Warmoth alternative?

[Alex]

you use the vague and subjective termonology "wideneck" in your original post - what is the standard dimensions for a wideneck 6? what is the standard dimensions for a narrow neck 6? If you don't know the answer, how do you know for certain that the Warmoth neck is not a wide neck 6 and is instead a regular neck or skinny neck or ultra narrow spaced 6?

and because widenecked is a subjective term (what you consider wide I may consider narrow or vice-versa), what one builder considers to be wide another may consider to be their standard. Just look at the differences between a J-bass, a P-bass, a Warwick, and a Yamaha ... which one is the absolute standard width? Look at a Smith and then check out a Steinberger ... which one is the absolute standard width? It's all subjective.

Ok, I get your point. What I mean by wideneck is 18-20mm spacing at the bridge

You need to take a trip to several instrument retailers and check out the various offerings. find what is comfortable for the nut spacing - and measure it ... here is the right nut spacing for you, and it can become your standard (your nut width terminology here) neck. Now take the same investigative approach to the bridge spacing on the various instruments. find what is comfortable string spacing - and measure it ... here is the right string spacing for you, and it can become your standard (your string width terminology here) neck.

I have done this. I am looking for 18mm string spacing with a 2 1/4" nut. I am, however flexible on the nut size.

RESEARCH[/b] and is part of the process for determining what you want to build. Am I yelling at you - no, but I am beginning to talk a bit louder with every reply. You're in school (I assume college but I have severe doubts on this right now,) yes? If so go and use the research skills they've been attempting to impart to you and apply them to your bass investigation. It's not sufficient to sit at the CircleK and ask the store clerk what she knows about when the Mongols ruled China - you need to dig a whole lot harder than that if you want to build a totally excellent instrument. Real research takes more than a simple post in hopes others will look it up for you ... real research means getting out and digging up the dirt on every miniscule detail. For bass building this means taking a few woodshop classes or hanging with a skilled craftsman who is willing to share his skills with you, it means playing A LOAD of different basses and seeing what you like/dislike, it means listening to as many different electronics packages + neck/body/fretboard woods assembled as many ways as can be done and determining what you like/dislike, etc ..., etc ..., etc ... ad barfola.

9th grade actually.

Also, I have been talking to my dad (who really is a part time carpenter even though he denies it) and all of his friends that do a lot of woodworking.

I also have tried many 6 stringers to find the correct setup that I want (see earlier in this post)

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE OR SHORTCUT FOR APPLIED QUALITY, HANDS-ON RESEARCH. To believe otherwise is a fools delight.

A lot of folks on this board have been attempting to share some real wisdom with you - yet you constantly toss it off as table scraps while continuously begging instead for junk food and fillers. And just like eating at McDonalds, the junk food and fillers don't equate to solid nutrition that a healthy foundation can be built upon.

R

Whether you realize it or not, I take to heart everything that you guys tell me. I look up to you guys, and I realize my noobishness. I wish that you guys would realize this and not give me angry, nay, ornery posts like this. I do a lot of research; every moment that I am not doing homework I am checking this forum for knowledge, or reading koch/hiscock, going on websites to research, or drawing out templates, etc.

I don't think that me starting this thread indicates that I am not doing research, I was just asking if there is an alternative to Warmoth for bolt on necks, because I have found no other companies. I thought maybe you pros would know.

p.s. your question was answered in the first sentence of my last post

Brian alerted me to this. I had never heard the term "string pitch" before.

So essentially, this is all a big misunderstanding.

 

[Alex]

There isn't anyone but Warmoth playing in this game at that level. If you want a neck like that, you'll have to build it yourself or commission a builder to make it for you. I would estimate a neck like that to go in the $400-$600 range.

Is there someone specific I should talk to that you would recommend? Would you yourself be interested? I honestly just don't have the skill, or tools to build a neck.

 

[Luke Sheridan]

Perhps you should try building a neck. Do this: Go to Home Depot and buy a $3 piece of pine, a rasp, a file and a router. Go to StewMac and get a 0.225" router bit, a Hot Rod and a radius sanding block. That will keep you busy for a few weeks so you can LEARN how to build a neck. Space it the way you want, try different things. Pine is cheap, cheap, cheap. The $110 or so, will be the best investment you can make at this point. Way less than a Warmouth neck and you get to keep the tools. The only thing you'll toss out is the pine.
Trial and error will get you on the right path. Nothing gets built while you post here.

 

[Alex]

But I don't have the money to throw around. also, you underestimate the costs that making a neck would require. Most importantly: tools

 

[Geoff St. Germaine]

But I don't have the money to throw around. also, you underestimate the costs that making a neck would require. Most importantly: tools

If your dad and all of his buddies are woodworkers, then there should be no problem getting your hands on the tools you'd need to make a neck. If you can get your hands on these tools then you could practice making lots of neck for almost no money. You don't even need to install the truss rods, just do the routing for it.

 

[nateo]

You don't even need to install the truss rods, just do the routing for it.

I wouldn't even worry about the routing. Personally I think the most daunting part of making a neck is carving the back, and that can be done with nothing but a rasp or two and a whole lot of time.

Here's what you do. Grab a 2x4 that's moderately free of holes and knots and whatnot (if you're dad's like mine, there should be loads of these lying around in the garage). It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something around 2 feet long. Now see if you can't convince someone to lend you the use of a saw to cut an approximate taper. Again, nothing fancy, just get it so one end is about the width of the nut and the other is about the width of the neck at the body. Now go at 'er. Use a long sanding block (i.e. sandpaper and anything reasonably flat) to smooth out the sides and whatever tools you can find to carve the back. A spokeshave comes in handy, but if you can't find one of those, rasps and files work fine. Basically grub for any tools you can get that might work and spend some time whittlin' away until you get a feel for what you're doing (and you find what works for you). If you've got any friends / relatives who are into woodworking you should be able to get your hands on some tools and scrap wood for nothing (well, you might have to mow a lawn or two if they're really tight with their tools).

-Nate

 

[Alex]

You don't even need to install the truss rods, just do the routing for it

Why wouldn't you have to?

 

[Luke Sheridan]

So you can save money while you learn.

 

[Alex]

I mean to actually build it.

 

[Hambone]

I mean to actually build it.

You aren't actually building, you're getting a better idea of the way a neck is made. This is a laboratory project and we are your professors. We heard you when you said you didn't have money. We know what that's like. I myself don't have money - why do you think I build a lot of my own tools? So, what Nate, Luke, and Geoff have suggested is a way to learn AND make an investment in your learning that will pay off in the long run. A bit isn't expensive - a rasp maybe a little more expensive but a chinese version will do nicely for a little less. But still we aren't talking over $20 for either. You can draw a pattern - you said so - so do that and stick to the 2x4, cut it out and then shape it. Ask your dad and his friends for advice using the tool or for better ways to make the shapes you want. Then EXPLORE the possibilities! There are millions of ways of getting it done and now you have to find the best one for you.

 

[Alex]

You aren't actually building, you're getting a better idea of the way a neck is made. This is a laboratory project and we are your professors. We heard you when you said you didn't have money. We know what that's like. I myself don't have money - why do you think I build a lot of my own tools? So, what Nate, Luke, and Geoff have suggested is a way to learn AND make an investment in your learning that will pay off in the long run. A bit isn't expensive - a rasp maybe a little more expensive but a chinese version will do nicely for a little less. But still we aren't talking over $20 for either. You can draw a pattern - you said so - so do that and stick to the 2x4, cut it out and then shape it. Ask your dad and his friends for advice using the tool or for better ways to make the shapes you want. Then EXPLORE the possibilities! There are millions of ways of getting it done and now you have to find the best one for you.

Well, yes. That would be the best thing to do if I was going to start building basses all the time, but I really can't invision myself building another bass after this one, for a few years at least. So, in my scenario, the long run really isn't applicable. Buying a Warmoth neck or something else premade is the most cost effective thing for me to do right now as I see it.

 

[T-34]

If you don't want to learn, I see the only quality alternative to Warmoth for you: Carvin.

 

[Alex]

If you don't want to learn

You guys are brutal

I see the only quality alternative to Warmoth for you: Carvin.

I run into the same problem there. Only a normal spaced neck sold.

 

[T-34]

Listen, I am on my first "from the scratch" project now. For the 20 years I play bass and guitar, I customized and repared about a dozen instruments but even with all this experience I managed to screw up pretty everything during construction. hopefully I was able to continue because my faults were all more or less repairable. But I was always ready to start from the zero.

I beleive in one thing: nothing replaces hands-on experience, it is the only way to learn. Nothing will work as intended from the first time.

 

[Hookus]

BassManolukas-

I tried not to make another post here, but can't resist. You will spend well over 250 bucks for a neck from Warmoth. Trust me, I have bought several, and all ran at least $275. This is assuming about 15 bucks to have them install a nut, because I am guessing you don't have a set of nut files, and 15 bucks shipping. This will pretty much buy you a maple neck with rose or ebony board.


I work at Home Depot, and 275 will buy you one hundred eight foot 2x4 studs. That is more practice material than you would use in a lifetime. You can buy a piece of maple for about ten or fifteen bucks, and you can buy a pre-slotted, pre-radiused fingerboard online. Someone posted a good link on here a while back for a source. Router bit, 20 bucks. You can even rough out the back of the neck with a big roundover bit if you don't like rasping (like me). All said and done, Hambone gave you sage advice. You spend 110 bucks, get exactly what you want, and the ability to do it again, or you spend 275+, and get maybe what you want, but more than likely something that will just work fine, and you will be in the same boat next time.

Lastly, enroll in your high school shop class. Tool problem solved.

 

[Hambone]

BassManolukas-

Lastly, enroll in your high school shop class. Tool problem solved.

+1
or take a look at the thread from the Fleaorthez up here somewhere and see how he's "sidestepping" issues that prevent him from having what he wants by doing a similar thing.

But I gotta ask, why do you interject yourself into lots of these posts when your interests in building are passing at best? That's not the going to get you what you want nor is it going to teach you anything but that you should have been more patient with the process. Why aren't you lurking more, realizing that you are in unfamiliar territory here?

So there you have it - each one of us has given you options, angles, solutions, and guidance. We've pointed you in several directions that would save you money, time, frustration, AND in the process, give you a glimpse of what all of us find fascinating and alluring about building musical instruments. Unfortunately, what I have seen in return is a big dose of negativity and a certain amount of skepticism shown towards our best advice. That, in and of itself, is pretty arrogant considering you know nothing about what we are trying to tell you.

So, like the Hook, I'll bow out of this futile gabfest and let you give it a go. I look forward to seeing your work in the future.