Warmoth Les Paul

[Orpheo]

I went out yesterday to try the marshall AFD100 slash sig-amp. I didn't care to bring along one of my own guitars, cause I figured that asking (and ofcourse GETTING) a gibson LP customshop standard would be a great guitar and would also match or surpass my warmoths in quality, tone and whatnot.


what a big whoop. The paint was flawed, the playability was shit, the tone was dull and boring, the frets were just bad. and that for a guitar that costs twice as much as a warmoth! so... why would I buy a crappy gibson if warmoth's better and cheaper all at the same time?

 

[reluctant-builder]

Ha. I haven't brought my guitars to Guitar Center, in particular, to test any amps because they try to get me to check the axe at the door. Sorry, nimrods, I need it to test how the amp sounds with MY guitar ... it really annoys me. What am I going to do, make a guitar sandwich in my bag? There isn't room enough for two and A) I believe instruments should be earned, not stolen and B) I'm not gifted in sleight of hand, anyway ... oh, and C) Your "lefty land" is the most pathetic little concession on Earth and I would only take one of those guitars if you were giving it away for free.

Still, I think if anyone wants to know how the amp is going to sound when they have it at home, it has to be demo-ed with your go-to guitar.

That aside, I have avoided Gibson all my life because -- more than any other big name manufacturer -- I have heard more horror stories than I can recount and, being regularly exposed to my Gibson-phile friend's stable of LPs and SGs, only one of them impresses me ... I think it's a '98 all black LP.

When I wanted and ES-335, I found a lefty and I played it. The lackluster experience that it was led me to buy a Heritage H-535 and, boy, am I glad I did. What a guitar. My only complaint is that the string nut was the most pathetic piece of crud I've ever seen, but I haggled down the price to account for replacing it. Now, it's a guitar par excellence.

 

[Strat Avenger]

You definitely get more for you money with Warmoth, however the comparison is not "apples to apples" when you consider that you are comparing a 25-1/2" scale guitar to a 24-3/4" scale. I know you can get the 24-3/4" scale conversion neck, but the bridge and tail-piece is still further back from the GIbson.

I've seen a lot of really nice Warmoth LPs on this forum, and when I first joined, I intended to build one. That changed when I got a 24-3/4" scale set neck ESP "LP" style guitar. I decided I want to build a Tele and Strat instead.

 

[reluctant-builder]

I've seen a lot of really nice Warmoth LPs on this forum, and when I first joined, I intended to build one. That changed when I got a 24-3/4" scale set neck ESP "LP" style guitar. I decided I want to build a Tele and Strat instead.

I've got one Strat and two Swedes, one Swede is 25.5 and the other 24.75 ... while the body shape of the Swedes is marginally different from an LP, it does kind of sap my yen to make a Warmoth LP. Doesn't sap it entirely, though. No ... seeing the $1035 price tag for the body alone was enough to burst that GAS bubble.

 

[Tipperman]

@ace fibble

I can except Gibson cs and ESP cs etc etc being better than warmoth,if you ggive some reasoning behind your statement. I find ESP cs nit worth their money. They sound too thin and nit broad enough compared to my warmoth lp's. Gibson,well,their guitars are so far off,they almost become straight again. Dull tone,bad fretwork,unappealing tops,mushy,nasal pickups,bad hardware,etc etc.

Nah,i know what i like,and stick to that.IMHO the customshop moniker is just a name to give legitimacy to a higher pricetag, and to differentiate from their normal stuff,they take lightweight mahogany,so no chambering is needed,and a longer necktenon,which doesn't even guarantee a better tone. 

A good neckjoint should always be there on a $2000 guitar. Same goes for hardware. On a $2000 guitar i don't accept a zinc bridge and tailstop,brass at least.  Nor do i accept a sloppy fret and nutjob.on customshoo instruments that's better,but not ideal or to my standards.

I once took my first warmoth to a Gibson dealer,and that seasoned seller was in shock when he played my guitar.the tone,the playability,the looks and woods ... He stated that my 1200$ LP was at least as good as the cs les Paul's he had.

In the end it depends on how well you assemble the guitar.the bare stuff though,the woods and fretjob and tolerances,are IMHO better/tight er at warmoths than at Gibson.

I agree completely. Looking on Gibsons website at a guitar over $2000 MSRP and seeing "Zacam bridge plated with blahblahblah" makes me kind of annoyed. They should do the solid billet of aluminum like Callaham does for that price. It shouldn't be something completely inferior. In addition, for $2000 I expect a solid bridge, not a honeycombed "nashville" bridge that will eventually collapse because I use strings the size of tension cables.

 

[whitebison66]

Having spent time in Nashville and spoken with a lot of people that either were Gibson endorsees or worked there, there's no way I'd ever buy a Gibson. Too many horror stories.

"If you call any of those custom shops, would you get to actually choose your top wood or fretboard wood from existing stock?"

In the case of ESP in Japan, the answer is yes. You choose the actual pieces of wood. I spent a couple weeks in Tokyo a few years ago looking at guitars, and I saw quite a few ESP shops where the wood was on display for just that purpose. You pick everything.

I'd say that ESP's custom shop beats Gibson's like a rented mule, but you definitely pay for the privilege. That said, I'd feel much happier and safer giving the $ to ESP than Gibson. Their quality control (again, in Japan) is disturbing. I couldn't find mistakes or blemishes on any of their guitars.

I ended up buying an Edwards LP that was 30% off because of a 'scratch' I tried for 15 minutes to find (though the sales guy assured me it was there) and, I quote, "Fingerprints."

 

[Orpheo]

gibson is crazy. And they know that. gibson uses ZINC for their bridges and tailstops. HELLEUH what happened to the lovely brass or aluminium? sure, brass has that 70ies thing going on, but it sounds great. and that's what it's all about.

I tried a gibson LP standard customshop, and my warmoth's are better, by and large. I'll never buy a gibson. not in my lifetime. no.

 

[hannaugh]

What a beauty! And I love the toggle positioned perfectly for the hand sweep.

Haha, I had a wiring issue I couldn't figure out one time, and the guy I took it to repositioned it to the normal position.  So I had to put it back...  It was funny.  :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

What a beauty! And I love the toggle positioned perfectly for the hand sweep.

Haha, I had a wiring issue I couldn't figure out one time, and the guy I took it to repositioned it to the normal position.  So I had to put it back...  It was funny.  :laughing7:

Angled really is the best position for that switch. That way, you can either slap it up or forward to get the neck, and down or back to get the bridge, or just in line with its orientation which makes the most sense. You can't lose; it's all intuitive.

 

[kboman]

Having spent time in Nashville and spoken with a lot of people that either were Gibson endorsees or worked there, there's no way I'd ever buy a Gibson. Too many horror stories.

"If you call any of those custom shops, would you get to actually choose your top wood or fretboard wood from existing stock?"

In the case of ESP in Japan, the answer is yes. You choose the actual pieces of wood. I spent a couple weeks in Tokyo a few years ago looking at guitars, and I saw quite a few ESP shops where the wood was on display for just that purpose. You pick everything.

I'd say that ESP's custom shop beats Gibson's like a rented mule, but you definitely pay for the privilege. That said, I'd feel much happier and safer giving the $ to ESP than Gibson. Their quality control (again, in Japan) is disturbing. I couldn't find mistakes or blemishes on any of their guitars.

I ended up buying an Edwards LP that was 30% off because of a 'scratch' I tried for 15 minutes to find (though the sales guy assured me it was there) and, I quote, "Fingerprints."

I have had to upgrade my respect level for ESP considerably the last year or so as I've come to learn more about them. One day I'll own a Navigator, one happy distant day...!

 

[reluctant-builder]

Angled really is the best position for that switch. That way, you can either slap it up or forward to get the neck, and down or back to get the bridge, or just in line with its orientation which makes the most sense. You can't lose; it's all intuitive.

Word. When I finally buckle down to rewiring my Swede, I'm going to position both toggles at a sweepable angle. I'm getting up the courage today, measuring the lengths of wire I'll need, adding a little extra slack than I think I'll need, etc. They practically had yards of extra wire with the factory job. Control cavities were a mess. I'm trying to clean that up somewhat, without going "#$%@, I cut the wire too short!"

I wish I didn't have so much trepidation approaching this job, though. It's the first time I've ever tried wiring a guitar from scratch and I find myself looking at the guitar in consternation rather than just buckling down and doing the work.

 

[Cagey]

I wish I didn't have so much trepidation approaching this job, though. It's the first time I've ever tried wiring a guitar from scratch and I find myself looking at the guitar in consternation rather than just buckling down and doing the work.

Don't worry about it. I've wired or rewired guitars more times than I can count, and I do the same thing every time: Stare at it forever trying to make sure I'm not forgetting something or doing something out of order or doing something that could be done a better way, on and on. Changing things after the fact is no fun at all, so you wanna make sure you do it right the first time.

Key thing is to have a plan. If you've got that and you're confident it's good, then just do it. As long as it all works when you're done, you're golden. You can't argue with success. You may learn a couple things along the way that you won't do again or will do differently, but that's for the next one.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I agree completely. Looking on Gibsons website at a guitar over $2000 MSRP and seeing "Zacam bridge plated with blahblahblah" makes me kind of annoyed. They should do the solid billet of aluminum like Callaham does for that price. It shouldn't be something completely inferior. In addition, for $2000 I expect a solid bridge, not a honeycombed "nashville" bridge that will eventually collapse because I use strings the size of tension cables.

Callaham's bridge is milled from billet steel.  I know it is a technicality, but Bill Callaham seems to believe it is a big improvement.  I have on that is going on the next build, so I shall sort of test it.  You can't go back and forth with the Gotoh's, and that is the only other TOM bridge I have at the moment.
Patrick