Warmoth Guitars

[LEFTY LES]

Has anyone on this forum had a guitar or guitars custom made from this company. Warmoth Direct - Guitars I have heard a lot of good about them, checked out there site and they seem like a really really solid company that builds some serious guitars. Jimmy Herring (Wide Spread Panic) who for those of you guys know is a incredible guitarist. He uses mainly Fender but he has had a guitar custom built from this compay so they must be the real deal. So has anyone bought from them???

[The_Sentry]

I have a friend who orders them frequently. But he's more of a strat man....if you were doing those kinds of fabrications (bolt on necks)...seems like a killer place to get stuff.

[brettk7]

Definetly a cool place. I have been wanting to build a 72' Tele Custom with Warmoth stuff for awhile now. Money has stopped me from doing this on a couple occasions.

[patternrecognition]

I've ordered a few things from them over the years and have never had a good experience.

Go with USA Custom Guitars. Former Warmoth employees, IIRC, better customer service, and their bodies are actually cut to spec.

[gravmy0]

i tried a warmoth neck the other day, beautiful grain on it really stood out, was a telecaster neck.

extremely chunky and kind of weird shaped

was suppose to be based off SRV i think
it wasn't perfectly symmetrical in terms of thickness,
like the top portion of the neck in my hand was slimmer than the bottom,...or was it vice versa.
And i don't mean a tapered neck.

[Volusia]

I ordered a custom Warmoth Pro neck for one of my strats. It's birdseye maple with a thick slab of jet black ebony fretboard, 6550 fret wire and abalone inlays. It's a fine playing neck. I would highly recommend them.

[anthony5150]

just got finished putting this one together. it the one on the left. warmoth is great quality stuff.

[hank49]

Beautiful guitars there Anthony5150.
I put a Warmoth Pro neck on a Vester Strat copy last summer. It came out really nice. So I ordered one (Modern Vintage) for my year old, reissue 70s american Strat and it plays really nice. then I decided to build a whole one...Swamp ash body, birdseye maple neck with that lopsided SRV contour which definitely feels fatter than the Standard thin... with ebony board, jumbo ss frets, fralin pups, Wilkinson bridge, now I'm hooked. I want to build more.
I read that there were some Warmoth customer complaints a few years ago, but I've not had any problems with them. When you get parts though, you're on your own. No directions...just sacks of parts, body, neck etc. But now I can't ever see buying a brand name guitar from a store. More fun to build...you get just what you want and they come out just as good or better for a good price.

[jumpinjackf1ash]

warmoth is really great stuff. I got an all maple CBS vintage tint neck for my aztec gold strat....its the best strat neck I've ever played.....and thats a looot of different strat necks.....warmoth kicks fender's ass.

[oilpit]

I believe one Edward Van Halen made a certain striped Stratocaster out of Warmoth parts.

[Dino]

Originally Posted by oilpit

I believe one Edward Van Halen made a certain striped Stratocaster out of Warmoth parts.

Eddie Van Halen built that guitar using an imperfect body and a neck bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, whose parts were being sold by Wayne Charvel at the time.

As for Warmoth ... they make nice stuff but IMO, they're a bit overpriced and overrated.

[oilpit]

Originally Posted by Dino

Eddie Van Halen built that guitar using an imperfect body and a neck bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, whose parts were being sold by Wayne Charvel at the time.

I know that the parts were imperfect, but I was under the impression that he bought all the parts from Boogie Bodies, which later became Warmoth

[twinrider1]

I saw one last week; a pointy super-strat style. Didn't get to play it but the finish work was stunning. Top to bottom, it looked solid.

[Lucky #007]

I've got three. They're great bodies and necks. They are actually cut to exact Fender specs as they are licensed by Fender. Their other shapes are slightly (not particularly noticeable) different for obvious reasons. I've got two LPs and I suppose I could tell the difference if I put it right next to a Gibby. My tele is dead on. USACG is not licensed and as such will not be cut to spec.

The SRV neck shape is asymetrical in shape by design. They have descriptions of their neck shapes on their site. The point being, it wasn't by accident or poor quality control that that neck was shaped like that.

You CAN build a cheap guitar, but you will likely end up spending a pretty fair amount. They're not a cheap way to build in general, but you will get a lot more for the price than you would from a major manufacturer and you get to pick everything. All three of mine will end up around $2K a piece when it's all said and done and all three would have cost significantly more from Fender or Gibson.

[ses717]

Welcome to 'Chevyland'. Sums it up from my experience. From quality, to finish, to customer service what little there is. Oh, and have your dental pliers cause you'll need them to get any real help. I'm emphasizing this is an 'American made' operation, not a 'USA made' operation. If you catch my drift.

For instance, I purchased a finished soloist showcase body with bridge pickup rout. I need to choose trem rout. I chose recessed floyd. It would have been nice if 'excellent' customer service was there to mention to me something like, 'if you do this, there will be some bare wood exposed and it won't have as nice of a "finished" look to it. No, a call to them sometime later about the loose floyd arm, and the pre-worn pickup ring, revealed the option that I could have had the cavity painted by them, for an additional charge! Thanks for telling me... AFTER!.

But if you have your'e expectations set correctly, and you want to just put it together yourself, it's a no brainer and it is fun. However, it's not a cheap wayt to go as you're paying more to have control over some options, and you don't mind a sub-production quality instrument.

I have heard good things about USACG USA Custom Guitars - The finest custom replacement guitar parts available. but no experience with them.

To counter-act all this, while in Vegas on vacation last week, I purchased a new USA Charvel Tele shipping to me, AND for less $$$ than my 'Warmoth Experience'!
Forgive the bit of a rant.
Good luck to you.

[Bluesky]

I've got one and its a Fantasic guitar. Sometimes I gotta remind myself that its a Warmoth and not a CS Strat. FAT neck, P90 in the bridge. I'll never sell it.

[ACELUEK]

Originally Posted by patternrecognition

I've ordered a few things from them over the years and have never had a good experience.

Go with USA Custom Guitars. Former Warmoth employees, IIRC, better customer service, and their bodies are actually cut to spec.

Yeah, I just heard from a Luthier that USA Custom Guitars have better quality than Warmoth, specifically their necks. He said that a lot of the Warmoth frets still need significant work, where the USA Customs are ready to go.
They are a little more expensive and do not have near as many neck models as Warmoth.

I have a Warmoth soloist and I'm looking to replace the Mighty Mite neck this year sometime..

[hbucker]

Put a Warmoth neck on my Tele and it fits perfectly. No complaints period.

I agree that they seem a little over priced, but I think quality assurance is something you're paying for over some lesser brands. What disappoints me is that they aren't really much cheaper than buying something new if you have them finish the guitar parts for you. I can buy a brand new guitar and not have to assemble it once I get it...

But if you watch their sale parts you can get some decent deals. That USA Parts site looks interesting...

[zslane]

I built three Warmoth partscasters last year, two Strats and a Tele. They all came out great. Depending on what you are trying to build, you can usually do better on price by shopping around in the used market for a complete guitar that is already mostly what you want, and then modding it to match your vision.

In some cases, though, there is simply no way to get exactly the guitar you want at a reasonable price, and a Warmoth project is the way to go.

[EEF13]

Originally Posted by ACELUEK

Yeah, I just heard from a Luthier that USA Custom Guitars have better quality than Warmoth, specifically their necks. He said that a lot of the Warmoth frets still need significant work, where the USA Customs are ready to go.
They are a little more expensive and do not have near as many neck models as Warmoth.

I have a Warmoth soloist and I'm looking to replace the Mighty Mite neck this year sometime..

I think they are pretty much the same quality.

[Big John]

Originally Posted by oilpit

...I was under the impression that he bought all the parts from Boogie Bodies, which later became Warmoth

According to what I've been told by Ken Warmoth years ago, Eddie bought the BoogieBodies parts through Wayne, who was one of the few BoogieBodies dealers in southern CA at the time. In fact, a lot of those first generation Charvels that people still spend a ton of money on today are really just BoogieBodies parts, with most of those parts being fabricated by the Warmoth brothers. It was no surprise when Ken & Paul walked away from Lynn Ellsworth/BoogieBodies. If you've ever met Lynn, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I have my own reasons, but I will always place Warmoth quality above USACG.

[TeleDog]

I don't have a Warmoth, but I've been tempted many times.

Price is not exactly cheap, but if they sell quality then I guess that matters the most. I've seen good bargains online, but mostly the cheap stuff is just crap. I mean, a body with a ton of wood filler, funky necks, even saw a neck with dot inlays and they were literally falling off!!!!!

I HATE to buy crap, so when Warmoth charges 140 bucks for a Tele body, unfinished, I think of it as a good deal. Same with other similar bodies.

[deepblue]

I have both a body and neck from Warmoth. I made myself the Stratocaster that Fender should be making. They can get expensive thats true, but the quality is second to none.
Look at the flame maple neck I got for my Strat project....beautiful!

[TeleDog]

Try staining a cheapo, you'll see all the wood filler come to life! lol... Not good, and then you realize you have to buy a decent body or paint your guitar in a solid color KNOWING the body is just glue and wood filler crap. Not a good situation.

[eldiablo]

Originally Posted by ses717

Welcome to 'Chevyland'. Sums it up from my experience.
From quality, to finish, to customer service what little there is.

Oh, and have your dental pliers cause you'll need them to get any real help. I'm emphasizing this is an 'American made' operation, not a 'USA made' operation. If you catch my drift.

It would have been nice if 'excellent' customer service was there to mention to me something like, 'if you do this, there will be some bare wood exposed and it won't have as nice of a "finished" look to it. No, a call to them sometime later about the loose floyd arm, and the pre-worn pickup ring, revealed the option that I could have had the cavity painted by them, for an additional charge! Thanks for telling me... AFTER!.

it's not a cheap way to go as you're paying more
you don't mind a sub-production quality instrument.

I have heard good things about USACG USA Custom Guitars - The finest custom replacement guitar parts available.

I purchased a new USA Charvel Tele shipping to me, AND for less $$$ than my 'Warmoth Experience'!

Interesting point of view for your 1st post.
Welcome to the forum.

[VENTgtr]

I have Warmoth neck on my one Strat. Did take some sanding off the back and a bit of buffing the edges of the frets, but was worth it. Actually, by the time I was done, I liked the neck so much that I sanded my other necks to match.

[captain tightpants]

I've been playing Warmoth products for years, I just love mine. Best way I know of to get an American made bolt on in just about any style you want with nearly any feature you want. Top notch quality, never had a complaint, never had to do any fret work beyond perhaps polishing.

Not pretty, but I love this one. Poor old girl's been the subject of nearly every stupid idea I've ever had, she's still one of my best sounding guitars.



My Esquire-Gib. Began my new-found obsession with Tele's with this one.



Very first Warmoth purchase, great playing 12-string neck. Bought it blind knowing NOTHING about fret sizes and neck shapes back then. One of these days I'm gonna buy a good body to go with it.

[Bloozcat]

This is one of my builds using a Warmoth body and neck. Solid Koa body w/figured Koa top. Warmoth sells good stuff, and so does Tommay at USACG:

[captain tightpants]

I like that, Bloozcat, very nice. Stunning koa.

Is that one of those Wilkinson vintage type bridges? How do you like it compared to a Fender 6 screw?

[djwilbanks]

I dig that one!