warmoth strat shape vs fender's

[ucsdboy]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I posted here, but I've had this question I'm wondering if someone can help me with.

I have two MIMs and a Warmoth hardtail strat body, and for the life of me, they look the same to me. I heard once though that there are some subtle differences. I don't buy it, but I'm wanted to hear what you guys thought. I do know that back in the day, strats were shaped a little differently, since they were done by hand and with a routing jig.

I also missed out on buying a longboard strat, which I realized I really wanted now that they're all gone. Do you think Warmoth could replicate the longboard strat? A body made with a core of mahogany, with thin strips of wenge, maple, and rosewood, followed by wings of swamp ash?

 

[AirCap]

I have NEVER heard the term longboard applied to a Strat body.

Are you talking about neck through bodies? As in one single piece of wood from the tip of the peghead to strap button on the tail end of the body? If you that's what you mean, NO - Warmoth doesn't do that.

 

[pabloman]

AirCap, Google's your friend. Search it and you'll answer your own question.  To the Op....it's not something Warmoth does. The Shortboards are pretty cool too. ccasion14:

 

[AirCap]

OH - so it's a FAKE neck through.

 

[ucsdboy]

It's not a neck-through of any sort, actually. The Longboard Strat was just a limited run of strats made by Fender in 2015. The neck was standard fare, except that the fender logo was laser-engraved on the headstock (which I thought looked pretty sweet. ). The body of the Longboard strat wasn't a standard n-piece body, but multiple strips of different woods glued together to make a competition stripe, from the different colors of the wood. It's supposed to resemble a 'longboard' surfboard, but I'm a little young for the 60's so I have to take their word for it.

The body was still CNCed with the normal contours of a strat body, including the pocket to bolt on a neck.

 

[musicispeace]

I had thought that Warmoth has a license from Fender and therefore don't need to necessarily vary the body shape. But other members here may know more on that. As to the longboard question, I've seen very occasional examples in the Warmoth showcase of finishing that incorporated something like a racing stripe on the body but it has been at least 2 years since I recall seeing that. Warmoth has done maple inside a rosewood tele body on occasion in the spirit of the "Harrison" telecaster but I just don't think they are set up to take the time to do a project like the longboard Fenders you mention.

 

[pabloman]

OH - so it's a FAKE neck through.

I suppose......if the maple neck attached to a mahogany neck pocket confuses you.

 

[ucsdboy]

I had thought that Warmoth has a license from Fender and therefore don't need to necessarily vary the body shape. But other members here may know more on that. As to the longboard question, I've seen very occasional examples in the Warmoth showcase of finishing that incorporated something like a racing stripe on the body but it has been at least 2 years since I recall seeing that. Warmoth has done maple inside a rosewood tele body on occasion in the spirit of the "Harrison" telecaster but I just don't think they are set up to take the time to do a project like the longboard Fenders you mention.

I was thinking the same thing, and yet the neck back shapes are not identical with strats, to be sure. That's what I've always wondered about with Warmoth - they may have licensed the shape, but did Fender give them a set of physical or computer-based templates? Or did they just work off of strat bodies that they owned? My guess is the latter.

Again, I'm not saying that Warmoth isn't the best of stuff. I have a two necks and a body from them and they're all just awesome. Someone told me once though that the bodies are not quite the same or else I read it somewhere on the internet, and I just don't see it when I compare the body to my MIMs.

 

[stratamania]

You do read this at times on the Internet.

As far as I can tell the shape and the routs are the same but there may be some variation in contours for example. Also, the vintage strat body that Warmoth does is different to the "normal" one.

I have a couple of Fender Strats and have had quite a few over the years. Yes, there may be some minor differences in contours here and there but that also applies to the Fenders.

There are some folks on the internet that say they are different to some vision of an "idealized" shape whatever it is.

But really who cares as long as you like the shape and the guitar who thinks it might not quite match some old body.

 

[musicispeace]

I suspect that Warmoth, and the same would go for USACG and Musikraft, based at least a portion of their business model on selling expanded options for things like neck shapes compared to Fender factory production. Thus adding a marketing point for going the parts guitar route. (woods, shapes, thicknesses Fender would not be doing, at least not in the present day) It would indeed be interesting to see someone put out some variations in body composition but I am not holding my breath. That said, there must be some small shop luthiers who are approachable if one provided the wood. I've emailed a couple of people about putting a buckeye burl top on an unfinished strat body for me but that is some time out if I do it, and I have to source the buckeye burl top. USACG used to do some one off stuff with customers who provided their own wood but that has likely changed with the new ownership. A longboard body could be an interesting conversation to have with a relatively new but competent luthier willing to take it on for not an astronomical amount of money. 

As I understand it, some of the neck shapes are based on certain historical variations within the Fender line and some are based on popular customer requests. I know USACG bases one of their neck shapes on the 63 strat owned by a longtime friend of theirs when USACG first started. You have thin neck players and thick neck players etc.. To me the Standard Thin shape with 1 11/16 nut width feels like a Gibson neck, but I know a lot of Warmoth users would dispute that.

 

[Fat Pete]

I think the OP asked and answered this in the first post.

...I do know that back in the day, strats were shaped a little differently, since they were done by hand and with a routing jig...

If you got hold of a bunch of Fender Strats from across the years and did detailed measurements, I'm sure you'd find plenty of variation.

It also depends what you mean by 'the shape' - if you go beyond the basic outline and start including the belly/forearm cuts etc. you'll see even more differences. Warmoth themselves offer a vintage version with larger contours.

No point talking about licencing as, unlike Gibson, Fender never pursued companies for ripping off their body shapes (or gave up early on, anyway). The licence is about the headstock shape and nothing else.

 

[AirCap]

I suppose......if the maple neck attached to a mahogany neck pocket confuses you.

You know darn well I was referring to the appearance of a neck through.

 

[pabloman]

Maybe it's because I'm familiar with longbords, or because I was aware of this model of guitar, could just be my discerning eye, but I never really saw these as trying to present itself as a neck through. Always looked like a laminated longboard to me.  To each their own. ccasion14:

 

[Ivandrov]

Warmoth tends to follow the Fender specs better than Fender themselves. But, as said before, Warmoth is licensed by Fender to make replacement bodies and necks for their products. The shapes shouldn't be different. However, Warmoth does offer more than a few specs and customization options than Fender does.

In a perfect world, the only way to tell apart an Alder Fender Standard Strat body from an Alder Warmoth Fender Strat replacement body would be the branding in the neck pocket.

 

[Cagey]

That's been my experience as well, with the exception of Fender's MIM bodies having a between 1-3 ~1" holes drilled between the pickups and the lower horn.

Not sure what they're there for - I've never seen them used for anything, and I think they're a bit too large/numerous to be index holes. But, who knows?

 

[MikeW]

Just a couple shots from a Google Images search. Saw these at the Fender booth at NAMM a couple years ago. Really nice workmanship and vibe to them. I suspect they were snatched up pretty quickly due to limited production though.

 

[bagman67]

Stepping in late, but they're supposed to resemble an old longboard surfboard (and now longboard skateboards).

 

 

[pabloman]

That's been my experience as well, with the exception of Fender's MIM bodies having a between 1-3 ~1" holes drilled between the pickups and the lower horn.

Not sure what they're there for - I've never seen them used for anything, and I think they're a bit too large/numerous to be index holes. But, who knows?

I had it explained to me that they were indeed indexing holes. If I remember correctly the larger hole is for all the MIM across the board and the smaller holes were supposed to be there for different configurations.

 

[pabloman]

There are some with two holes and then some with no holes. The no hole versions are supposed to be the high end reissues. I was also told the American bodies will not have the holes at all. :dontknow:

 

[Cagey]

All the ones I've seen go through here have had 2 holes (except the American ones), but if you dig through the images on Google, you can see what you're saying must be true. Or, true enough that I'm gonna repeat it if the question ever comes up again :laughing7: