Warmoth players, anyone?

[beaverbiscuit]

Fellow shredders, strummers, and pluckers ( ) Anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with Warmoth guitars? I've seen their ads in guitar mags for years, but I've recently been thinking seriously about setting aside some green for one of their product.

What I am looking at is their LP body with a Fender scale 25 1/2 inch neck. I've always wanted an LP but have never been able to adjust to the shorter neck scale.

Anyway, if you know anything about Warmoth, weigh in and sound off. I'm always interested in the opinions of the Home Recording playuhz!

[atomictoyz]

An excellent choice for guitars. Warmoth is located about 20 minutes from my house and Ive played on one here and there. They have quite a selection of options to tempt nearly anyone. The necks are very comfortable. One of my friends sold off 7 of his Ibanez JEM guitars to load up on 3 Zebra wood strats from Warmoth. I would say they are a step up from the Valley Arts boutique models. Warmoth used to make component parts for quite a few custom shops. Happy hunting.

Peace,
Dennis

[beaverbiscuit]

Thanks for the reply, atomictoyz. Yeah, their stuff looks great, and I really want the carved top LP body with the Strat-scale neck. Gonna have to start saving some cash to finance the deal.

One other question: How much of a pain is it to assemble the instrument oneself? I've never done it and thus am tempted to have Warmoth assemble it (when I get to that point), but maybe I'm being overcautious. . . .

[Lopp]

I owned a Warmoth for a year. Great craftsmanship and good quality. I only got rid of it because I didn't like the tone (which was mainly based on the choice of wood).

I've done my own teching, but I've never completely assembled a guitar from scratch parts. Warmoth may help you out a bit, but you should make sure you know what you are doing with respect to guitar setup.

Best luck,
Matt

[atomictoyz]

My thought would be to have Warmoth assemble it, youll enjoy the instrument more alot quicker. Setting up a guitar thats new takes some patience, and its better if guy who do it all day everyday tackle it.

Peace,
Dennis

[beaverbiscuit]

Point well taken, lopp and atomictoyz. I tend to think the same way, especially since I'm not much for DIY and I lose patience with myself when learning new skills. I don't really need to be a luthier, and the only tool use I'm interested is wrenching sound from the instrument

Thanks for the advice, fellow members of the Warmoth Appreciation Society!

[frederic]

I've built several guitars over the years. I've done the $139 guitar kit where a neck is bolted to a body and a pick guard is attached and a little soldering done. I've bought a warmouth neck or two over the years and made my own wings to put on the neck-through-body neck. First time I used the wrong glue, and that wasn't fun.

I won a tele neck on e-bay a few years back and made a plywood body. It worked acceptably.

Mechanically, I get my guitars to be "reasonably nice", but my finishing skills suck (sanding et.al. - maybe I'm impatient).

I enjoy doing it actually, but its real artistry, much like old fashioned cabinet makers, or furniture craftsmen. Its definately a combination of engineering greatness and artistry, thats for sure.

If you have the woodmaking skills, you'll have a better chance of making a really nice instrument.

[charger]

I have a two strat bodies, one is Lake Placid Blue, and the other is a killer quilted maple/alder strat body, and an amazing birdseye maple/brazilian rosewood neck, I'm waiting until spring to finish the body, because the finish needs to dry for around a week.

Every week, I go to their website and drool over the items in the thrift shop.

Like these:

http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/LPCP6.htm
http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/LPCP7.htm
http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/LPCP8.htm

and in the Strats section:

http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/PS224.htm
http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/PS229.htm
http://www.warmoth.com/thrift/bodies/PS270.htm

[beaverbiscuit]

frederic, I'm the most impatient slacker in Indiana. I just know that if I tried to do it myself I'd end up with a pricey, big doorstop I have a ton of respect for people who work on wood and work with their hands. It's cool that you enjoy it so much.

charger, damn you for showing me those photos Now I'm all fired up about getting the LP again, but I have less money than ever! Seriously, thanks for the response. That second one (LPPC7) is verrrrry nice. Somewhere I have my dream specs printed off from their site. It's gonna cost me over a thousand to get what I want, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

One thing I love about this site is the number of helpful replies one gets. Makes it easier to ask questions.

Thanks again, shredsters!

[bubinski]

Yea, Paul and Ken do a pretty decent job having their computer CNC copy parts and take care picking out wood and glueing body blanks together. The family of Laotion guys in the neck dept. do a real good job too, after their 10 minute lunch break.
To bad you can't have your local music store order parts for you and give you a break, since they quit wholesaling a couple of years ago and went to customer direct sales.
They do offer some nice hardware, since you can get the same parts anywhere in the world.
Place an order and tell them you know about there secret underwear and where the bunker full of .22 shells and waterproof stick matches are. You might get 5% off.
Don't forget to pay for the tone enhancing polyurethane finish.
Good luck.
Try " All Parts " in Katy, TX. they have nitro finished bodies and necks and the same hardware, even more. Cheaper. The last swamp ash tele body I got from them was under 3 LB's AND 1 piece !!!!!!
ask warmoth how much it it for a 1 piece swamp ash body and they will laugh at you.

[frederic]

frederic, I'm the most impatient slacker in Indiana.

Slacker. Hmmm. I may have you beat, not that this is a slacker contest. My studio sits here unwired for the most part, since last May. My job and my "honeydew" list keeps interfering.

I just know that if I tried to do it myself I'd end up with a pricey, big doorstop I have a ton of respect for people who work on wood and work with their hands. It's cool that you enjoy it so much.

I've made a few of those, I just didn't mention it prior out of embarrassment.

Now with my midi guitar project, I need to seriously crack down, pay attention to detail, and make something of quality. The beauty of this is I have access to CNC machines from my racing days, and guess what... a cad diagram and I'm good to go. And, I can use any material I want that I can buy the bits for.

printed off from their site. It's gonna cost me over a thousand to get what I want, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

a grand for a custom guitar is cheap, just so you know.

[beaverbiscuit]

Thanks again, frederic. I realize that $1000 is cheap for custom made; it's still a chunk of change for a temp-ing schmuck like me

bubinski: Am I correct in reading sarcasm into your post? If so, what's up? I can't tell if you are directing your attitude at them or at me for being interested in them. I guess I just don't understand the sarcastic approach to my question; it doesn't seem very helpful. But if I misread your comments, my apologies.

I'm not at all opposed to checking other companies; I just haven't had time to do a real search for them. Warmoth is a name I remembered from my youth, scanning through the ads in guitar mags between band practices. Does All Parts have a website? I'd be happy to look there if they do.

Peace