Warmoth-Built (H-S-H) Review "StratLes"

[wolbai]

Hi everybody !

After playing my first Warmoth guitar for two months and gaining some experience now (rehearsals, gigs, 3 days studio recording, nuddle around etc.), I have made a review.

All-in-all: I am very impressed by the quality, its awesome tonal variety and stellar beauty of this guitar. Hope you like it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSSXcOE_ncY&feature=youtu.be

wolbai

 

[Hbom]

Very well done!
That guitar is top notch.
And the playing is too.
Congrats on a great job.
:rock-on:

 

[wolbai]

Hi Hbom,

it was great fun for me to go through this first Warmoth-built process!

And yes: this guitar is top notch  :icon_biggrin: properly assembled and setup, this guitar easily copes with high end custom shop guitar like Suhr guitars.

I initially was not totally convinced that it is possible to bring the tonal character of a Stratocaster and a Les Paul into one guitar. It turns out to be a pretty close approximation to the originals.

As I do not plan to resell this unique guitar anymore, the low reselling price doesn't bother me.

My time playing guitar has remarkably increased since I own this Warmoth guitar.

Thanks for your nice feedback regarding my playing 

wolbai

 

[stratamania]

You have a great looking guitar, I liked the video and the playing. Some good tones from the HD500 also.

:icon_thumright:

 

[wolbai]

Hey stratamania,

glad that you like my video and playing !

The guitar is an eye catcher  :icon_biggrin: 

I imagine that a great looking guitar which feels fantastic in my hands makes me playing just a bit better 

 

[taez555]

Very nice!

Beautiful guitar, and tasty playing.  Very Mark Knopfler-esque.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Nice playing.  :guitaristgif:

 

[wolbai]

Hi Erik Z,

your feedback is really appreciated - although it makes me a bit embarrassed, because I have huge respect of the great Master Mark Knopfler  :icon_biggrin:

I am not a finger style player at all. Just a bit here and bit there, if needed. Nevertheless I have "Sultans of Swing" with my Classic Rock Band on the Agenda.

And it is pretty likely that I will do a home recording from it within the next months. I am sure it will sound great with this Warmoth-built  :headbang:

As I can see from your footnote, you play H-S-H guitars as well 

In that respect I have also tested the parallel wiring capabilities of the Suhr Doug Aldrich Humbuckers for Stratocaster tones.

I have to say: pretty decent as well and for some guitars or players a real option instead of coil splitting (or maybe also both wirings in one guitar - the sky is probably the limit here  :icon_biggrin: )

In case of interest for, this is a (high quality) studio recording I have made with my Band in January of a Doobie Brothers-Cover (especially arranged for our Band line up), where I played this Warmoth guitar in position 5 and 2 with the Suhr humbuckers wired in parallel.

Sounds great too and grooves like hell IMO  (pretty long - so a little patience is needed):

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=12677468&q=hi&newref=1

But it ended up for me that Coil Splitting works best for this specific guitar-project. The Coil splitting capabilities on these pickups sound even more Strat-like than in parallel wiring IMO. But that is a matter of taste I would say.

wolbai

 

[wolbai]

Nice playing.  :guitaristgif:

Hi,

thank you also for your feedback

 

[stratamania]

I believe Eric Zs strat, does parallel, series, and coil tap, with the bridge being able to be added to any other selection.

 

[wolbai]

Hey stratamania,

if so, it would be smart to have all these options available.

But I am personally not completely sure, whether I would really need all of these options and whether I could handle them in a gig-scenario (and this is what I mainly do as a hobby guitar player). But that is just out of the box and just me ...

 

[stratamania]

I found Erik's video

http://youtu.be/WxbaBWPTT2k

Even if you don't need them it's an interesting video and approach to different tones.

 

[taez555]

I found Erik's video

http://youtu.be/WxbaBWPTT2k

Even if you don't need them it's an interesting video and approach to different tones.

Yup, that's me.   With the "always on" switch as well, the guitar ends up having 31 unique configurations.  I'm a huge proponent of the Series/parallel/Single.

On average I probably only use about 8 of them, but it's nice to know they're all there.  I figure if you have the 4 conductor wire on the humbuckers, it seems a waste to hard wire them one way.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks Erik, I found the wiring you had when I was researching Warmoth builds people had done and yours stood out which is why I remembered it. Mine is SSS but may do an HSH in the future.

 

[wolbai]

I found Erik's video

http://youtu.be/WxbaBWPTT2k

Even if you don't need them it's an interesting video and approach to different tones.

Yup, that's me.   With the "always on" switch as well, the guitar ends up having 31 unique configurations.  I'm a huge proponent of the Series/parallel/Single.

On average I probably only use about 8 of them, but it's nice to know they're all there.  I figure if you have the 4 conductor wire on the humbuckers, it seems a waste to hard wire them one way.

Hi Eric,

very good Video - very professional !

I must admit that it is a good thing to have all the options available, pickups can sound in a guitar. This applies especially to H-S-H configurations IMO.

In addition to that: I have made some testing regarding the parallel wiring and can clearly state that this is a serious option to play with and not just a minor coloration to series or coil splitting regarding my pickup combination. (For now I have just decided to concentrate on coil splitting for Stratocaster-tones.)

BUT: I also can say from experience that the differences or usability of coil splitting and parallel wiring is heavily related to the pickups in the guitar. Some sound great some not so great. It is some trail-and-error in there.

For my Warmoth-built I can say that the Suhr Doug Aldrich humbucker have GREAT coil splitting AND parallel wiring capabilities. But this does not necessarily apply to other pickup combinations.

Especially humbuckers with a low output may not sound good or just to weak volume wise when they are parallel wired.

For now I am pretty happy with my existing variety of sound combinations with coil spiltting and series wiring (neck and bridge PU can be switched independently).
May be I will pickup your approach in the future.

wolbai

 

[taez555]

In addition to that: I have made some testing regarding the parallel wiring and can clearly state that this is a serious option to play with and not just a minor coloration to series or coil splitting regarding my pickup combination.

Hey man, couldn't agree more.  It's sort of this glorious combination of not quite a single coil, not quite a P90 and not quite a normal humbucker.  It's absolutely outstanding for lower gain crunch settings.  Where you want the fullness of a humbucker, but the clarity of a single coil.

The first time I played with parallel I was surprised more people didn't wire their guitar that way.  It's like this secret setting.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Not to thread-jack, but what's a good neck-position humbucker for parallel wiring? I have an Air Norton, but don't know if it would be powerful enough.

If I were to do this, I don't want too much of a volume drop when switching from the bridge position to the neck.

 

[taez555]

Not to thread-jack, but what's a good neck-position humbucker for parallel wiring? I have an Air Norton, but don't know if it would be powerful enough.

If I were to do this, I don't want too much of a volume drop when switching from the bridge position to the neck.

Not to derail anymore, or shamlessly plug anymore than has already happened in this thread.

But I actually made a video about the volume variances in Series/Parallel/Single Coil setting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu5PABQecLA

Personally I have a SD Stag Mag in my neck.  It's meant to be a Bridge PU, but I put in the neck instead since it's SDs only humbucker that is basically meant to reproduce 2 single coils in a humbucker.  Very clean and clear, not tons of volume loss.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Thanks, Erik Z.      ccasion14: