Maybe an optical illusion but the neck seems crooked to the body.... or the pickup looks crooked...
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Do what they say cant' be done...A Warmoth Build
- Thread starter chadhargis
- Start date
Maybe an optical illusion but the neck seems crooked to the body.... or the pickup looks crooked...
Good good point, but if it’s a daily player, it’s true value is bringing a good playing experience, not in resale. Hang onto in long enough, you get your money’s worth.
Yep...it's like car collectors who buy a vintage or exotic car and tuck it away in a garage for 30 years so they can sell it for a profit. In my opinion, they lost the most important aspect of the car...enjoying driving the ever loving crap out of it.
If you want to make investments, there are lots better ways to make money than flipping instruments.
Man, that build outlined in the OP looks sweet. And if it comes in under budget that's a huge bonus. My Warmoth builds usually got a little pricey.
Warmoth parts basses tend to come out pretty nice though, high quality stuff. The trick is you need to have a little assembly experience and know how to finesse parts together and whip a good set up on it. A little shave/file/sand and polish here and there, if that. I would sometimes let a tech help me with the trickier details. But I end up doing all that with a lot of assembly line basses too.
Resale can be an issue, but I always played the snot out of mine, so I got my money's worth. Plus yours seems to have a little more mainstream player appeal, so I woudn't worry about it.
GLWTB, please share.
Warmoth parts basses tend to come out pretty nice though, high quality stuff. The trick is you need to have a little assembly experience and know how to finesse parts together and whip a good set up on it. A little shave/file/sand and polish here and there, if that. I would sometimes let a tech help me with the trickier details. But I end up doing all that with a lot of assembly line basses too.
Resale can be an issue, but I always played the snot out of mine, so I got my money's worth. Plus yours seems to have a little more mainstream player appeal, so I woudn't worry about it.
GLWTB, please share.
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You've just outlined my favorite part! I am so anal retentive that setting up a bass down to 64ths of a inch measurements for relief, string height, pickup height, etc. are all very pleasing to me. Rounding frets, rounding fingerboard edges, sanding, buffing, and polishing....all things that make me very happy.
I'd go out on a limb and say I enjoy working on basses as much as I do playing them.
Same here. Once you get your head around it and have that control over exactly how your instrument plays and sounds, it's a valuable skill. Fun challenge to make a bunch of parts into a real player, and very rewarding. You're in for a most satisfying experience.
Yeah, resale/see schmale, the point of a custom parts build is tailoring to your exact specs, if you make the right choices, you’ll never sell it anyway. They’ll have to cremate my Frankenjazz with me, there’s nothing I could do to improve it.
Ya'll are spot on. I've only played a few "store bought" basses that felt good to me. And all of them were over $3000 with a few being close to five figures. They are the only basses that really FEEL good to me. I've played $150 basses that sounded fine, but the feel isn't there. That feel, to me, is quality. A good quality bass makes you want to never put it down.
Here's my advice on this.... If you ever do decide to sell the bass, part it out. You can make more money selling those parts individually than together as a full build. I know.... It is a "Forever" Bass. Just in case. 
I have been looking for a good way to say exactly this.
I may copy and paste this into every “Are boutique items worth it?” thread I see from now on.
We are not starving. Who cares about resale value anyway? Seize the day, life is fleeting, spend thy geld on wondrous instruments serving the most Devine muse.
This is not some dead, imaginary bond or CD, some 'investment'. It is our link to the gods.
Forget about getting your money back. Nobody breaks even in this life.
Plus, it's nearly always more fun if you built it, bass, boats, airplanes...
If there's a fun way and a non-fun way
I'll choose the fun way when I can.
That's my personal philosophy I suppose.
WT
This is not some dead, imaginary bond or CD, some 'investment'. It is our link to the gods.
Forget about getting your money back. Nobody breaks even in this life.
Plus, it's nearly always more fun if you built it, bass, boats, airplanes...
If there's a fun way and a non-fun way
I'll choose the fun way when I can.
That's my personal philosophy I suppose.
WT
It's not an optical illusion as much as "a projekt in progress". Specifically, the neck and other parts are just sitting there without being screwed down. I took this pic right after unboxing it so I could make sure the neck, pickups and output jack fit properly into their respective places.
For anyone interested, here's the thread that got this projekt underway…
Projekt In Progress: "Jazz-Ray" Build
I've raved about my two Warmoth necked basses here in TB many times. I picked them up, a fretted and fretless, second hand and had to have work done on them, particularly on those sharp fingerboard edges. They are both so good now that they've saved me a fortune...... nothing I've played feels as good as these two so any gas I have is soon dealt with simply by playing the expensive basses.
Well, it's not a 34" scale P-Bass, but it is a Warmoth; a 30" scale Mini-P. Swamp Ash body, 3TB lacquer finish; Maple neck w/ Coral dots; Schaller bridge and tuners (yeah, I love 'em, too); SD Vintage pickup; "vintage" wiring and cap; and fairly high-end bits and pieces. It's pretty much a Mini-Me clone of my '78 P-Bass, and even with paying Chris Davis (the luthier @ Cowtown Guitars) to build it, it cost just under $1400. If you're a righty, and can find an in-stock body and/or neck that you like, you could probably do even better than I did. The real problem with Warmoth is that they're masters at overwhelming their customers with So many cool options...
It takes iron self control to stick with what you originally wanted, in the face of all the choices they throw at you...
View attachment 3194415 Well, it's not a 34" scale P-Bass, but it is a Warmoth; a 30" scale Mini-P. Swamp Ash body, 3TB lacquer finish; Maple neck w/ Coral dots; Schaller bridge and tuners (yeah, I love 'em, too); SD Vintage pickup; "vintage" wiring and cap; and fairly high-end bits and pieces. It's pretty much a Mini-Me clone of my '78 P-Bass, and even with paying Chris Davis (the luthier @ Cowtown Guitars) to build it, it cost just under $1400. If you're a righty, and can find an in-stock body and/or neck that you like, you could probably do even better than I did. The real problem with Warmoth is that they're masters at overwhelming their customers with So many cool options...
I am having a fancy boutique bass built that is my “dream bass”. I am building this P to be as basic as possible. Quality components, but a pure P bass.
As much as I love block inlays, binding, fancy finishes, trick hardware, etc...it’s not for this build. Basic, simple, gigging tool. A Precision bass.
Time for an quick update.
It's been nearly three weeks since I placed my order with Warmoth and they claim 4 to 5 weeks for a custom neck, so I'm still waiting. Waiting on basses seems to be my thing these days. I'm really not that patient.
I did make one change. I'm going with Fender American series tuners. I liked them on my previous two Fenders, and decided to use them on this build. Normally I'd do something trick, but remember, this is a "basic" bass. Nothing fancy on this one. The only problem with the Fender tuners is having to drill the holes for the locating tabs. There are two per tuner. I don't have a drill press, so I'm going to have to buy one, or find someone who will let me use theirs. I also need to drill the holes for the pick guard and string tree. Since I'm using roasted maple, pilot holes are critical as it's very dry and susceptible to splitting.
It's been nearly three weeks since I placed my order with Warmoth and they claim 4 to 5 weeks for a custom neck, so I'm still waiting. Waiting on basses seems to be my thing these days. I'm really not that patient.
I did make one change. I'm going with Fender American series tuners. I liked them on my previous two Fenders, and decided to use them on this build. Normally I'd do something trick, but remember, this is a "basic" bass. Nothing fancy on this one. The only problem with the Fender tuners is having to drill the holes for the locating tabs. There are two per tuner. I don't have a drill press, so I'm going to have to buy one, or find someone who will let me use theirs. I also need to drill the holes for the pick guard and string tree. Since I'm using roasted maple, pilot holes are critical as it's very dry and susceptible to splitting.
They don’t list options for drilling holes for Fender timers or pick guards. Not that I’ve seen anyway.
I’m not at all worried about drilling the holes, just need a drill press so the holes are square and uniform depth. I could mark them and use and hand drill with a piece of tape on the bit.
I also need to cut the slot I the pick guard for the truss rod nut access.
Measure twice. Cut once.
