Post your Warmoth Fretless Builds.

[JuanB]

Looks like a shortie?

Great build, bet it sounds amazing.

It's a 34" scale. Sounds awesome.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

I have a half -n-half Warmoth fretless...

Warmoth Standard J (20-fret) Roasted Maple neck with unlined Ebony fingerboard. Hipshot LIC Ultralight tuners and string trees.

Body is a 2014 natural-finish Soft Maple Squier VM Jazz V, Hipshot bridge, Duncan STC-BO 2band preamp. In the photo are Fender pickups, but it currently has Duncan Apollo hum-canceling pickups.

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I want to do a full Warmoth build, but fretted Deluxe Jazz V. However the project is on hold for at least a year...

I have since removed the neck from this bass about a month and a half ago. Put the original neck back on the Jazz body above, and installed the Warmoth Fretless neck onto another Jazz V body with dual MM pickups. This version is even better:

 

[roswell1965]

View attachment 4014597

Nice! Specifying a 20 fret neck with the fretless order gives you that rounded heel, is that correct? I don't want the end of the fretboard squared off, but rounded like yours..

 

[mongo2]

Nice! Specifying a 20 fret neck with the fretless order gives you that rounded heel, is that correct? I don't want the end of the fretboard squared off, but rounded like yours..

When I made that bass Warmoth's default bass neck heel shape was rounded. IIRC only Telecaster style guitar necks came with a squared neck heel.

 

[fretless19]

Here she is.
Wenge/Wenge neck, semi-hollowbody swamp ash, black binding.
H-H pickups, VVT with series-parallel switch, and passive clipper switch.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Finish on the body is Butcher's Boston Polish Amber Paste Wax

I realize it's been a few years, but can you tell me more about how you applied the Paste Wax? I'm especially interested in:
- whether you did any fine-sanding of the body before applying the wax?
- what you used to apply the wax, and how many coats you used?
- whether you did any polishing or additional ...uh... stuff after applying the wax?

Still looking for a lazy way out of having to mess about with finishes on the still-in-progress bass I mentioned back in post #3! Your bass looks gorgeous, and I'm thinking that paste wax may be less prone to the aberrations I'm encountering with Spar Urethane on another Warmoth project I'm doing. Thanks.

 

[mongo2]

I realize it's been a few years, but can you tell me more about how you applied the Paste Wax? I'm especially interested in:
- whether you did any fine-sanding of the body before applying the wax?
- what you used to apply the wax, and how many coats you used?
- whether you did any polishing or additional ...uh... stuff after applying the wax?

Still looking for a lazy way out of having to mess about with finishes on the still-in-progress bass I mentioned back in post #3! Your bass looks gorgeous, and I'm thinking that paste wax may be less prone to the aberrations I'm encountering with Spar Urethane on another Warmoth project I'm doing. Thanks.

I fine sanded the body to 320 grit and used a tack rag. I then followed the instructions on the can of wax. A few coats followed by a polish with paper towels and it was good enough for me. It was polished a bit but still had some of the texture of the wood. I haven't done anything to the finish since. I suppose I could reapply wax but I haven't felt the need.

The koa top was a bit porous so some of the wax stayed in the pores where it dissipated after a while but I have no idea how.

 

[claudel]

Summer project.

Flamy maple over roasted 1 piece Swamp Ash.

Chambered. 3.44lbs

Roasted Maple/Select unlined ebony neck's in the truck, supposed to be here soon.

Hardware & electronics waiting patiently.

Hole in the top is a bit annoying, not sure why it is there. Not a ground wire channel...

I'll fix if the bridge doesn't cover it...

Planning on 33" scale.

Didn't request the heel truss rod adjustment channel, either, yet there it is.

I'll post more as it happens.

I must be the last person to think it would be cheaper to build/assemble one.

 

[hypercarrots]

 

[pbass888]

Roasted maple neck (no finish) , rosewood lined fretless, roasted alder body light finish .EMG jx and ultralight tuners .
My main bass….the standard cut for neck may be a dinky body not sure . The warmoth neck is as good( or perhaps …) as my 64 and 65!

 

[Bob_Ross]

Here's a work-in-progress pic, from before I installed the electronics ...[snip]... (tbh, six years later it's still a work-in-progress: the electronics (and strap buttons) are installed but I still haven't gotten around to applying the wipe-on poly finish to the body.)

Realized I'd never posted a follow-up pic.
So, two years after I posted the image in post #3 -- which was six years after I'd assembled the bass -- I have still not gotten around to applying a finish. But the electronics were installed (in fact, they've been installed long enough for me to have already lost the knob on the midrange pot) and I've been playing it fairly regularly. Sounds awesome.

 

[nonohmic]

32" Medium scale J with lined fretless neck with ebony fingerboard.
View attachment 4014728

Then I swapped the neck for unlined wenge / ebony.
View attachment 4014730

Do you still have this bass? How was the switch to unlined?

 

[darwin-bass]

Do you still have this bass? How was the switch to unlined?

For me the switch from lined fretless to unlined was pretty smooth. But it wasn't zero. I had to get better at playing the noted in the spots where the dots are 3 frets apart.

The J body is gone but the neck currently lives on a G4 body with a MM pickup and has been satisfying my fretless needs for quite a while now.

 

[nonohmic]

For me the switch from lined fretless to unlined was pretty smooth. But it wasn't zero. I had to get better at playing the noted in the spots where the dots are 3 frets apart.

The J body is gone but the neck currently lives on a G4 body with a MM pickup and has been satisfying my fretless needs for quite a while now.

Yeah I imagine a transition period, but ultimately not much different. Good to hear. I’m thinking about switching

 

[darwin-bass]

Yeah I imagine a transition period, but ultimately not much different. Good to hear. I'm thinking about switching

I am glad I switched. I like the blank plank look a lot more.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Here's a work-in-progress pic, from before I installed the electronics:

View attachment 4014404

(tbh, six years later it's still a work-in-progress: the electronics (and strap buttons) are installed but I still haven't gotten around to applying the wipe-on poly finish to the body.)

Realized I'd never posted a follow-up pic.
So, two years after I posted the image in post #3 -- which was six years after I'd assembled the bass -- I have still not gotten around to applying a finish. But the electronics were installed (in fact, they've been installed long enough for me to have already lost the knob on the midrange pot) and I've been playing it fairly regularly. Sounds awesome.

Figure I might as well complete the series ("Hey Kids! Collect all three!!!") since I finally got around to applying a finish to the body only just recently. Also replaced that knob that had gone missing.

Note, I bailed on the idea of using MinWax Wipe-On Poly for the finish, since my experiments with that on a guitar body were borderline disasterous, and instead I used Howard Feed-N-Wax here. Very happy with the results!

 

[MonetBass]

This was completed in 2023. Specs:
* Warmoth swamp ash body with quilted maple top, transparent turquoise polyurethane finish
* Warmoth birds eye maple neck with ebony fingerboard, graphite reinforcement rods, GraphTek Tusq nut, and Mother of Pearl side dots
* Hipshot Ultralite tuners and string retainer
* Custom headstock decals and neck plate
* Neck finished with satin polyurethane on back, gloss polyurethane on headstock face
* Fender MIM standard plate bridge
* Fender Custom Shop 60s pickups
* CTS 250K pots, Switchcraft output jack
* D'Addario strap pins

 

[nonohmic]

This was completed in 2023. Specs:
* Warmoth swamp ash body with quilted maple top, transparent turquoise polyurethane finish
* Warmoth birds eye maple neck with ebony fingerboard, graphite reinforcement rods, GraphTek Tusq nut, and Mother of Pearl side dots
* Hipshot Ultralite tuners and string retainer
* Custom headstock decals and neck plate
* Neck finished with satin polyurethane on back, gloss polyurethane on headstock face
* Fender MIM standard plate bridge
* Fender Custom Shop 60s pickups
* CTS 250K pots, Switchcraft output jack
* D'Addario strap pins

That's a stunner!