Ordering from Warmoth? And nut question.

fretmeister

I want to build a Gibson Scale Fender. I'm intending to get the body and hardware from ebay / Reverb / where-ever but neck options are limited.

I'm going to get a scale conversion neck from Warmoth.

How long do they take to ship? Will any work be needed on the neck when I get it? I'm going for unfinished and them I'm just going to oil it.

Anything I should know? Other than getting hit for VAT etc.

Jason

Mine took about 6 weeks

apart from oiling it, it was absolutely fine when it arrived, no fretwork work required

fretmeister

Is it worth going for the Earvana Nut? 
I've never had one before.

jasonbone75

@OilCityPickups has some recent positive experience with the Earvana nut I believe.

Stevepage

I had Feline do a little bit of work on my neck. The frets felt quite rough for some reason so they skimmed the tops and polished them up. The edges of the fretboard are quite squared off, which is fine, but it felt a lot better when I had the fretboard and fret ends rounded off. So, useable, but do benefit from a bit more work from a good tech 

Arrived about 6 weeks for me too, but this was during the first lockdown

FelineGuitars

100% go for the Earvana option in my opinion.
Good necks but benefit from a bit of refining by a great tech

fretmeister

That sounds promising.

I'm going with 42mm nut, the Wizard shape as it is really a Wizard II and all maple.
I did think about having half the board scalloped but that is not compatible with the Wizard neck thickness.

All maple, black dots. Very probably the Vintage Small frets. I've always liked them.

Probably Grover sized machine head holes as lots of tuners seem compatible.

Then I'll look for a suitable strat lightweight body. I haven't decided yet on whether to have a trem or not. I'll see what is available used at the time.

stickyfiddle

Similar to Steve here. 

The neck I got was a bass from the showcase - quartesawn with carbon rods and really nice. Shipped within a couple of days iirc. 

Frets were fine from a levelling perspective but benefitted from edge rounding & general polishing, and I rolled the fretboard edges A LOT, because I like that. 

Philly_Q

Agreed with @Stevepage and @FelineGuitars , I've owned a lot of Warmoth necks and bodies although very few have ended up as completed guitars.... they're very good quality but definitely benefit from a little extra fettling.  Which is only to be expected, really.

They're very quick if you order from stock, I can't remember how long it takes for a custom order but of course it will be longer.  Delivery by UPS and of course there'll be import charges.

(Wizard neck eh?  Not for me...   )

fretmeister

Philly_Q said:

Agreed with @Stevepage and @FelineGuitars , I've owned a lot of Warmoth necks and bodies although very few have ended up as completed guitars.... they're very good quality but definitely benefit from a little extra fettling.  Which is only to be expected, really.

They're very quick if you order from stock, I can't remember how long it takes for a custom order but of course it will be longer.  Delivery by UPS and of course there'll be import charges.

(Wizard neck eh?  Not for me...   )

The Wizard 2 is about halfway between a normal Strat and the original Wizard.

WezV

They are a bit better than other part suppliers for fretwork, usually playable out of the box.   They will play better with some additional work

OilCityPickups

jasonbone75 said:

@OilCityPickups has some recent positive experience with the Earvana nut I believe.

I have two guitars fitted with Earvana nuts now ... when I can afford it all my non locking nut guitars will get them ... they are that good. 

Philly_Q

fretmeister said:

I want to build a Gibson Scale Fender. I'm intending to get the body and hardware from ebay / Reverb / where-ever but neck options are limited.

I'm going to get a scale conversion neck from Warmoth.

I've been mulling over (for a very long time) getting a Warmoth 7/8 Strat, which as you'd expect is a slightly downsized body with a 24.75" scale.  They use the same neck blank as their standard necks, so you end up with a 24-fret, 24.75" fretboard instead of a 22-fret, 25.5" fretboard (so it's different from the 24.75" conversion neck, which is designed to be used on a standard sized body and therefore must be a slightly shorter neck).  They never have any in stock though, so it would have to be a custom order.

elstoof

The old Valley Arts spec 

Philly_Q

elstoof said:

The old Valley Arts spec 

Yeah, exactly that.