Warmoth....project! :)

Hey man. Welcome to TB!

First of all, keep an eye out for Nino Valenti. He's a great guy and he builds basses for people off warmoth.com.

www.valentibasses.com is his website. Absoutely beautiful work. He's been talking with me about ordering parts and such. Becuase i want to assemble basses.

Any questions, feel free to ask!

Have fun, and good luck!


-Mark

I'm awating delivery of the parts for my 10th or so Warmoth project, and although I've never put together a Gecko, I assume it won't be too different from their other stuff.

Actually assembling the parts is not difficult at all, just a matter of drilling some pilot holes (very carefully so you don't scratch the finish!) and screwing it all together, but there are some "problem areas" you should be aware of:

- The fit between the neck heel and the neck pocket in the body is usually very tight even in unfinished parts, so if you order your neck finished, you may have to sand off the finish in the heel area to make it fit.

- You can have Warmoth cut and install a nut for you. The problem is that they do this before finishing the neck and it's not so easy to remove it (for the fret dressing part, see below) without messing up the finish around it.

- If you really want a setup that's up to the very high quality of Warmoth parts, you're going to want to dress the frets. Warmoth does great fret work in general, but there may be a couple of high/low spots here and there and it's always better to dress the frets just to make sure it's perfect.

- Electronics. It's not difficult at all but at least you have to know how to use a soldering iron and follow a wiring diagram.

I dress the frets and cut the nut myself, but it takes lots of practice and the right tools to get it right. If your guitar tech does this kind of work, you could get the neck without the nut installed, have him dress the frets first, then you assemble the bass and then he could install and cut the nut for you and do the final setup. You'll end up with a top notch quality instrument designed exactly to your taste at a very reasonable price. My main bass is now a Warmoth Deluxe 5 and it's just my dream bass, wouldn't change it for anything!

sorry for piggy backing, but I'm also interested in building a warmoth bass. I was wondering what would happen if I didn't get the neck finished? Does it have to have a finish to keep it's quality, or is finish just for feel?

Greg

Depends on the wood you choose, maples MUST be finished or it'll warp. However, if you go w/ Wenge or Padouk, you can leave it nekkid... I left my Wenge neck nekkid, & its just the coolest thing evar!!

Read the last paragraph re. which woods to finish and also the part about the warranty: Invalid Link Removed

I am currently building a six string for a customer using the Gecko neck and a custom made Korina body. I got the neck in the other day (wenge/ebony) and it looks really nice. I can't wait to hear how it sounds when complete. I'm sure I will post some pictures here when it's done.

One thing I noticed about the neck is that that flat asymetrical profile feels really nice. I am pretty much a 4-string player yet felt like this profile would be pretty easy to handle with six strings.

If it's any help here are some pictures including a couple close ups of the Wenge neck with ebony board. Since wenge is dark colored, deep grained and in most cases left unfinished I would consider a body with a similar look and color (assuming a clear finish).

I chose Korina for this project since it was a good color match yet has a bit warmer tone to offset the ebony board.

Here is a link to the pictures:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v605/blackrosecustom/Blankenship%206-String/?sc=1&multi=6