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Warmoth build thread
http://maplifiers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3131		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Unstrung [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:19 am ]
Post subject:  Warmoth build thread
My Warmoth soloist is definitely my main guitar. I just prefer everything about it to my others. However there are some things I would change, most particularly the lack of tuning stability with the bridge.

So about eight weeks back after a lot of thought I said 'fuck it', and ordered up the Mark II version of my soloist.

I received the body and a bunch of hardware today.

This time I went for basswood. I've always been a little intrigued by the mids of basswood guitars, they're kind of soft and deep. But they always have too little top end. So I went for a hard top wood. I'm sick of maple, so I went with hard ash. Turns out hard ash is not typically available as a carved top, so there was an additional charge for that.

Here's some impressions of mine: I prefer the more dramatic curves of the old carved top of ten years ago, but this is still a sexy looking top.
It's quite light before anything is mounted to it.
I initially wanted to not have any binding (ten years ago, binding wasn't even an option for the soloist carved top!) but now it's mandatory, so I went with creme. Which I'm pleased about now, because it looks very nice with the vintage tint top... kind of complimentary.
For some reason I thought they would include a cover for the trem cavity? Fack, now I have to order one!

Well the neck and some more hardware are going to come a bit later.

Included pic of the binding leading into the black back, as well as a closeup of the seam between ash and basswood. I'm liking the thickness of the top, it seems to me to be enough to enhance the tone.

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Author:  Unstrung [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 12:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
For reference, here is the Mark I soloist.

Image

This one is mahogany with a maple top.

The pickup combination in it is awesome, the Dimarzio Fast Track 1s are a brilliant match with a high output humbucker. But I want dual hum this time, meh.

The heel on this one is big and fat even though I asked for the contoured heel, they just forgot to implement it and I let it go.

Apparently my tuning issues with the tremolo have to do with the angled headstock? You just can't have that without a locking nut to get it to hold tune. Those are locking tuners and a graphtech nut, but still, no, my whammy bar dreams never came true.

They will now.

What I'm going for with the Mark II is full whammy ability with an original Floyd, a different-ish tone, and bigger frets. But the same feel otherwise.
Author:  Unstrung [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Hey sorry if the pics are too big. I can't replace them.

I'm attaching them again at a more reasonable size.

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Author:  Devtron [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
That body turned out fantastic. The tinted ash and creme binding on basswood looks fantastic, and is a really interesting combination of tone woods. Do you think the density of the ash is going to bring out brights similar to the way a maple cap would?
Author:  chris_d [ Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
The cap, binding and finish give it a very classy vibe, kind of like a modern metal shred guitar version of an old school les paul aesthetic.

Which on paper sounds like something that might look wrong, but this came out great.

For pretty much any trem guitar, IMO, a locking nut is the best bet. To me, that is how the trem system is designed to work anyhow. The standard fender style and the warmoth version of it, just aren't designed to deal with the bridge being moved very much. Fine for subtle usage, similar to the jazzmaster and bigsby style, but not suited for much more than that without heavy modification that will still never get the thing as nice/stable as a dual locked floyd. Even if the headstock was a 3x3, it would have stability problems with that style bridge and no locking on the nut. The nut can never slip enough for the strings to move freely enough back and forth enough not to put them out of tune in tiny annoying amounts. The original Floyd is the right choice, IMO.

What kind of neck situation are you going for?
Author:  Unstrung [ Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Devtron wrote:
That body turned out fantastic. The tinted ash and creme binding on basswood looks fantastic, and is a really interesting combination of tone woods. Do you think the density of the ash is going to bring out brights similar to the way a maple cap would?


Oh man yeah. In person especially, the binding and top are just a perfect match. I don't know if it would be quite like a maple top but it's supposed to be a very heavy bright wood. If it did nothing at all it'd still be a fine-ass axe, but seeing as there's like 3/4" of an inch of it at the thickest point I think it will play a role in the overall sound.

chris_d wrote:
For pretty much any trem guitar, IMO, a locking nut is the best bet. To me, that is how the trem system is designed to work anyhow. The standard fender style and the warmoth version of it, just aren't designed to deal with the bridge being moved very much. Fine for subtle usage, similar to the jazzmaster and bigsby style, but not suited for much more than that without heavy modification that will still never get the thing as nice/stable as a dual locked floyd. Even if the headstock was a 3x3, it would have stability problems with that style bridge and no locking on the nut. The nut can never slip enough for the strings to move freely enough back and forth enough not to put them out of tune in tiny annoying amounts. The original Floyd is the right choice, IMO.

What kind of neck situation are you going for?


I was very optimistic about the Wilkinson and locking tuners setup with the Mark 1, but it didn't work out. The locking nut really is the only way to be sure!

Neck is going to be the same dimensions as the Mark 1, so Warmoth's standard thin with compound radius. But this time I went for 22 giant ass frets because I dug the frets on my friend's Ibanez RG. Maple and rosewood, creme dot inlays, their "Warhead" headstock (looks like a smoothed out strat headstock), with the face painted black.

Maaan, I can't wait for it to arrive!

Here's a pic my girlfriend took. She's a much better photographer.

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Author:  torgeot [ Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
dude.

that is gorgeous. :bangin:
Author:  metalfanat1c [ Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
That is fucking gorgeous.
Author:  Unstrung [ Thu Nov 26, 2015 8:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Neck will arrive soon!

Slight dillema. The humbucker mounting rings I ordered are the wrong type, so I need to order them again.

I originally wanted black ones, because I am doing black everything. But now that I have the body I'm wondering if cream rings while the rest stays black would look better. It would work with the binding and what will be creme inlay dots on the fretboard. Or stick with black? Purely cosmetic decision.
Author:  Snaxocaster [ Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Huh. Y'know, I might be inclined to go with the creme rings to match the binding and inlays. The actual metal bits will all be black anyhow. :snax:

As an aside, black is the right choice for the hardware on that thing. Chrome wouldn't work; gold would be... Well, it would be gold. It would work, but I don't think it would be the vibe you're going for.

What are you planning on putting in there pickup-wise, anyhow?
Author:  Unstrung [ Thu Nov 26, 2015 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Pickups shall be a JB trembucker I have lying around, and a Duncan '59 neck is to arrive with the neck. I am a Duncan guy.

The JB is a hit or miss pickup though, depending on the axe. It sounded great in a poplar body strat but the mids were ugly in the Mark 1 Warmoth (which ended up with the Duncan Distortion, a great match). If the JB doesn't work out, I'm considering trying the Tone Zone since the other guitarist in my band's Tone Zone 7 sounds so gnar.
Author:  Unstrung [ Sat Dec 05, 2015 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Image

Neck arrived. It's nice. You might need to open image in new tab. For some reason that's the only thing that arrived, even though the packing slip lists a whole bunch of other stuff which I've paid for.

:panic:
Author:  Broseidon [ Sun Dec 06, 2015 12:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Damn dawg, looks SICK.
Author:  Unstrung [ Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
I knowww I am dying for it to be done.

I got the missing bits today. Warmoth sent them in two packages and the smaller one came later...

Still waiting on one last batch of bits, dem humbucker mounting rings.
Author:  Unstrung [ Fri Dec 25, 2015 12:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
I've been waiting on fucking pickup rings forever.

Those stoner fucks had my cheque and I had to remind them to look for it via email.

Sheesh.

Dey be coming. And then I will build it... and I will cum.

Hey Mr. Heck. Yaknow you're like super close to Warmoth HQ?
Author:  Unstrung [ Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Image

Wired it up and did some drilling...

I'm just waiting on the rings to mount the humbuckers. Then I'll temporarily put the bridge on to get them placed right and drill them on. Then I'll take it to the shop for the setup because there's no way in hell I'm going to give a Floyd Rose its first setup!
Author:  Broseidon [ Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Unstrung wrote:
Hey Mr. Heck. Yaknow you're like super close to Warmoth HQ?


I did! It is like, 20-30 minutes away from my house. Not playing much guitar these days unfortunately, not that I could justify having such a nice thing for that anyhow. :red: But, they sure are a neat company.
Author:  Unstrung [ Mon Jan 18, 2016 1:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
Well I was asking because more like, hey, it might be an interesting place to work!




I finished the guitar and sent it to the shop for a set up. They gave it back with the action still too high for my liking. Seems Warmoth could have routed for the nut lower. I took the nut off and brought it to work and ground off about .6 of a millimeter and now it feels pretty good. Pretty damn good. In fact, I'm super super pleased with this guitar.

It's rather loud and resonant unplugged, moreso than its predecessor. A bit lighter than its predecessor too.

The pickups are a good match. The JB sounds muscular and balanced. A nice full sound that rawks hard, and the lead tone is addictive. The 59 seems to be able to do everything a neck pickup is known to. It's warm and singing under gain but with a defined attack and it cleans up to a nice jazzy tone. The coil split sounds from both are also really really good, on par with the full sounds. When you run both pickups split, it's just like, god damn. That is too funky. I've only had a day with it in proper playing conditon but I keep finding great sounds in the various knob and switch settings.

The Floyd is doing its Floydy thing as it should and I can't wait to learn all kinds of cool tricks and incorporate it into my style.

Pics...

Image
Cool closeup my girlfriend did.

Image
She also got the squid in on the shoot.

Image
My grainy clinical shot.
Author:  chris_d [ Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warmoth build thread
:unstrung:

Now that i have been playing my ebay floyd for a couple weeks, i have definitely been considering getting my paws on a real one. :huzzah:
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