Warmoth SG

[NickS]

Well the boxes came today.  Other than the vintage tint being a little more yellow than I thought it would be and a poor judgment call on my part on the output jack size I couldn't be more pleased! 

However I am a little worried.  When I fit the neck into the body frets 20 - 24 are not snug against the body.  Its as if it was built to have a pickguard underneath it.  What is the most common fix for this, a wood spacer between the body and neck or route the neck joint a little deeper so that it fits?  Or is it something else?  Now I was thinking as well, this is my first build so if I make the neck joint 'deeper' does this effect tuning/tone of the guitar?

 

[Mor Paul]

Welcome to the forum 

That's one nice looking guitar!

So, the guitar was designed for a pickguard, and there is a 740 mod, which deepens the neck pocked, allowing the fretboard to be lower against the body. It can be done, but I'd take it to a professional, and fill the rest of the gap with rosewood, if that's what your top wood is.

 

[NickS]

I just read about the 720 mod.  I even remember reading about it when I was specking the body out!  Well that is another first timer mistake for me.  I guess I can take it to a friend who is a wood GOD, and he should be able to take the extra out of the pocket for me.  Wonder if I can just ship it back and have them do the mod for me, obviously it will cost a little.

 

[Patrick]

can you do a 720 mod on an angled pocket?

 

[NickS]

I would guess that it can be done ... just very carefully.  I just went back to the website and I could have had it done with my TOM bridge.  So I guess there is going to be a lot of careful woodwork to do.  BTW it is a walnut laminate.

 

[tfarny]

You need to have the angle in the pocket because of your bridge. Therefore, even if the fretboard is made to be flush right at the 20th fret, there is still going to end up being a gap there. Either get a piece of wood to fill that gap, or just don't look at it - nobody will notice.  You could always cut the fretboard down to a proper 20 frets, people who actually use the24th fret are just annoying anyhow.
Kidding! Welcome and great looking parts.

 

[Patrick]

walnut?
wow its like a rosewood impostor
thats going to be one sexy guitar  :icon_thumright:

 

[Mor Paul]

Yeah, it's already looking good.

One more thing, if you are going to get your friend to work on the neck pocket, you may have to increase the angle of the pocket, to avoid having really high action, and you should check about the screw angled.

 

[DangerousR6]

Standard neck pocket cuts always have a gap between the body and the bottom of the fretboard, the only way to get is closer is the 720 mod as everyone else has suggested.

BTW, that's a sweet looking SG, very creative.... :icon_thumright:

 

[Mor Paul]

I don't remember seeing SGs like that before. I could just be forgetting. Now I want to see a goldtop SG with a mahogany back, with the gold section covering the same area as that walnut.

 

[bbl4ck]

Ya got quite a unique SG goin' on there.  Very nice  :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Be sure to keep us posted with updated pics...
Welcome to the forum &  :rock-on:

 

[Warnz]

Another thing to watch out for is that if you go too deep with the pocket you will pry the fretboard away from the neck when you screw it down.

Leave as is and enjoy. It's not like the ends gonna snap off.

Cool project, will be watching this one.  :icon_thumright:

 

[NonsenseTele]

Looking really cool!

 

[RobR]

It would not be wise to lower the neck pocket in this situation. It will change the geometry in relation with the height of the bridge causing EXTREMELY high action in the upper frets. 

Nice looking project!

 

[Ace Flibble]

Body looks great, I've been wondering for a while what laminate tops look like on SGs.
And the yellow neck tint got me too, I thought it was going to be a dusky brown colour like Fender's vintage tint. Really caught me by surprise when I opened the box and was greeted by this bright yellow piece of maple. But I think it works, I dunno if I just got used to it or if the finish has actually faded a bit but after six months or so I found the Warmoth tint to seem a lot less yellow. Give it a go, it's worth sticking with it.

 

[NickS]

Yeah after sleeping on it I have decided that I don't want to "gamble" with the money that I have already invested in the body and neck.  So I will be leaving it as is.  Tonight I plan to open up the output hole so that the jack I have will fit and do all the copper sheilding. 

Maybe this thread should get moved to a different location, now that it is not just out of the box

 

[Patrick]

Its fine here until you get all of the hardware and start doing serious work
on that thing

 

[NickS]

Have you ever started a project that you thought would be a good idea, and then you start it and find out you are in way over your head?  Well thanks Warmoth your slick website and dreams of a custom SG did it to me!  I have got the wiring done, pots are in, switch, and output jack.  Things are looking OK but due to inexperience I have made a few small mistakes that show, if you look close enough.  Either way I have pictures and video posted on my blog -> http://en-lightn.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-custom-warmoth-sg-day-2-4.html

 

[ledzepplin6914]

i never liked the idea of a lam top SG, but this is definitely an exception. great lookin guitar  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

Have you ever started a project that you thought would be a good idea, and then you start it and find out you are in way over your head? [...] Things are looking OK but due to inexperience I have made a few small mistakes that show, if you look close enough. 

If you don't push your limits, you will never learn anything, and the only people who don't make mistakes are those who don't do anything. I don't know about you, but the day I stop being able to learn or do anything I sincerely hope I'm being rolled into a 1,700 degree furnace for a quick 100:1 weight reduction <grin>