Im toying with the idea of putting together a tele from a warmoth body and neck and other components. Pricing from their site puts the guitar at 600-700 with Lindy Frawlin pickups.
The question is - would it be any better than a MIM better pick ups?
KYC
I think so. I've been very happy with the Warmoth parts I've gotten over the years.
Of course, I've tended to get a few unusual, non-standard options as well.
Perhaps if you're looking for your typical Tele body, you'd be better off financially to just get something from ebay.
I like the Baja Tele neck. I've got two part-o-teles, one has a Warmoth body, the other has a Guitar Mill body - both have Fender Baja necks.
s'all goof.
I have a warmoth body and MIM neck with Dimarzio pickups and I like it a lot.
theres some hellacious deals on used Warmoths on ebay ( Caveat Emptor), whole or parts.. They don't really hold their resale value, nor do MIM strats.
You can order everything from a very expensive very exotic woods and high dollar finish Tele to a basic unfinished Tele( with or without hardware) and everything in between. You'll need to do your homework to avoid matching stuff that will turn out to be a dud.
I "ve assembled a bunch of them. Would I do it all over again? Not so sure.
I don't think Warmoth makes as cheap of stuf as a MIM standard, so at the very least you'll get a better playing guitar with a better fit and finish ( unless you finish it yourself, then its up to you to determine the level of the finish quality.You'll also get a more substantial , better sounding instrument, all things being equal, cause of the quality of the neck and body woods, and the level of craftsmanship.
Its quite possible spend a lot of money and come away with a guitar that that is really Custom Shop quality for less than Custom shop prices., but its not likely on your first assembly, again unless you do your homework, and you should probably go ahead and have at least your first one professionally assembled, or start off with a basic quality less expensive instrument so you can learn the ins- n- outs before you tackle a thousand plus dollar parts guitar. Cost really adds up on these projects, so I wouldn't start out thinking you are going to save money, though it is possible.
All those screws, switches, pots , etc. etc., really nickel and dime you to death.
Heres a link to one of my posts on the parts guitar forum;
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=9110.0
Last edited by jerryjg; 08-19-2009 at 03:01 PM.
I built a Tele with USACG body and neck and Fralin pickups. It's a far better quality guitar than an MIM Fender. In fact, it's a far better guitar than an MIA production Fender.
you just don't know til you put 'er together. could be sonic bliss. could be $800 worth of parts you'll soon have on ebay in order to fund the next project. the big advantage to buying assembled guitars is that you know what it sounds like before you hand over the dough.
yes.. homework. I understand that there are lots of combinations that appear attractive. I can see this is going to be a bit tricky. I trust yall can review any future combination for me. the conservitive way to go would be to make a 'clone'. but then whats the point of that?
thanks,
KYC
This is true. I could build an exact replica of my USACG T-Style with all the same parts and materials and get completely different results.Originally Posted by Custom 5
It's still a fun and worthwhile project.
I exclusively play parts guitars because the do sound better than your standard assembly line guitar. I have played one in various forms for nearly 20 years. You have to do your homework and cross your fingers cause there is a bit of luck involved, but I think it's that way with all guitars.
My warmoth tele is as good as the custom shop fender stuff I've played, honestly.
I have another neck from musikraft that is waiting on a guitar mill body, and my impression of the neck without getting to play it is that it will be even better than the warmoth.
I think building them is the way to go.
Check out jamerson_guitars on eBay. It's the Musikraft store on eBay. They regularly have incredible Musikraft necks for sale at lower prices than you would pay if you'd order direct from Musikraft's website.
I bought an awesome birdseye maple neck for a Frankenstrat project. Paid $220.00 on eBay through jamerson_guitars for this neck that cost $295.00 on Musikraft's website. Check it out:
tbof
Once I've finished modding the guitars I already have, I'm thinking way too hard about building up something like a black guard Power Nashville Tele.
I want to make it kind of stealthy, so it looks like a plain, butterscotch and black tele like we've all seen a million times...until you get close enough to notice the middle pickup. And I want to be able to do acoustic tones as well, if I can find a way to do that without messing with the traditional Tele twang.
Hell, I'd want to put a hex system in it to drive midi gear, if I could figure out how to make that not show.
The GraphTech Ghost system is almost invisible, but I don't know if they can install it in Tele saddles or not... you'd have to ask them.
http://www.graphtech.com/
The website includes Tele saddles. But they all look like the American Standard individual saddles than the tradditional Tele barrel saddless.
I wonder if you can get a good twangy spank out of those.
Im still thinking about all this.... doing it with 'new' parts may not be the best way dollar wise. Im such a tight wad. I hate that about myself.
P e a c e KYC
Strat or Tele out of a 5E3 .
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I put this together with Warmoth parts, Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar pickups. It's a great guitar. It's better wood, than the MIM stuff.
I don't know if two strings sharing a saddle is a good way to send a signal to a midi system.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
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