Warmoth Bass Build Questions

1. To my knowledge this is not possible. Any competent tech can do it for you for very little money. For even less money you could buy a soldering iron, a spool of soldering wire and spend a couple hours teaching yourself how to do it. It's really quite easy.

2. They're quite knowledgable about their products and could definitely help you with concerns you might have.

3. My experiences have all been great. I would (and will) do business with Warmoth in the future.

 

1. They won't wire/assemble it for you, but you can get a luthier or a repair guy to do it for a bit extra.

2. They're very friendly and will give advice very willingly, all of us here can give a huge amount of advice too.

3. I haven't built one - yet but they're supposed to be great for what you pay into them.

 

What their necks are like quality-wise and how well they do on the fretwork? Are they like the neck of your dreams or kind of a replacement-part feel?

 

Never bought from them, but they seem like a well respected company that will back their products up if there should be any defects present.

But judging from their site, the necks look great.


Man, if i ever have cash to burn i'd get a gecko 6.

 

1. No. You will have to do it yourself or hire a luthier. Another option is that certain companies (Bayou Cables and Audere come to mind) offer solder-less preamps or wiring harnesses.
2. They are very knowledgeable and there is also a good forum on their website where you can ask questions. Plus of course there are all of us here on Talkbass!!!
3. Very satisfied (I built one) and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Saving money is a bad reason to build a Warmoth. You will spend at least $800 and probably more like $1200-1500 (if you have them do the finishing). If you choose the parts well and do an outstanding job putting them together and doing the setup, the quality will be top-notch. If you are looking to save money, buy an SX, Squier, or MIM Fender! If you want something that is uniquely your bass, or want the experience of assembling it yourself, go Warmoth!

Hope that answered your questions.

 

The bass that I had in my cart (in pieces of course) ran about ~$1,100. I had a fancy neck on there and some Fralin's, so that jacked up the price I'm sure. So yeah, no money saving opportunities here.

The reason I wanna get Warmoth stuff is because I wanna build instruments but I live in an apartment. That means I can't have a basement full of all the power tools and other goodies that I need to build it from scratch. Soldering is no big deal; the tools for that are (relatively) cheap and take up next to no room at all.

I like this thread

 

After years of owning decent fairly-high-end basses (zon, modulus, alembic, roscoe), I had to sell my last one off and I was bassless for a while. I ordered a bass from Warmoth a few months ago. No finish, I Tung Oil'd the body myself. Their neck work exceeded my expectations, and not a single dead spot to be found (well, the entire neck is solid ebony ). I assembled it myself and it played great as-is. I finally just last week could afford to bring it in for its first setup, which supposedly should include a fret leveling (as recommended by Warmoth). Supposed to get it back tomorrow...

 

Post piccys of your homebuilt Warmoth projects please.

 

I have a maple/ebony Jazz neck from them and it's amazingly wonderful. Fit in the pocket perfectly and the action was almost perfect even before I did a little truss adjustment.

 

Hi Mr. Jim, have you ever polyester-finished a bass? I haven't! But when you pay Warmoth $200 for a finish, you are not paying for the materials so much as the time. It takes several coats to do it right. Not to mention they (hopefully) have a properly ventilated spray room and all of the necessary equipment. So, yes, of course you can save a lot of money if you do it yourself (assuming you have the equipment and a place to spray) but how many hours will it take and will it look professional?

Now, when I assembled my Warmoth bass, I decided to go with a rub-on tung oil finish. That is a completely different story. Tung oil is easy enough that a first-timer such as myself can do a pretty good job. Assuming you are a fan of the "coffee table" look!

But anyway, I feel compelled to defend Warmoth's prices. $220 for a nice poly sunburst finish is not outrageous in my book. I recently looked into what it would cost to have one of my basses refinished by a top-end luthier, and it was almost $600.

 

I agree completely. When you factor in the hourly rate of the shop employee, the markup on his hourly rate so Warmoth can turn a profit (it is a business after all), the cost of owning/operating/maintaining the equipment and the actual finishing matierals I think Warmoth's finishing is well worth the price. When you see the quality finishing job they do that fact becomes doubly so.

 

dude, their necks play like butter (the ones form hte seventies at least, lol ) and trust me, you will like their stuff and save a ton. i also suggest looking around and getting parts multiple places, because it is more cost effective.

 

Okay!





Just built this about 2 months ago. Warmoth J body, P-neck, and various parts I had laying around. Plays great, sustain for days.

 

I plan to build a Warmoth very soon. It's going to be the ultimate "coffee table"/organic bass...at least from my perspective. Light brown clear gloss on figured Korina P body, Macassar Ebony board on Canary or Birdseye Maple J neck, P/J pups passive Seymour Duncan Antiquity-1's, rear routed, Gotoh 201 bridge and all chrome hardware. I just keep waiting for the right body and neck to present in their showcase as I do not want to order blind. Do it!!

 

I'm building my maple neck and alder body from warmoth. I spent almost $1000 for it, so it's not cost effective, but compare to the high end boutique jazz basses or p basses, it's much lower cost and more fun.

If you are about to order from them, you should really certain what you want before you place an order. They will charge you some $ if you change your order.

 

I've built 2 over the years. Both turned out excellent and sounded and played great. Paint quality could be better and the necks are pretty chunky which is why I ended up selling it.

If I had to do it again, I'd pay more attention to the body weight and probably get a USAGC neck as they can make it with a thinner radius and graphite rods instead of the warmoth metal ones.

Resale value sucks and you will probably spend more than you would off the shelf but it is a very satisfying process which makes up for a lot of the cost. And you just never know how it will be after it is all said and done until you are there.

 

Going through the showcase I'm constantly befuddled at all the nice bodies pre drilled for the 201. I've seen several I would have snagged had they not been predrilled. I would rather go with hipshot A bridge or the singles. Personal preference.