Why is Warmoth such a secret?

[Graffiti62]

When I went down to Wisconsin for family business, I had a few free hours, and I decided to swing into Guitar Center. I mentioned to a sales associate that I was building my own guitar with parts from Warmoth. The guy had never heard of the company and was absolutely floored with the fact that he could execute his own idea on how a guitar should be. When I came back to Marquette, I picked up a few packs of strings from a local merchant/windbag. He hadn't heard of Warmoth more out of his own ignorance--he went on to tell me that he was burned by Mighty Mite in the eighties on a replacement neck (for a truss rod he broke on a customer's guitar) and refused to repair guitars ever again. But then again, he will tell you all day long that something is the worst thing in the world until he has it on his shelves (right now, he is enfetished with SD Antiquity pickups).

My question is:  why is Warmoth still a secret?  You can buy parts to make a better guitar than you can buy off of the shelf, and at nearly half the price once you're done. All it takes is patience, a couple of reference guides and a clean kitchen table.

I dunno--boggles my mind, but than again, I'm married, so a lot of things boggle my mind to begin with anyway.

 

[jay4321]

If you're looking for custom guitar parts and can handle the internet, I imagine people will find there way here.

I remember this place from little ads in the back of guitar magazines way back in the day too.

 

[exaN]

Blame the Warmoth marketing team :icon_tongue:

 

[Twelvebar]

It's not a secret, but most people have no desire to build their own guitar.

People who do find this place pretty easily.

 

[pabloman]

Dude I remember like over 20 years ago having the paper catalog and thinkin "I can have LesPaul with a Flying V headstock :cool01: :headbang:"  That makes me feel extremely old. :icon_scratch:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I think it's a secret because many players are not gearheads.  Add to that, the lion's share of Warmoth replacement parts bought by customers look like what they are replacing.  They are the same or similar body shape, head stock shape, wood, finish, and can even be re-logo'd.  They're camoflagued in-other-words. 

 

[Cagey]

Blame the Warmoth marketing team :icon_tongue:

I wouldn't jump to that too fast. Warmoth, as a group of talented individuals on a successful team, may be comfortable. It's possible that if they tried to scale up, they'd suffer from a variety of ills that afflict companies that get large. They may know this, and not want to go there. Certainly they do enough business that they could get nearly any bank to pony up the dough to double or triple the size of the place, but then what? Would Spike send you a logo decal in the mail no charge because you forgot to order it? Would Rob have time to help you through your agony over whether a pau ferro neck would be better than mahogany? Would you even know who Spike or Rob were? Of course not. The bean counters and marketing weenies would be on them like flies on feces if they spent more than 27 seconds with anybody, and they'd better have spent that time copying down credit card numbers.

Sometimes, bigger isn't better. Look at Microsoft. Huge, and what a horrorshow. For all the money they've got, is there a worse company on the planet? I'm not sure the IRS is as uniformly and universally hated. Call them and ask for help sometime. Be sure you've got your credit card out, and that it has a high limit you haven't begun to approach.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Dude I remember like over 20 years ago having the paper catalog and thinkin "I can have LesPaul with a Flying V headstock :cool01: :headbang:"  That makes me feel extremely old. :icon_scratch:

They were doing LPs then?

 

[swarfrat]

Yes, many people have no desire to build their own. Or think it beyond them. But also consider this...

A comedian once said, "I used to think the brain was the most incredible organ in the entire body, and then one day I thought: Just who's telling me this anyway?"

You asked two guys who's business is selling finished brand name guitars. Sure a confident salesman might not be threatened (maybe he even has one himself), after all we all have other guitars too right? But to some guys, anything but what I'm selling in this store threatens my livelyhood in some fashion.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

A comedian once said, "I used to think the brain was the most incredible organ in the entire body, and then one day I thought: Just who's telling me this anyway?"

Emo Phillips.

 

[hachikid]

I think it's more the fact that it's guitar center, and that most players aren't ACTUAL gear heads. most will wax poetic about the Fender Strat and/or the P-Bass all day long (which are good guitars), but don't know a whole ton about the smaller, but better companies. and like Cagey said, I think the amazing customer service would be first of the "budget cuts". I do have to say, I'd heard of Warmoth for a long time, but I actually never thought much of it and figured it was sort of a cheap company. HOW WRONG WAS I?!?! haha. I'd heard from a few people (my teacher, a few others) that Warmoth was actually really good quality, and when I called up Wyliee to inquire about a future bass project, it was game over. hah. but, I think they're a good size. I mean, they have people ordering from middle Europe, for god's sakes! that's a pretty good size to me. big enough to be around for 30+ years, small enough to still have incredible customer service. I've said it many times before, but Warmoth is now going to be handling all of my bass/guitar needs for as long as I'm alive and Warmoth is still in business.

 

[BigBeard]

I remember when I was a kid in high school first starting to build guitars in shop class and having my paper Warmoth catalog to look at in study hall.  If I remember correctly, I used to get a ton of guitar magazines and catalogs, and I guess somehow I got on their mailing list.  I spent countless hours looking at the exotic wood porn for years.  Warmoth is definately no secret, I mean there are what 4,000 members on this forum alone and we are only a small fraction of their customers.  And I mean you and I found them, and since you found them and want to start a business as a luthier, maybe you should keep Warmoth a secret to your customers.  Hey if they don't know you didn't source that beautiful walnut topped with cocobolo yourself, why tell them your secret?

Oh, and quit shopping at Guitar Center, they are the Wal-Mart of the music instrument industry, and we all know how Wal-Mart has destroyed our economy.  Kill all the mom and pop shops so there is no competition........  Sam Walton should burn in hell for what his business model has done to the retail market in the US

 

[AGWAN]

What sucks is I actually can't play guitar. And I no longer own the one I had.

I took a few lessons and understand a little bit. but I honestly cant tell you much. my guitar teacher turned out to be a drummer that didn't know s**t.

But since I lurk here soaking up everything I can. I know more about guitars, guitar repair and construction. and what woods do what. than just about any musician I know (Remember the one that said Grovers are the only tuners you can use for metal?)

I guess I'm just the kind of person. that needs to make each thing his own. and the kind that thinks "If I'm going to decide to do something. I will do it all." So that makes Warmoth a great choice for me. If I don't like the neck profile. I can change it. If I find one body to cumbersome. I can order a different one. and along the way I will learn to understand my guitar better than my friend who has a rack of stock Fenders and can't figure out why he can't find the right tone for his metal band.

also... soon as I get one... again... You better believe I'm going to learn to play it.

 

[exaN]

Blame the Warmoth marketing team :icon_tongue:

I wouldn't jump to that too fast. Warmoth, as a group of talented individuals on a successful team, may be comfortable. It's possible that if they tried to scale up, they'd suffer from a variety of ills that afflict companies that get large. They may know this, and not want to go there. Certainly they do enough business that they could get nearly any bank to pony up the dough to double or triple the size of the place, but then what? Would Spike send you a logo decal in the mail no charge because you forgot to order it? Would Rob have time to help you through your agony over whether a pau ferro neck would be better than mahogany? Would you even know who Spike or Rob were? Of course not. The bean counters and marketing weenies would be on them like flies on feces if they spent more than 27 seconds with anybody, and they'd better have spent that time copying down credit card numbers.

Sometimes, bigger isn't better. Look at Microsoft. Huge, and what a horrorshow. For all the money they've got, is there a worse company on the planet? I'm not sure the IRS is as uniformly and universally hated. Call them and ask for help sometime. Be sure you've got your credit card out, and that it has a high limit you haven't begun to approach.

Aaaah dude, no need to write an essay about it, it was just a joke haha :icon_tongue:.

 

[Cagey]

Sorry, it's hard to tell sometimes. Might've had too much coffee, too <grin>

 

[ORCRiST]

Sometimes, bigger isn't better. Look at Microsoft. Huge, and what a horrorshow. For all the money they've got, is there a worse company on the planet?

Yes. They're called 'Apple'.

THEY make Microsoft look like the "Make a Wish Foundation" in terms of customer service. Bad example, Cagey.

 

[Cagey]

No, not a bad example, just different. There are plenty of huge companies out there that are out of control and need some comeuppance. I picked on Microsoft because, well, they're at the top of my list. But, the list is long... <grin>

 

[Tonar8352]

Guitar Center :tard: Hmmmmmmmmm

I got into a bind one time and needed some vintage style Kluson tuners fast so I took a chance that they might have some.
When I asked the associate if that had any Kluson tuners in stock he pointed at the guitar tuners and said they only carried
Korg, Boss, etc.  :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard:

 

[Mor Paul]

Guitar Center :tard: Hmmmmmmmmm

I got into a bind one time and needed some vintage style Kluson tuners fast so I took a chance that they might have some.
When I asked the associate if that had any Kluson tuners in stock he pointed at the guitar tuners and said they only carried
Korg, Boss, etc.  :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard:

I've never liked that tuning machines and tuner pedals went by the same name.

But, he should have known what Kluson tuners were.

 

[stubhead]

Not to go all Miyamoto Musashi or something, but the people who need to know about Warmoth are the ones who do know about it. If you like to build stuff & you play guitar, it's a fairly obvious fit, as is USACG, Stew-Mac, LMII and all the others. I knew about Boogie Bodies and the original Schecter before there even was a Warmoth... creak, creak, grumble, thud. I actually find it more of a concern that some people come to Warmoth with no woodworking skills, they're never soldered anything, they've not played enough music to even have much knowledge about what makes a guitar or parts of guitars do things tonally - and they have NO tools, to speak of! Gaah... :sad1: They just figure on sort-of, "having" a custom guitar for half the price.  :icon_scratch:

It's great that people have ambition, but I'd rather see them lurk for several months before they launch a $1,200 "learner" project. Uh-oh... For the people who say that it's easy to assemble a pile of parts into a perfectly-functioning tool, I suspect (& hope) that they know more than they think they do. Or else, they've been extremely lucky, cause a little misalignment or some evil electric hum is fixable, but you have to know SOMETHING. At least, having changed some pickups, filed a few fret ends & understand some fundamental setup issues. Speaking of dearest forum memories, remember the guy who asked about problems he had in getting a Floyd whammy to work right - but he smashed the whole guitar before any answers came in? :icon_tongue: yee-haw...

I almost think Warmoth ought to require that people buy Erlewine's "Guitar Player Repair Guide" with each neck/body, or pass a basic competency test - it would surely eliminate some of the "Warmoth sucks!" post that show up, mostly in other sites. Or all those piteous, totally ruined formerly-$400 gaak'd-up now-firewood bodies that show up on eBay from time to time, inevitably because the guy "didn't have time to finish this because I have so many other projects" etc. No, Router-Monster Doofus-Boy - you RUINED it.... :tard:

For building & setup information, the internet is a mixed blessing/curse, as I have seen some lovely "tutorials" - with pretty pictures, text, definitions, and advice - that advocate ridiculous practices such as "crowning" the frets going vertically along the neck (instead of one-by-one) and USING THE TRUSS ROD TO ADJUST ACTION HEIGHT - solely!  eeeeeeeek...

Hey! mebbe I need some more COFFEE too! :laughing7: :hello2: :blob7: