Why are second hand Warmoth necks so expensive in the UK?

Lebarque

GSPBASSES said:

Lebarque said:

Lack of UK (quality) neck builders willing to provide Fender headstocks?

I disagree with you completely there, there are quite a few UK builders who will make a neck to whatever specification you want at sensible prices, although it must be said because of the high price of neck's coming in from America, some UK Builders are matching the high prices.

 This is not trying to drum up business for myself, as most of you will know my workshop is closed and may not open again. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning if you want to custom neck search UK Builders I'm sure you'll find one who will do the job.

  If I manage to get well enough to open up my workshop again, I will be offering neck's as I have always done in the past. The photo below shows you what I was offering about a year ago. The 3 Maple/Rosewood neck's sold for £180 + P&P, the Roasted Maple/Rosewood neck sold for £210 + P&P. The neck on the extreme left is the conversion neck, scale length, 24.75" that fits a stander Strat neck pocket.



 

@GSPBASSES Apart from you, who?

zedhex

regarding Warmoth fret quality, you can specify any type you like - I specified stainless frets on my roasted maple, compound radius, soft-V, rosewood fretboard neck, and I couldn't be happier with it. It's the ability to customise the neck to anything you want that makes the difference

GSPBASSES

Lebarque said:

GSPBASSES said:

Lebarque said:

Lack of UK (quality) neck builders willing to provide Fender headstocks?

I disagree with you completely there, there are quite a few UK builders who will make a neck to whatever specification you want at sensible prices, although it must be said because of the high price of neck's coming in from America, some UK Builders are matching the high prices.

 This is not trying to drum up business for myself, as most of you will know my workshop is closed and may not open again. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning if you want to custom neck search UK Builders I'm sure you'll find one who will do the job.

  If I manage to get well enough to open up my workshop again, I will be offering neck's as I have always done in the past. The photo below shows you what I was offering about a year ago. The 3 Maple/Rosewood neck's sold for £180 + P&P, the Roasted Maple/Rosewood neck sold for £210 + P&P. The neck on the extreme left is the conversion neck, scale length, 24.75" that fits a stander Strat neck pocket.



 

@GSPBASSES Apart from you, who?

There is a nice list here, https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/26/custom-specialist-uk-builders/p1

Jeremiah

Adding stainless steel frets to a Warmoth neck only adds $35 to the price, unlike some of the other options like binding, exotic wood fretboards etc, which can very quickly mount up.

There is Guitarbuild in the UK who offer some customisation options, but they can then start to get pretty expensive as well (and won't copy Fender headstocks if you care about that.)

Lebarque

GSPBASSES said:

Lebarque said:

GSPBASSES said:

Lebarque said:

Lack of UK (quality) neck builders willing to provide Fender headstocks?

I disagree with you completely there, there are quite a few UK builders who will make a neck to whatever specification you want at sensible prices, although it must be said because of the high price of neck's coming in from America, some UK Builders are matching the high prices.

 This is not trying to drum up business for myself, as most of you will know my workshop is closed and may not open again. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning if you want to custom neck search UK Builders I'm sure you'll find one who will do the job.

  If I manage to get well enough to open up my workshop again, I will be offering neck's as I have always done in the past. The photo below shows you what I was offering about a year ago. The 3 Maple/Rosewood neck's sold for £180 + P&P, the Roasted Maple/Rosewood neck sold for £210 + P&P. The neck on the extreme left is the conversion neck, scale length, 24.75" that fits a stander Strat neck pocket.



 

@GSPBASSES Apart from you, who?

There is a nice list here, 

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/26/custom-specialist-uk-builders/p1

Thanks, @GSPBASSES . I've not seen that before. Looks like most of them build full guitars, rather than parts though.

Bork

I have a guy in China who makes very good CNC'd strat necks to custom dimensions for less than a hundred quid.  He made two necks in flame maple with a 44mm wide nut and 57mm heel for bodies I already have.  But he'll do matching neck and lightweight sapele or (heavy) tamo ash body sets.  They rely mainly on large orders from export customers.

There would be some challenges for anyone wanting to do something similar in the UK.  The start up costs vs demand for starters.  It costs a lot to tool up and the cost of materials is not insignificant unless a local source of decent maple (ie. sycamore) can be found.  Also the demand, without European support, isn't going to be overwhelming.  It could be a half decent side gig for anyone who already access to the machinery set up in another venture.

citesquestion

As others point out, the delivery is way more expensive. In addition, I feel like most people opt for something non-standard – roast maple, flaming or rarer woods. Having said that, I think £600 asking is for dreamers unless something really-really extraordinary.

 I've bought a few warmoth things (if you're selling something, I'm always happy to hear out!) and the quality was pretty good. Some required fretwork but no horror stories. The necks were a bit more inspiring than the allparts "cut your own headstock" stuff though I'm sure they are decent after you finish.

I would be interested in ordering a custom neck locally. The stuff @GSPBASSES posted looked great and very well-priced. A few previous quotes I got were around £300 for a custom but basic neck which isn't terrible but I'd need to have a pretty good idea what to order and it would probably be way more with fancier options

EioPago

GSPBASSES said:

Lebarque said:

Lack of UK (quality) neck builders willing to provide Fender headstocks?

I disagree with you completely there, there are quite a few UK builders who will make a neck to whatever specification you want at sensible prices, although it must be said because of the high price of neck's coming in from America, some UK Builders are matching the high prices.

 This is not trying to drum up business for myself, as most of you will know my workshop is closed and may not open again. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning if you want to custom neck search UK Builders I'm sure you'll find one who will do the job.

  If I manage to get well enough to open up my workshop again, I will be offering neck's as I have always done in the past. The photo below shows you what I was offering about a year ago. The 3 Maple/Rosewood neck's sold for £180 + P&P, the Roasted Maple/Rosewood neck sold for £210 + P&P. The neck on the extreme left is the conversion neck, scale length, 24.75" that fits a stander Strat neck pocket.



 

The problem is that none of the builders I have been in touch with are prepared to make a true vintage style strat neck with a single action truss rod (in a curved channel). So for me the only option is either Allparts, Warmoth, USACG or Musikraft.

Neilybob

Wow sounds like I got lucky scoring a lightly used Warmoth Tele wenga neck for under £190 from the UK before Christmas. 

Good luck

Jez6345789

I do think we have been very lucky to have had @GSPBASSES as the builder for the forum and I own and have used a few of Graham's fine necks on mine and builds for friends. I am sorry to hear you may be finally retiring your hard work and fair price has always been appreciated. 

I think one of the problems in the UK is @GSPBASSES ;
Had refined his building process over the years and got to be very cost-effective.
For someone else to produce cost-effective necks of that kind of quality is going to be a tough call. Also people here appreciate what Graham offered but the volume market in the UK is all the cheap Chinese necks that ebay parts sellers and online parts places offer. I did use a couple of necks from Northwest and they were ok with a but of finessing. 

I also think Warmoth's necks have always held their price over the years everytime I see one on ebay they are never cheap. 

ToneControl

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