Warmoth necks in general / Warmoth stainless steel frets. Any experience?

[Lucas]

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with Warmoth necks, especially with stainless steel frets or Warmoth necks in general?

My main concern is if those necks require any fret work like leveling, crowning and polishing at all? Or they are ready out of box?
On Warmoth site it is said that Warmoth doesn`t do any leveling/polishing and sometimes neck finished has to be scr@ped off first from the frets.
On different forums I`ve read different opinions,
Some people say that they had to do some fret work and others say that their necks were superb and ready out of the box without any further work.

How does the situation look like with Warmoth stainless steel frets? They are much harder to work with. Any experience?
In my area there`s nobody who would do the job on stainless steel frets (if required), so Im worried that I will end up being stuck with the neck that wouldn`t be suitable for playing straight away.

I have stainless steel frets installed in my Dean Cadillac but first of all I had to send the guitar away to get the job done and secondly that luthier won`t work on frets which are not installed by himself... He does the full, complex thing only

cheers.

[Andrew W]

The frets on the only Warmoth neck I have ever bought needed the full treatment. Thankfully I had Jonathan from Feline Guitars to do it, and make a lovely job of it. I would budget for getting the frets sorted out post purchase.

[forestcaver]

I have a Warmoth neck (not stainless). I had to do more work levelling and sorting it out than on necks I have made and fretted myself... still a really nice neck though and I'd buy another....

[Lucas]

The neck that I want to purchase apart from stainless steel frets has compound radius as well which makes the whole thing of leveling even more difficult and time consuming. Each fret as far as I know has to be leveled separately against the other one or something.

The other thing about Warmoth frets what really makes me wonder is price...
When I was changing all frets to stainless ones in my Dean Caddy, it cost me around 180£, Warmoth charges you an extra 20$ or something. Why is that?

Would guys at Feline Guitars deal with stainless steel freats installed on compound radius necks as well?

[Philly Q]

The other thing about Warmoth frets what really makes me wonder is price...
When I was changing all frets to stainless ones in my Dean Caddy, it cost me around 180£, Warmoth charges you an extra 20$ or something. Why is that?

Because you were having the old frets removed and then replaced with stainless ones, and paying for all the work that entails.

Warmoth are just fretting a new neck from scratch, so the only extra cost is the cost of the basic materials - stainless vs regular ones.

[gwEm]

what Philly said.. and Warmoth don't dress the frets - this is the most time consuming part, and the part that makes all the difference. £180 to change to stainless frets is a fair price i would say.

i also had to have my warmoth neck dressed at Feline, it really needed it.

[PhilKing]

I have 2 Warmoth necks with stainless steel frets.  I got stainless because the necks were made of unusual woods and I didn't want them to need a refret ever.  I finish my own frets when the necks come in, but I have a full set of tools, including diamond fret files and fret edgers.  You can do it with needle files, but it takes a lot more time and you need to be careful not to damage the fingerboard.   I've never had to level the frets from Warmoth and I've had over a dozen necks from them, so I'm surprised to hear that, but I haven't bought one from them in a couple of years.

[Lucas]

Because you were having the old frets removed and then replaced with stainless ones, and paying for all the work that entails.

Warmoth are just fretting a new neck from scratch, so the only extra cost is the cost of the basic materials - stainless vs regular ones.

Yeah, it does make a sense.

PhilKing, I don`t know how it looks like in reality now, but plenty of people on different forums were complaining about the fret work that has to be done while others were saying that necks were ready straight out of the box.
Anyway, I think that the best idea will be contacting Feline Guitars, ones I`ll have that neck. I wouldn`t do anything myself especially on stainless frets with compound radius.


And on the other hand, what about Warmoth bodies? Any experience? I know that they are blank with no pickups, electronics ect but what about quality? Easy enough to work with?

thanks.

[WezV]

Warmoth don't do any levelling, and not much more dressing  than angling the ends...but they also fret very consistently so often they do play okay out of the box.

most of the ones i have used have needed a little levelling and quite a bit of fret end shaping, although i think part of this may be the change in climate they have gone through getting to me.   I have had one or two that were unplayable as they were but none that needed any major work

[darkbluemurder]

The only Warmoth neck I ever had I purchased through ebay. I have no idea whether and if so how much effort the seller or a previous owner spent on fretwork but the neck played well. Unfortunately it was quite a tone dog. I had it replaced later with a custom built neck of the same wood species and the guitar sounded much more alive.

Cheers Stephan

[Lucas]

The only Warmoth neck I ever had I purchased through ebay. I have no idea whether and if so how much effort the seller or a previous owner spent on fretwork but the neck played well. Unfortunately it was quite a tone dog. I had it replaced later with a custom built neck of the same wood species and the guitar sounded much more alive.

Cheers Stephan

What sort of construction type was it? Warmoth Pro? Apparently those necks due to double expanding truss rod might not sound as good as Vintage or Vintage Modern ones.
They contain more metal and less wood because that double truss rod. The good thing about that system is that ones adjusted the neck will hold the set up forever, but the bad side it that unfortunately that metal/wood ratio kills the wood vibration and intonation and the overall sound eventually.

[darkbluemurder]

What sort of construction type was it? Warmoth Pro? Apparently those necks due to double expanding truss rod might not sound as good as Vintage or Vintage Modern ones.
They contain more metal and less wood because that double truss rod. The good thing about that system is that ones adjusted the neck will hold the set up forever, but the bad side it that unfortunately that metal/wood ratio kills the wood vibration and intonation and the overall sound eventually.

Unfortunately I cannot tell since the ebay ad description did not provide for more details than Warmoth neck, one-piece maple, 22 frets. The neck was stable, the guitar stayed in tune well but the tone ... not for me.

Cheers Stephan

[Lucas]

Where were you adjusting the truss rod, traditionally or on the side of the neck? Warmoth Pro has side truss rod adjustment. Honestly, even that it`s an innovation as well as handy option when ones adjusted it stays adjusted forever, that Double truss rod neck design really puts me off.

[Copperhead]

USA Custom Guitars
Ask for Tommy Rosamond
http://www.usacustomguitars.com/

[FELINEGUITARS]

We can fret dress stainless frets - no problem
We can fret dress compound radius - no problem
We can fret dress frets installed by someone else - provided they did a decent job of it - Warmoth usually do a good job

working with stainless fretwire is no fun in some senses:
It does wear out your tools quicker - no matter what anyone says
Your fret cutters, fret tang nippers, and crowning files all suffer and it can be harder labour for the person doing it.

That is why luthiers charge more for doing a stainless refret - not just the extra cost of the wire but a contribution towards having to replace tools much sooner.