Warmoth necks - worth it or buy from UK?

guitarfishbay

I'm going to be in the US in Summer and am considering some of the Warmoth 'in stock' necks.  I figure I can get two and remain under the £390 limit for customs, and then buy bodies from guitar build in the UK.  I can buy in advance as I'm staying with family so they can be shipped there until I collect.

Is this worth doing or should I just buy from what is available in the UK e.g. allparts etc?

I'm not building anything weird.  I just want an actual 1 humbucker hardtail, and potentially a 4 string P/J with a J neck and the Fender US bridge (the string through for the low B I need makes a difference to feel and I prefer it).

TTony

The range at Warmoth is what makes them different.

The quality (in my experience) is excellent and the service is pretty good.

But the options for different neck & fretboard woods, fret sizes, etc, is what really makes them worthwhile if you want something that's different to the usual Maple or Mahogany with a Rosewood board standard.

DrBob

Quality is great, I'd swerve the 'modern' type with the side adjust truss rod, lot of people making a racket about the perceived negative impact on tone this type of truss rod has..

guitarfishbay

@TTony if I was going for something pretty standard would there be a better option then?  I'm thinking off the shelf because I don't want to have the potential for missing a delivery date and then ending up with having to pay to ship to the UK + customs anyway.

guitarfishbay

Hmm I just discovered the screamin' deal section of the site.  Hmmm...

TTony

guitarfishbay said:

Hmm I just discovered the screamin' deal section of the site.  Hmmm...

UK options - I try to get mine from @GSPBasses when he sells stock off, though I've not noticed him doing that recently.  So I can't really comment on the quality of other UK suppliers.

Lebarque

I can highly recommend Tommy Rosamond at USA Custom Guitars for necks and bodies, having built two guitars with them. After searching the forums, I concluded that these were the best quality, and I have been delighted with them. Disclaimer: I haven't used any other companies. You also get a small company, personalised experience with them. Tommy will go tapping bits of wood for you to get the most resonant bit if you ask nicely, and nothing is too much trouble to talk through with him to ensure that you get exactly what you want. I have no affiliation with them, but love them. I'll PM you about customs charges.

I've yet to find a UK supplier for top of the range necks and bodies. I'd love to hear about one! After ditching US pickups for Bareknuckles, it's good to support local lads! 

Ps. I prefer to get the neck and body from the same place so that they can ensure that the neck fits tightly in the pocket, thus ensuring optimum tone and resonance. 

digitalscream

I actually have a question related to these things...how much fretwork needs to be done on pre-fretted Warmoth necks, if any?

TTony

digitalscream said:

I actually have a question related to these things...how much fretwork needs to be done on pre-fretted Warmoth necks, if any?

I did absolutely none on mine @digitalscream, and it plays perfectly to my fingers.  You might get a 5%-10% improvement (if such things can be quantified in %s) from a £100 session with a fretwork expert, but I've never felt the need.

digitalscream

That, @TTony, is exactly the answer I was looking for.

Looking at it, I may actually be able to put together a wenge-top and wenge-neck Strat to match the Tele that Jaden made me. Not especially cheap, but...hmmm....

xwolf5150

Whatever you do, do not buy from Musikraft. That twat sold me a piece of shit and totally ripped me off.
I've always been happy with Warmoth and only tried Musikraft because they offered rolled fingerboard edges.
I ordered an unfinished neck from Warmoth and actually rolled my own edges before I had it finished.
In my experience, they usually benefit from a fret dress but are quite playable straight out of the box.
My Warmoth is actually my main gigging guitar and has been for 3 yrs, don't see that changing at any time either.

EdGrip

I've had a body and two necks from USACG, and all have been excellent. I wanted a nice straight-grained plain-maple bass neck. I asked in the form to try and match the neck wood with the fretboard wood to give it a one-piece look because on the bass neck section of the USACG site it says they don't do one-piece bass necks, for stability reasons (all their bass necks come with graphite stabilising rods). 

Rob called me and said that if I wanted a one-piece bass neck, they'd be happy to do it. I decided I'd be happy with it just looking one piece, so went with a two-piece all-maple neck with small face-dots and a reverse headstock. 

I sent the neck to our own GSPbasses, and he made the body to fit the neck. And my goodness, did it fit - you'd think they were glued together if you didn't know.

The other USACG neck, I asked for a streaky and interesting rosewood fretboard like I'd seen on some Fenders in town. Tommy called. "Hmm. It's quite likely that those fretboards were cocobolo rather than rosewood. If you want streaky and interesting, that's the better wood. Costs about the same." I decided to stick with rosewood, but he found a nice interestingly-grained piece anyway.

Both those necks have top-adjusting trussrods, because I pity the fool who has to take the neck off every time they adjust the truss rod. USACG do this more invisibly than Warmoth, if you want the neck to look vintage from a distance. 

Other than that, I'm sure Warmoth are every bit as good as USACG. 

BUT.

If I were buying again, I would ask Grahame of GSP to make both body and neck. He's a genius Moriarty of UK guitar building, and his work is top-notch. And I know there are other UK luthiers who would make excellent custom necks. It's just that they're not as visible and click-and-buy as the US companies. 

EdGrip

GSPBASSES

I do still make necks and bodies for the members of the forum, I don't advertise any more as I'm semi retired. If anybody wants the neck or body drop us a line with what you're looking for and I will give you a price and the delivery date. I think my prices are competitive with most of the American companies certainly not as cheap as the Chinese ones, but mine are all handmade as close to the spec I'm given. I nearly always have Strat and Tele necks on the shelf that just need finishing, quite often I will also have bodies to match. I will be selling a lot of my stock in the near future, so if you're thinking of buying anything drop me a line first. I could will have just what you need just waiting to be finished. All the money that I receive from the sale my stock will be going into building guitars the charity (The Chickenshed) I'm about to write about this in Made in the UK.

TTony

GSPBASSES said:

I will be selling a lot of my stock in the near future, so if you're thinking of buying anything drop me a line first.

@GSPBasses - let me know when you're selling, because I'll be buying

Roland

Ditto

DrBob

With the news that @GSPBASSES is still making for forumites AND has stock to sell I would have to suggest going with him. Over the years I've built guitars with necks from Allparts, Mighty Mite, Warmoth, Musikraft & USACG, all have been good & the last two in particular have been great but my main guitar, the one I reach for above all the others is one with neck & body by Grahame.
And it cost me less than buying from the 'In Stock Showcase' at Warmoth !

longjaw

I've used 3 Mighty Mite necks (2 tele and 1 strat) and the frets were perfect on all of them straight out of the box.

WezV

TTony said:

digitalscream said:

I actually have a question related to these things...how much fretwork needs to be done on pre-fretted Warmoth necks, if any?

I did absolutely none on mine @digitalscream, and it plays perfectly to my fingers.  You might get a 5%-10% improvement (if such things can be quantified in %s) from a £100 session with a fretwork expert, but I've never felt the need.

I know warmoth state out of box playability but I think its a bit unfair to expect that once its travelled halfway round the world.   I think its unfair to expect it on any neck which has not yet made it onto a guitar.

I have had about 8-10 warmoth necks come my way.   only 1 was unplayable out the box and needded a level.  Most played okay out the box, but could be improved with a bit of dressing.  I have had 1 that really didn't need anything  doing at all

For standard maple/rosewood fendery stuff I usually go with allparts.   these always need proper dressing, but a bit of fettling makes them into a very nice neck.

stimpsonslostson

TTony said:

GSPBASSES said:

I will be selling a lot of my stock in the near future, so if you're thinking of buying anything drop me a line first.

@GSPBasses - let me know when you're selling, because I'll be buying

Count me interested too! I'm considering acquiring the bits I need to build a Cabronita.

babysnake

I had Tommy at USACG build a neck for me in 2005. It was birds eye maple with ebony board, mother of pearl dots etc. one of their more expensive offerings. It was unfinished. When it arrived there were areas on the ebony board that had very fine hairline cracks. They were very very small but they were there and I could see them. I contacted him about it and he said it was common with ebony and manufacturers would fill them (which I did) and no-one would ever know but it always kinda bugged me a bit. I sold the guitar that had that neck on, so I can't say how it held up. In 2009 I put together another Strat and used Simms Custom Shop here in the UK to build the neck. This one was 1/4 sawn maple, Brazilian Rosewood board, clay dots...a bit more expensive but an obvious step up in quality. 

Its the only time I've used them but it's still here and I really like it a lot...