Warmoth

Ive been seriously considering building a custom strat of my own.
This would be the first time ive ever attempted a from scratch (save bodies and necks) build up.

What would be the best medium with which to paint the body?

go with USA Custom Guitars instead, better wood, better workmanship, better prices, better service =)

I've never had any problems with Warmoth's service, though I always drove directly to their shop.

Definately check out USACG. They can build very specifically. You can have pretty exact dimensions, provided you know how to measure them.

As for finishing, what do you mean by best? Easiest to apply? Durability? Tone/vibe/etc? What kind of skills and patience do you have? Theres wipe on poly, hand rubbed tung oil, sanded superglue, nitro...

Fiddlin' with a new neck is fun. Think about what you really want and go for it. Best wishes!

thanks for replying guys!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Phil Jacoby
Definately check out USACG. They can build very specifically. You can have pretty exact dimensions, provided you know how to measure them.

As for finishing, what do you mean by best? Easiest to apply? Durability? Tone/vibe/etc? What kind of skills and patience do you have? Theres wipe on poly, hand rubbed tung oil, sanded superglue, nitro...

Fiddlin' with a new neck is fun. Think about what you really want and go for it. Best wishes!

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Strangely enough i have quite a bit of patience, especially with painting. by best i meant durability without adversely affecting the sound of the piece.


p.s. I did check out usa custom guitars. They look fairly comparable to warmoth. though i have no experience with either company yet.
a few more opinions on that topic would be quite helpful as well. Ive heard quite a few good things about Both companies :)

What kind of look are you going for? The reason I ask is that the "dipped in glass" look requires a lot of finish to get flat, which can in turn affect the tone. Thin and hard is what I think about when it gets to finishes. If looks aren't top priority, maybe a thinly applied automotive clear (pre cat, hard...) is the ticket. Just food for thought. Nitro is interesting, but not super durable, but that is part of its charm. I'm not a fan of oil, unless it is a butcher block bass etc...

I've ordered bodies and necks from Warmoth and just this morning ordered a neck.

I'm happy with the service that I got. The guys I spoke with were polite and happy to discuss pros and cons of each aspect- and this was not an expensive custom neck; just a regular neck with some features I specified.

I also prefer a thin finish. Wipe-on poly has worked fine for me.
Hope this helps.

wemedge

I've dealt with both Warmoth and USA. USA Custom's quality and service far exceeds warmoth's. There is a variety of features such as backshapes, truss rod placement and fretboard radii that you can't get from warmoth. They are truly a top notch manufacutrer.

As far as finish, I also recommend nitro-cellulose laquer. It's not as durable as poly, but it lets the wood ring.

:wail1 Well Wax, I haven't had any expierence with USA, but I have bought 2 necks from Warmoth, now, and I am VERY happy with them so far. I haven't gotten them on their guitars yet, so I don't know how they play or sound, but their quality is very good. Both necks are done very well and I can't think of anything anyone could've done to them better no matter who built them.

My first one is a Warmoth Construction Tele neck with rosewood fingerboard, maple neck, double expanding truss rod, compound radius (which is really nice), standard thin back, and their smallest (6230) fretts and everything came as ordered.

My second neck I just got this week is really nice too. It's a Warmoth Construction neck in maple, the Ibanez Wizard back shape which is a custom option cause I wanted to try it out on this one, ebony fingerboard, reverse Strat style headstock, double expanding truss rod, compound radius and their smallest fretts again.

Both times the sales person was very nice and calm sounding on the phone and treated me right and didn't try to take advantage of me because I'm a woman or make me feel stupid or like they really didn't want to help me out like a lot of places do. They took the time to go over everything with me and repeated my whole order to me both times to make sure everything was right and helped me make a couple decision on some things I wasn't sure about without trying to sell me on the most expensive thing. I am totally happy with Warmoth so far. Haven't had any trouble with either of my necks, but as I said before, I haven't been able to play on them yet cause I don't have the guitars done that I got them for.

I will buy from them again and I'm thinking of trying a body next time and try getting a few options on it. Good luck with everything. Oh, on my necks, I am using Painter's Choice clear coat spray can paint that I got from Home Depot and it works nice and comes out shinny, but I took steel wool to it and made it that nice satiny finish on it and it looks like candy you could eat. I love it. Bye for now.

Snow Bunny

My favorite finish is Defthane Satin. It's a hard polyurethane that mellows nicely, and feels great the longer I play on it. It polishes out from my hand over time. I even use it on fretless fingerboards.

Snow Bunny (my life-mate), does get great results out of that Painter's Choice clear. Nice and shiny, but with a little 0000 steel wool, it is perfect satin.

Thanks for all the great feedback! after talking with a few other people and taking all of your experiences and advice into consideration i decided to go with a neck from warmoth and a body from B.Hefner

This is going to be so much fun!
woo hoo

Well good luck on your guitar. I think you'll be very happy with the Warmoth neck; it is quality. You're going to have fun with this project. It's really neat building guitars. Going to the store and buying one is exciting, but building one yourself that works and is playable, that's a really neat feeling. I'm hoping to have my guitars done soon that I'm building. Take care and have a great day

thanks a bunch!
and i am really excited!
this is my first ever "home built" guitar
strat or otherwise!

im really excited about it and id really love to hear about the gits yer building.
just for the sheer knowledge

i intend to use fralin vintage pups with a home built midboost circut. if that even matters heh

so please! lets not leave this thread to die!

i think it would be really cool if all of us from TheFenderForum got together to build some guitars in a contest!
the prizes are quite obvious even though to people outside of the guitar PLAYING community they would seem silly

that would be REALLY exciting..


p.s. snow bunny... i hope you're having as much fun as i am! :D

Good luck - you'll have fun! i built a tele from warmoth parts and I've gotten stacks of compliments of how good it sounds & looks!
Cheers
Darren

You can learn alot about finishing on this site.

http://reranch.com/

Craig