if they were going to have it with black hardware on orange sparkle, with Strat-sized humbuckers?

The neck is more plausibly Warmoth since the logo stamp on the heel is quite shallow and easily filled in by the finish—same goes for the body, actually—and unlike the body, none of the rest of how that neck is made is out of line with common Warmoth options. It could easily be a Vintage Modern neck with a black finish. That said, given the body is not a Warmoth I would assume the neck isn't either. 

The good news is, as others have said, if you like the guitar then that's what matters, not the branding. There are lots of parts companies around that make decent products and at the end of the day, a Tele is a design that's very hard to screw up; one solid top-rout single-single Tele body is very much like any other solid top-rout single-single Tele body.
 
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