Buying a Warmoth bass neck

[ArteK]

For years, I've been assembling and disassembling basses, combining bodies and necks and hardware to make my basses.

At times (even more so recently), I've struggled to find nice used Fender necks that match my preferences. I tend to like Precisions, with both narrower Precision and 1.5" Jazz necks. I tend to go for rosewood fingerboards with the vintage (very small) frets and 7.25" curvature. I've had the best luck with 80's and 90's era MIJ Fender necks.

The used neck market seems to have pretty much dried up, to be replaced by new Fender stock replacement necks. They might have the vintage specs I'm looking for, but they have pao ferro fingerboards which I don't find all that pleasing aesthetically.

Also, almost all of these older necks tend to have some intonation problems at some place on the neck, and more so the older they get. (For example, I might be able to intonate it well for the first seven frets OK, but the upper registers not so much.)

So, I've decided to pay Warmoth to build a "custom" neck, because it'll be brand new and presumably straight all the way through. I put the word, custom, in quotes because my specs are pretty much the old "factory" specs. I'm getting a 20-fret (no overhang) all maple with the standard elephant ear BMI tuners, vintage frets, finished in vintage yellow. So it's pretty much going to be a standard "narrow" (1.625" nut width) maple fingerboard Precision neck. To maintain straightness, but hoping to cut down on the weight, I'm going with the graphite stiffening rods.

It'll be going on my transparent brown Warmoth Precision body, so it's going to look a lot like a 70's era "mocha" precision with a brown body and all-maple neck.

I'm going away from the rosewood preference, because I find a lot of the newer rosewood to be too dark. Also, my favorite Fender neck is the Sting Reissue '54 Precision, which has an all maple neck. Not that it has anything to do with what Warmoth is going to build, but I guess I'm saying that I don't mind the look of an all-maple neck.

My questions to the folks here is do I need to do much (or get much done) to a Warmoth neck (fret dressing, etc.) "out of the box"? Lots of people like the quality of theirs, and I've been very happy with everything I've bought from them (bass bodies with the fretless neck mentioned previously).

 

[oldandbold]

I purchased two jazz necks over the last year. Both were roasted maple with maple fingerboards, one slim profile, one regular. For me the fret dressing was perfect. Oiled 'em, loaded 'em, bolted 'em on, strung 'em, good to go.
I couldn't be happier.

 

[cxcxcx]

Warmoth makes some of the nicest necks out there, equal to and often better than any builder, manufacturer, or luthier out there. Warmoth says that they don’t do any leveling or fine tuning of the frets on their new necks. They’re so well made that in many cases, the frets are installed in a way that allows for very comfortable action and easy, issue-free or playability right out of the box. IME, I’ve never needed to have a fret dress or leveling done on a new Warmoth neck - you’ll hear about other users finding otherwise, but they are probably seeking out string action lower than 1/16” at the 12th fret from the bottom of the street to the top of the fret, which is pretty low already. I’ve used maybe 4-5 Warmoth necks over the years, and I buy them expecting that I won’t have to do any fretwork. No disappointment so far.

 

[mdogs]

I have 2 Warmoth necks, one that is on a bass that I just bought, it is unfished Bubinga, neck and fretboard. I also just bought a roasted maple, neck and fingerboard. The Bubinga neck is older, not sure how old, but it has a single acting truss rod. The wood on the neck is awesome, but it has taken me some work to get it close to where I like it from a playability standpoint. The nut was cut way too high, I fixed that and I spent a lot of time on the relief. I have the relief in good shape, but I think it needs a leveling. I may just opt for a complete refret, because the neck I just bought has tiny fretwire and is great so I may switch the Bubinga neck to that. I did nothing to the brand new neck except install it and adjust the action. Truthfully, it could probably stand for a little filing of the nut slots, but it is really good where it is at.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I have two Warmoth bass necks and one Warmoth guitar neck. One of the bass necks is fretless, so that doesn't count
But the other two necks required no fret dressing whatsoever. Bolt em on, string em up, do a set-up, and Bob's yer uncle.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

I've installed several Warmoth necks over the past couple of years, and I recall perhaps ONE actually needing a small bit of fret leveling. Just one fret giving me a tiny buzz (on a Telecaster) on fret 14, with the action set very low. Other than that, nothing but good things to say about Warmoth necks!

Necks are Warmoth's bread-and-butter. They ain't cheap, but they are a top-shelf go-to component in my opinion.

 

[smallbutmighty]

To maintain straightness, but hoping to cut down on the weight, I'm going with the graphite stiffening rods.

The next video in my list is a shootout between two identical necks, one with steel stiffening rods and one with graphite. I have all the parts built, all the hardware collected, and I'm ready to start shooting.

Alls I need now is time. Our new website launched a couple weeks ago, and it's consuming all resources right now. But the minute I get time.....it's bass neck neck shootout time! I'll probably do three vids, one with parts, one showing assembly, and then the actual shootout.

Incidentally, the new site now has visualizers for all bass bodies and necks!