Warmoth Telecaster

ibmorjamn

ibmorjamn

Ambassador of Moar Jammin
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I need another guitar like ….. well anyway.
As I usually do, surfin the net for deals and Warmoth has them. I almost bought 2 bodies, I settled on something a bit different.
I will post a picture of it when it arrives.
Since my Squire Strat is a success I am going to try and this. I have a neck, not a high end neck but it has stainless frets if I remember correctly and is roasted maple.
The guitar body is alder cream bound , rear routed , toggle upper bout, P90 neck , 1 volume and one tone , standard Telecaster bridge cut, I got Wilkinson half bridge with brass bridge saddles.

I have been looking at pickups , not sure what I want for the P90, maybe glassy clean.
The Traditional bridge pickup , I am leaning toward a Alnico 3 Fender 51 custom shop
 
Good luck! I really hope it works out for you. :fingersx:

I don't mean to sound so negative and I really hope yours is exactly what you expect it to be. It's just that I built several Tele shaped Warmoth guitars (6 or 7 I think) and I only have one that worked out the way I wanted it to. I now have a bunch of necks and a couple of bodies left over from all the ones that didn't work out. A couple of things about Warmoth and the reason why I stopped trying to build them...you can't return it if you don't like it and it's not worth anywhere what you have in it if you want to sell it.

Edit: Now, I did have a couple that just weren't what I was hoping for, but they turned out nice. I was able to sell them, but not for even half of what I had in them.
 
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DirtySteve said:
Good luck! I really hope it works out for you. :fingersx:

I don't mean to sound so negative and I really hope yours is exactly what you expect it to be. It's just that I built several Tele shaped Warmoth guitars (6 or 7 I think) and I only have one that worked out the way I wanted it to. I now have a bunch of necks and a couple of bodies left over from all the ones that didn't work out. A couple of things about Warmoth and the reason why I stopped trying to build them...you can't return it if you don't like it and it's not worth anywhere what you have in it if you want to sell it.

Edit: Now, I did have a couple that just weren't what I was hoping for, but they turned out nice. I was able to sell them, but not for even half of what I had in them.
Click to expand...
I don’t hold any idea about what I expect it to be except different and playable. The pickups will be the turning point and the right neck.
I know you have as much or maybe more experience building these than any member.
I always listen to your opinions Steve.

Price was a factor, I had a Strat swamp ash also in the cart and it was less money. $250 for an American made body of any style is a deal to me. Ultimately I chose the Tele , one reason is I don’t have one the other is in my youth I had a custom made V by a un-known luthier with a Tele neck, I highly regret letting that guitar go.

This was a showcase item, $250 and it has the Gibson control influence.
 
ibmorjamn said:
I don’t hold any idea about what I expect it to be except different and playable. The pickups will be the turning point and the right neck.
I know you have as much or maybe more experience building these than any member.
I always listen to your opinions Steve.

Price was a factor, I had a Strat swamp ash also in the cart and it was less money. $250 for an American made body of any style is a deal to me. Ultimately I chose the Tele , one reason is I don’t have one the other is in my youth I had a custom made V by a un-known luthier with a Tele neck, I highly regret letting that guitar go.

This was a showcase item, $250 and it has the Gibson control influence.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my mistake was buying more expensive "tonewoods" thinking they would make better guitars and it turns out that's not necessarily the case. My keeper Tele has a swamp ash body, but I went with a select figured top laminate that was just a waste of money after I finished it and lost most of the figuring, lol. That's why I'm thinking about refinishing the top again. This is the second finish. The neck is Wenge with a Ziricote fret board with short scale conversion and straight 12" FB radius that drove up the cost. I bought other necks with this combo that weren't as good as this one.

ZB9IIS2.jpg
 
DirtySteve said:
Yeah, my mistake was buying more expensive "tonewoods" thinking they would make better guitars and it turns out that's not necessarily the case. My keeper Tele has a swamp ash body, but I went with a select figured top laminate that was just a waste of money after I finished it and lost most of the figuring, lol. That's why I'm thinking about refinishing the top again. This is the second finish. The neck is Wenge with a Ziricote fret board with short scale conversion and straight 12" FB radius that drove up the cost. I bought other necks with this combo that weren't as good as this one.

ZB9IIS2.jpg
Click to expand...
What is the bridge PUp
 
ibmorjamn said:
I need another guitar like ….. well anyway.
As I usually do, surfin the net for deals and Warmoth has them. I almost bought 2 bodies, I settled on something a bit different.
I will post a picture of it when it arrives.
Since my Squire Strat is a success I am going to try and this. I have a neck, not a high end neck but it has stainless frets if I remember correctly and is roasted maple.
The guitar body is alder cream bound , rear routed , toggle upper bout, P90 neck , 1 volume and one tone , standard Telecaster bridge cut, I got Wilkinson half bridge with brass bridge saddles.

I have been looking at pickups , not sure what I want for the P90, maybe glassy clean.
The Traditional bridge pickup , I am leaning toward a Alnico 3 Fender 51 custom shop
Click to expand...
Squier has so many nice Teles, just buy one and tweak from there. I have the stock pickups in my Squier CV Tele and they sound great, all I did was upgrade the pots to 500k made the neck pickup sound amazing, then added a resistor to the bridge pickup to darken it back to 250k, it's perfect! I also added brass compensated saddles by recommendation of my guitar tech but I don't think it really needed them, it was fine with the stock steel ones, oh well I'm out $35 no biggy.

No dig on Warmoth, but they charge more for an unfinished body than you can pay for a whole working Squier guitar! Not worth it in my opinion.

Take a look at these Squiers:


https://imgur.com/a/jdK1C1s
 
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paul-e-mann said:
Squier has so many nice Teles, just buy one and tweak from there.
Click to expand...

The thing is, most of them are made by Cort in Indonesia. That place makes the Fender plant in Mexico look like a custom shop with the finest luthiers on the planet. If you get lucky, you get lucky and the have the basics for an excellent guitar at a cracking good price. Often the fretwork is poor, the necks and bridges aren't aligned, the nuts are filed too deep plus there are tears in the paint and other minor cosmetic things that don't bother me. Get the right one and it's an awesome deal provided you're willing to spend a few tenners on replacing some hardware. I remember checking a few out in a shop once and their bodies were few mm slimmer than a real Fender which could make for comfortable playing and a lighter weight, at the risk of a little neckdive, obviously.

Ultimately, provided they got the bridge aligned correctly there's nothing that can't be fixed on them, even if it means bolting on a new neck. The bodies are generally 4 or 5 pieces glued together which means a 'natural' stripped down look is less appealing, but with solid colours no problem. Even a misaligned bridge can be fixed, but if the mounting holes end up on a seam between the pieces that make up the body it could be a little tricky.

That said, two of my Fender Tele's have the control plate at an angle... One of them has the bridge to one side (hey, that's likely why it was cheap) and I simply ground a guide slot for the first saddle - that puts things back in line.

I'd probably sooner go for a Squier than a Warmoth, too, because I hate painting things, but that's me, haha!

Love the Butterscotch Blonde/black pickguard on yours, by the way. :yesway:
 
PelliX said:
The thing is, most of them are made by Cort in Indonesia. That place makes the Fender plant in Mexico look like a custom shop with the finest luthiers on the planet. If you get lucky, you get lucky and the have the basics for an excellent guitar at a cracking good price. Often the fretwork is poor, the necks and bridges aren't aligned, the nuts are filed too deep plus there are tears in the paint and other minor cosmetic things that don't bother me. Get the right one and it's an awesome deal provided you're willing to spend a few tenners on replacing some hardware. I remember checking a few out in a shop once and their bodies were few mm slimmer than a real Fender which could make for comfortable playing and a lighter weight, at the risk of a little neckdive, obviously.

Ultimately, provided they got the bridge aligned correctly there's nothing that can't be fixed on them, even if it means bolting on a new neck. The bodies are generally 4 or 5 pieces glued together which means a 'natural' stripped down look is less appealing, but with solid colours no problem. Even a misaligned bridge can be fixed, but if the mounting holes end up on a seam between the pieces that make up the body it could be a little tricky.

That said, two of my Fender Tele's have the control plate at an angle... One of them has the bridge to one side (hey, that's likely why it was cheap) and I simply ground a guide slot for the first saddle - that puts things back in line.

I'd probably sooner go for a Squier than a Warmoth, too, because I hate painting things, but that's me, haha!

Love the Butterscotch Blonde/black pickguard on yours, by the way. :yesway:
Click to expand...
Good and bad comes at any price. Example: my faded SG was perfection when I bought it, my custom shop Goldtop LP was loaded with flaws when I bought it. Go figure!
 
Yup, there's a curve. The more you pay, the higher the likelihood of getting a good instrument becomes. Zero guarantees, though - I've played 5K+ guitars that were put to shame by 300's...
 
PelliX said:
Ever had any Japanese or Korean guitars? Cort in Indonesia and various Chinese outfits are the cheapest out there, of course.
Click to expand...
First one was a new 1980's JV Japanese Telecaster Custom not sure what wood was used not hard rock maple on the neck

That last one a Epiphone China So called Custom Shop sustains like wet cardboard live and learn

The last 4 PRS USA Core Guitars all used are great I would rather pay more and not put a bandage on a sucking chest wound

IMG_3357.JPG
 
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