Warmoth Custom Parts?

[GuitarIv]

Hey guys,

does anyone have experience with Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts? Pretty much thinking about putting together my own "Jackson" Soloist and not sure how they are quality wise. I put together a Body and a Neck on their Site with the online tool and they seem to be pretty reasonable with their pricing. If anyone has experience and can tell me that they don't sell utter shitee I'd be thankful. Let em opinions come!

Cheers

[Mr. Air]

I have a Warmoth strat body that I bought second hand and I'ts good quality to me, but I'm by no way the most experienced in the field. I think Philly Q is the Warmoth master of the forums so I'm pretty sure he'll chip in soon. Seems to me that people like Warmoth stuff in general. I haven't heard any bad things yet.

[GuitarIv]

Well that's nice, I guess if he doesn't see the thread by himself I might send him a message :)

[Twinfan]

Don't forget if you're in the UK/Europe you'll need to add import duty and VAT on top of the prices.  If you add 25% on top you'll be pretty much there.

[Philly Q]

You certainly need have no fears about it being utter shite. 

Warmoth stuff is great, it's extremely well made, they use high quality timbers, the holes are drilled in the right places and the necks and bodies always fit together perfectly.

The best thing is - unless you're doing a custom order from scratch - you can see photos of the actual item you're buying from the site.  And everything you see in the Showcase is actually in stock - if it sells, it disappears immediately, and they add new stuff almost every day.  With bodies, they also tell you how much they weigh, which is a very big deal for me.

The bodies are good to go, straight out of the box (apart from drilling a few holes for scratchplates etc).  Depending on your personal preferences, the necks need a little more work - they feel very "new" and precisely cut, personally I like the edges of the fretboard and even the headstock to be a little more rounded off and "worn in" feeling, so for that reason I buy finished bodies but unfinished necks.  Fretting is very good, but will always need a little dressing once the guitar is assembled.

Basically if you put a guitar together from parts, it has the potential to be as good as a guitar from a high-end US manufacturer.  It won't play as well as one of those guitars until you get it properly set up after putting all the parts together.

[gwEm]

Warmoth stuff is top quality, don't worry there.

Despite what people say to the contrary *you will need to budget for a neck fret dress*

[Copperhead]

Not wanting to be a jerk, but I've been less than satisfied with a couple Warmoth necks.
I prefer USA Custom guitars, across the street from Warmoth.
Some of their finished bodies do look very nice and I would not have any misgivings on a body.

[forestcaver]

A single data point: I've got a warmoth tele neck that I really like...

[GuitarIv]

Guys, thanks for all the answers so far.

Been quite busy with university, but spent some time on the Warmoth site and the Interwebz, so I made quite a few conclusions. This is the deal:

After initially thinking about a Jackson Soloist, I decided to go for something different. Inspired by the modern Wirebird Telecasters Dez and Jo from the Safety Fire use, I was thinking to myself: "Great Idea". Blending something oldschool with modern features might be nothing new, but I'm already using my custom made Strat for Death Metal so why not? Don't get me wrong; this ain't gonna happen by tomorrow. Due to my poor fortune of being a student, money isn't always coming in fast, so this is gonna be a long term goal and I really want to create something worth the wait and the money. Right now there are other things I need to "fix" first, like taking care of the gear I already own. My Strat needs a Tremol-No, new BKP 550K Pots, I'm saving for a set of Blackhawks for my Ibanez RG, there is the Carl Martin Octaswitch MKII I want, to finally get my pedalboard working the way I need it, a 62' Framus Hollywood and a Höfner 500/1 Bass that need to get repaired.

Now my Strat, the Framus and the Höfner are going to be used at home, for recordings and are not meant for the stage, since I'm too afraid they could get damaged or stolen. Besides having great value they also yield a sentimental one. The Strat has currently a Holydiver in the Bridge and two Slowhands in the Middle and the Neck, so for recordings the warm Alnico V sound shall be fine.

The Ibanez is getting Blackhawks with a Ceramic Bridge for live use to cut through nicely and be as close as possible to the "EMG Sound". It's my cheap beater and stage workhorse, so I won't cry if it gets damaged, already has quite a lot dings.

What I am thinking for the Tele is:

A chambered Swamp Ash Body with a Maple Cap, Maple Neck and a Maple Fretboard. I need this baby to cut through the heaviest mix like a hot knife through butter, especially because I'm going to use it with a Melodeath/ Thrash Band. The same goes for the dual Humbuckers, I know the wood configuration is already really bright and middy, so I was thinking Holydivers, but I want ceramic PUs.

Other Details include: A Gotoh Tele Humbucker Hardtail, Schaller Straplocks, the Warmoth Pro Neck with a Wizard Profile, 6100 Stainless Steel frets and a 10-16 Compound Radius and lots of contours.

The look I'll be going for would be something like this:

http://www.fender.com/de-DE/products/american-vintage-72-telecaster-custom

Only with completely black Hardware and two Humbuckers.

So to cut a long story short: what are your opinions, ideas and suggestions (for the PUs)?

Thanks and cheers!

[Kiichi]

That sounds like quite a nice plan, gotta say.

Two questions for recommending pickups more specifically:
What will you tune to and is your amp / cap rather dark or bright?


Concerning them anyway,  if you want ceramic and cut the Coldsweat does come to my mind. The neck does metal as everyone knows and the bridge works too, very agressive and rather bright I believe.
Alternativly the Aftermath might work well too. Uber tight, middy (centermids), agressive and with a enough bass and I think little tamer highs than the CS. It sounds so evil and big in my LP... The neck is also great, reminds one of the early Petrucci tone. I can really see that working in that guitar.

I think the CS bridge might be overkill though with so much brightness in the guitar (if it wasn´t so damn bright I would have said look at the RY, in spite of it being alnico, but this way I am concerned with you getting too much upper mids / cut. That one can be so bloody heavy (listen to Nollys band Red Seas Fire) and cuts like nothing I´ve heard personally, I believe it can even fit your styles very well).

Also a C-Bomb is always an option for stuff like this.



Long story short there are multiple options. You could even go crazy and get a set of Stockholms. Would work a charm too I believe. Or make it a real tele and get Piledrivers which are said to be bloody amazing for metal.
Both would give you cut and all. Really would not discount either.

[GuitarIv]

The guitar is gonna be tuned in E-Standard, the lowest I'd go would be Standard-D/Drop-C. My amp is a Peavey Valveking 100 with two simple mods that make it tighter and brighter. The cap will be a Jensen 0.022.
I was thinking about a ceramic Warpig in the bridge. That should counter the brightness of the woods, not sure if it would still cut enough though?