OP
Tonight the new neck goes on!!!
Prop Guitar For Hendrix Flaming Guitar Re-creation Video:
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OP
It's not often that something comes together and feels so "right" but this guitar really has exceeded all my expectations.
The neck - which might be unplayable for some - is one of the first times in my life a neck felt right in my hands, despite its nearly 12 string width.
The neck has 3 distinct profiles. A rather dramatic 'V' from the nut through the 9th fret, a 1950's 'U' profile from 10th to the heel and a noticeable change in the shoulders from 10th to 22nd frets, being noticeably rounder on the thumb side and slightly thinner on the finger side.
Open chords are now effortless to hold due to the wider string spacing of the 1-3/4" nut. The narrower 52.5mm bridge spacing totally eliminates the old USA Stratocaster tendency of the strings to fall off the fret edges.
The DiMarzio Neanderthal Humbucker 16.5k AlNico9 is on-par with an EMG 81TW for tone. The Artec Hum Canceling Single Coils (7k AlNico 2 in the middle and 7k Ceramic in the neck) deliver classic Fender Single coil tones when selected.
Gone forever is the need to drop the single coils and sacrifice output to avoid "Stratitis." These pole piece/bar magnet pickups are jammed right up against the strings for maximum output with zero Wolftones.
The Artec stacked singles also do not interfere with the string vibration, even with the pole pieces at 4/64" from the sttings when fretted at the 22nd.
Every position on the 5 way switch is a DRAMATIC change in tone. The versatility of the 500k pots and 0.01uf tone capacitors give an almost "wah" effect and spread the usable range of the tone controls across 360° of knob movement.
This guitar is quiet under all conditions, even on a close-quarters stage with lighting effects, while both the unshielded Gibson's in the band transmit (audience member's) cell phone conversations over their amplifiers, something that drove me nuts with my 5 new Gibson's, and the reason I no longer own genuine Gibson guitars.
Intonation is absolutely perfect at every position on the neck - something I have never experienced before on any other guitar. This fact alone simply blows my mind and is testament to the incredible variations present in fret slot and bridge/nut location in most guitars, which can be compensated for - at least to some degree - but never corrected.
The first fret action is .020" with the 12th fret action set to .040" and the playability is difficult to describe. The gold Jescar .047" x .104" frets have an almost stainless-like feel to them.
The Graph Tech Tusq XL nut took some work to get the slot profiles correct. Once the wall profile and floor angles were "right," I am able to use the bar just as radically as my Floyd Rose equipped guitars with zero tuning issues.
I think the build accuracy of the Warmoth neck is just totally beyond what the other makers are willing to produce. Even the intonation on my Schecter is not this accurate.
The "Ugly Duckling" is hands down the most accurate, lightest, fastest and easiest playing guitar in my stable.
I am blown away at how everything came together on this "throw away" guitar to form such an amazingly quiet and accurate instrument....
The neck - which might be unplayable for some - is one of the first times in my life a neck felt right in my hands, despite its nearly 12 string width.
The neck has 3 distinct profiles. A rather dramatic 'V' from the nut through the 9th fret, a 1950's 'U' profile from 10th to the heel and a noticeable change in the shoulders from 10th to 22nd frets, being noticeably rounder on the thumb side and slightly thinner on the finger side.
Open chords are now effortless to hold due to the wider string spacing of the 1-3/4" nut. The narrower 52.5mm bridge spacing totally eliminates the old USA Stratocaster tendency of the strings to fall off the fret edges.
The DiMarzio Neanderthal Humbucker 16.5k AlNico9 is on-par with an EMG 81TW for tone. The Artec Hum Canceling Single Coils (7k AlNico 2 in the middle and 7k Ceramic in the neck) deliver classic Fender Single coil tones when selected.
Gone forever is the need to drop the single coils and sacrifice output to avoid "Stratitis." These pole piece/bar magnet pickups are jammed right up against the strings for maximum output with zero Wolftones.
The Artec stacked singles also do not interfere with the string vibration, even with the pole pieces at 4/64" from the sttings when fretted at the 22nd.
Every position on the 5 way switch is a DRAMATIC change in tone. The versatility of the 500k pots and 0.01uf tone capacitors give an almost "wah" effect and spread the usable range of the tone controls across 360° of knob movement.
This guitar is quiet under all conditions, even on a close-quarters stage with lighting effects, while both the unshielded Gibson's in the band transmit (audience member's) cell phone conversations over their amplifiers, something that drove me nuts with my 5 new Gibson's, and the reason I no longer own genuine Gibson guitars.
Intonation is absolutely perfect at every position on the neck - something I have never experienced before on any other guitar. This fact alone simply blows my mind and is testament to the incredible variations present in fret slot and bridge/nut location in most guitars, which can be compensated for - at least to some degree - but never corrected.
The first fret action is .020" with the 12th fret action set to .040" and the playability is difficult to describe. The gold Jescar .047" x .104" frets have an almost stainless-like feel to them.
The Graph Tech Tusq XL nut took some work to get the slot profiles correct. Once the wall profile and floor angles were "right," I am able to use the bar just as radically as my Floyd Rose equipped guitars with zero tuning issues.
I think the build accuracy of the Warmoth neck is just totally beyond what the other makers are willing to produce. Even the intonation on my Schecter is not this accurate.
The "Ugly Duckling" is hands down the most accurate, lightest, fastest and easiest playing guitar in my stable.
I am blown away at how everything came together on this "throw away" guitar to form such an amazingly quiet and accurate instrument....
OP
My very first guitar (1959 Sears Silvertone) flanked by YelloStrat:
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ninjaking67
Ambassador of Good Will
I have an LP that I built with a Warmoth neck and body. Their parts are second to none!
OP
String break angle through the nut...
OP
Different lighting...
OP
Zoom in on those winds!!! LOL
OP
Checking the tuners...Zero movement.
OP
'G' string slot profile...
OP
Guitar has been with Chris one week on Monday. It's been really strange playing my other guitars. This isn't a normal feeling for me...
OP
So, Chris decided to use a very dense piece of unbleached bone for the nut on YelloStrat. I was thinking brass, but he feels that the certain ultra-dense pieces of bone that he has on hand are up to the task of constant tremolo use and will not require periodic re-dressing like a brass nut.
The neck is also getting a 1° shim, CNC machined from a piece of ebony. In this photo, the original Olympic White and red paint mark are still visible in the neck pocket:
Chris also wanted to re-profile and re-polish the fret ends, even though they felt OK to me.
The beauty of this combination really has a lot to do with running an import-style 52.5mm bridge on a USA spec neck. The new, all-brass tremolo is being custom made to fit this guitar by my Hungarian musical friend Csaba.
In the photo below, you may notice how the bridge is very close to the USA made custom pickguard (www.pickguardplanet.com) in a few places???
Rather than trim the pickguard, we elected to reduce the outer profile of the bridge plate on three sides by 1mm (.039") to give the needed clearances. This will allow us to simply drop the bridge right into place.
In this photo you will notice my hand-made brass saddles are a little too wide, unsymetrical and some of the holes were not tapped straight. This is just a temporary bridge to get me by while we work out the bugs on the solid brass tremolo...
The USA Stratocasters always seem to have the strings too close to the fret ends and this was one of the things I grew to hate about Stratocasters over the years. The import bridge is perfect in this regard and several places now make a USA screw-spaced bridge plate with import spacing to correct this issue.
Long time Stratocaster players just get used to this. Yngwie even talks about getting used to this anomaly and learning to avoid popping the strings off the fret ends, but I find it limiting.
To say the least, it's been a very long week without YelloStrat. I'm hoping to have it back by Tuesday...
The neck is also getting a 1° shim, CNC machined from a piece of ebony. In this photo, the original Olympic White and red paint mark are still visible in the neck pocket:
Chris also wanted to re-profile and re-polish the fret ends, even though they felt OK to me.
The beauty of this combination really has a lot to do with running an import-style 52.5mm bridge on a USA spec neck. The new, all-brass tremolo is being custom made to fit this guitar by my Hungarian musical friend Csaba.
In the photo below, you may notice how the bridge is very close to the USA made custom pickguard (www.pickguardplanet.com) in a few places???
Rather than trim the pickguard, we elected to reduce the outer profile of the bridge plate on three sides by 1mm (.039") to give the needed clearances. This will allow us to simply drop the bridge right into place.
In this photo you will notice my hand-made brass saddles are a little too wide, unsymetrical and some of the holes were not tapped straight. This is just a temporary bridge to get me by while we work out the bugs on the solid brass tremolo...
The USA Stratocasters always seem to have the strings too close to the fret ends and this was one of the things I grew to hate about Stratocasters over the years. The import bridge is perfect in this regard and several places now make a USA screw-spaced bridge plate with import spacing to correct this issue.
Long time Stratocaster players just get used to this. Yngwie even talks about getting used to this anomaly and learning to avoid popping the strings off the fret ends, but I find it limiting.
To say the least, it's been a very long week without YelloStrat. I'm hoping to have it back by Tuesday...
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OP
Update:
The ebony 1° shim is being tossed in favor of a 1° shim machined from solid brass.
The ebony 1° shim is being tossed in favor of a 1° shim machined from solid brass.
OP
At Lake Gregory right now....just a few minutes from our rabbit hole
OP
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
HEY, WE thank your mom for you too, Robert. You are a good friend to all here.
OP
As are you, my friend....
OP