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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Re: Warmoth quality

11/23/2005 7:36 PM
Floyd	Re: Warmoth quality The only reason I think I could put together a better guitar than Fender for the same dough is that the parts would all be the best aftermarket stuff like Fralin pickups, sealed pots, sturdy switches, better shielding than a thin piece of foil under the pots ect... Plus you get your choice of finish. Anyway, it sounds like most everyone is satisfied with their (Warmoth) quality. Anyone ever deal with these guys? http://www.kneguitars.com/contact.htm I received a great price quote on building and finishing the body I want but I have never heard anything about these guys, I am thinking about getting the neck from Warmoth and letting the KNE guys build the body around it. USA guitars is out since they don't offer any wood for strats other than alder and swamp ash, I want the body made from northern ash. notice the rear routing at USA guitars and Warmoth looks like an attempt at a hollow body more than a control cavity, what's up with that giant hole anyway? Wylie over at warmoth says they do not offer a smaller control cavity.

11/23/2005 7:36 PM

Floyd

Re: Warmoth quality

The only reason I think I could
put together a better guitar than
Fender for the same dough is that
the parts would all be the best
aftermarket stuff like Fralin pickups,
sealed pots, sturdy switches, better
shielding than a thin piece of foil
under the pots ect... Plus you
get your choice of finish.

Anyway, it sounds like most everyone
is satisfied with their (Warmoth) quality.
Anyone ever deal with these guys?

http://www.kneguitars.com/contact.htm

I received a great price quote on
building and finishing the body I want
but I have never heard anything about
these guys, I am thinking about getting
the neck from Warmoth and letting the KNE
guys build the body around it.

USA guitars is out since they don't
offer any wood for strats other than
alder and swamp ash, I want the body made
from northern ash. notice the rear
routing at USA guitars and Warmoth looks
like an attempt at a hollow body more
than a control cavity, what's up with
that giant hole anyway? Wylie over at
warmoth says they do not offer a smaller
control cavity.

12/6/2005 2:06 PM
Nathan Noel	Quote: I want the body made from northern ash. notice the rear routing at USA guitars and Warmoth looks like an attempt at a hollow body more than a control cavity, Then you might want to check out a Mighty Mite body. They are generally regular old ash, the Rear routed ones have a smallish control cavity too. I agree that the big ass control cavity sucks. The Mighty Mite strat necks are pretty nice as well... Nothing much to complain about I assure you. I'm using a rear routed strat body from Might Mite for about 2 years now and it's still my favorite guitar and I'm sittin on close to a dozen good guitars right now. (It's got a warmoth neck on it, just because I had it.) And the finish is super shiny and durable as well. I absolutely cannot complain especially for 1/3 the price of a finsihed Warmoth body. Here's a link to a pic of me with my fav Mighty Mite/Warmoth Mutt guitar. http://www.3dogdare.com/gigphotos/5-13/S3500026.jpg

12/6/2005 2:06 PM

Nathan Noel

Quote: I want the body made
from northern ash. notice the rear
routing at USA guitars and Warmoth looks
like an attempt at a hollow body more
than a control cavity,

Then you might want to check out a Mighty Mite body. They are generally regular old ash, the Rear routed ones have a smallish control cavity too. I agree that the big ass control cavity sucks. The Mighty Mite strat necks are pretty nice as well... Nothing much to complain about I assure you. I'm using a rear routed strat body from Might Mite for about 2 years now and it's still my favorite guitar and I'm sittin on close to a dozen good guitars right now. (It's got a warmoth neck on it, just because I had it.) And the finish is super shiny and durable as well. I absolutely cannot complain especially for 1/3 the price of a finsihed Warmoth body.

Here's a link to a pic of me with my fav Mighty Mite/Warmoth Mutt guitar.

http://www.3dogdare.com/gigphotos/5-13/S3500026.jpg

12/8/2005 11:07 AM

jaysg

quote:
"I want the body made from northern ash."

If that's the heavy stuff, you should try one first. Most of the late 70's and early 80's guitars are heavy ash and they're easy enough to find. I had one and it wasn't a lively tone. A pal of mine had a alder '72 that was acoustically twice as loud, so it had a wider dynamic range. ymmv of course.

12/8/2005 12:31 PM
Nathan Noel	Ash is ash is ash. Different parts of the tree and where it grows determines the weight of the slab. So ash is always a toss up. If you'll notice some of the "Swamp" ash bodies on Warmoth's showcase weigh as little as 3.5 pounds and some get up to 4.5 to almost 5 pounds. There's a guy I work with that owns a 74'ish Fender Strat... I kid you, not... the bloody thing weighs in at over 12 pounds. It's insanely heavy... Ash G&L Legacy guitars tend to be a bit on the heavy-ish side too. My hard ash Mighty Mite guitar weighs in at 8.5 pounds total which feels pretty good to me. I don't like them too light, I've got one guitar that weighs in at 6.5 pounds and it feels really odd when strapped on with it being so light.

12/8/2005 12:31 PM

Nathan Noel

Ash is ash is ash. Different parts of the tree and where it grows determines the weight of the slab. So ash is always a toss up. If you'll notice some of the "Swamp" ash bodies on Warmoth's showcase weigh as little as 3.5 pounds and some get up to 4.5 to almost 5 pounds.

There's a guy I work with that owns a 74'ish Fender Strat... I kid you, not... the bloody thing weighs in at over 12 pounds. It's insanely heavy...

Ash G&L Legacy guitars tend to be a bit on the heavy-ish side too.

My hard ash Mighty Mite guitar weighs in at 8.5 pounds total which feels pretty good to me. I don't like them too light, I've got one guitar that weighs in at 6.5 pounds and it feels really odd when strapped on with it being so light.

12/8/2005 3:24 PM

jaysg

quote:
"There's a guy I work with that owns a 74'ish Fender Strat... I kid you, not... the bloody thing weighs in at over 12 pounds."

Mine was 11 lbs. Sucked b'wanna.

12/8/2005 5:59 PM
Mitch	Nathan said, My hard ash Mighty Mite guitar weighs in at 8.5 pounds total which feels pretty good to me. I don't like them too light, I've got one guitar that weighs in at 6.5 pounds and it feels really odd when strapped on with it being so light. I agree too. I have had the heavy ash body and to me I liked it better. I also had a real heavy Maple body Kramer Pacer and it had a really good tone but very dark in tone. I really liked it. The last Warmoth ash strat body I had was real light and I just did not care for its tone so I sold it. That was a shame too as it was set up as a 1969 strat copy with the Warmoth maple neck and large CBS headstock. It had the correct logo lacquered in and even a custom shop logo on the back. Real nice playing guitar but I felt it just did not capture the tone I like. Warmoth is now building thier necks with a side truss rod adjustment on the underside of the neck where you play the hi frets and I am not to keen on this idea. I like the way thier necks play but a truss rod adjust at the bottom side neck pocket is kinda strange and definitely not cool to see that hole there. What happens when sweat and beer get into the adjuster gear??? You know how stage playing can be..LOL...... The warmoths are kinda on the expensive side too IMO. I'm almost temted to try the new MM strat necks you see on Ebay for around $100.00 just to see if these are any good instead of the $200.00 or more for Warmoth. Mitch

12/8/2005 5:59 PM

Mitch

Nathan said,

My hard ash Mighty Mite guitar weighs in at 8.5 pounds total which feels pretty good to me. I don't like them too light, I've got one guitar that weighs in at 6.5 pounds and it feels really odd when strapped on with it being so light.

I agree too. I have had the heavy ash body and to me I liked it better. I also had a real heavy Maple body Kramer Pacer and it had a really good tone but very dark in tone. I really liked it.

The last Warmoth ash strat body I had was real light and I just did not care for its tone so I sold it.
That was a shame too as it was set up as a 1969 strat copy with the Warmoth maple neck and large CBS headstock. It had the correct logo lacquered in and even a custom shop logo on the back. Real nice playing guitar but I felt it just did not capture the tone I like.

Warmoth is now building thier necks with a side truss rod adjustment on the underside of the neck where you play the hi frets and I am not to keen on this idea. I like the way thier necks play but a truss rod adjust at the bottom side neck pocket is kinda strange and definitely not cool to see that hole there.

What happens when sweat and beer get into the adjuster gear??? You know how stage playing can be..LOL......
The warmoths are kinda on the expensive side too IMO.

I'm almost temted to try the new MM strat necks you see on Ebay for around $100.00 just to see if these are any good instead of the $200.00 or more for Warmoth.

Mitch

12/9/2005 10:46 AM
Nathan Noel	Mitch, they are indeed very good necks, as good as any othermaker out there... If you are after a "Strat or Tele" neck... All good materials, wood truss rods, frets etc. And like anything else including Warmoth you'll likely need to do a little fretwork as they are simply seated and filed flush and beveled (maybe polished too depending).

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