Warmoth build?

[Chrome Dome]

Just got the body and neck from great TBer on here. Solid walnut one piece body,with MIM Precision neck. Just got it put together myself. Body has undercoat French polish(shellac hand applied)with 5 very thin coats of polyurethane,semi-gloss. Has CIJ CTS 250pots,Orange Spraue .047UF,swithcraft jack. New strings installed,lower to way I prefer,and intonation right on,and real quiet no humming at all. Mostly like it for the uniqueness,with the solid one piece walnut body. All just depends what you want to build.

 

[The Deep]

I have done two P builds with MJT nitro bodies. One has a USACG neck, one a Fender precision elite neck. They are the two best playing, most resonant, nicest basses in my entire collection of 25! I am going to start a third shortly. They’re just that good.

The 100% nitro finish is one of the big motivators for building your own IMO, but you’d be surprised how brilliantly everything comes together if you plan it right.

I have not tried a Warmoth product, but I hear good things.

Every production bass has a personal compromise somewhere within. Yes, the resale will be higher with a production bass, but you won’t match the playing experience of a personal custom build anywhere else.

Don’t be afraid to take the plunge. I think you will be thrilled you did.

 

[Magthegrate]

Here's my Warmoth build. I finished the body and did all the wiring myself. Audere pre-amp, Nordstrand blade pups, ultralite lollipop tuners, hipshot bridge. I have almost $1200 into it. I'd probably never get that at resale, but it's not for sale. I love it.

IMHO, Warmoth is very worth it if you are building what you plan on playing. It's absolutely not worth it for resale.

 

[Chuck King]

To reiterate the consensus:

• Warmoth components are excellent quality but not necessarily bargains.
• A big selling point with Warmoth is that through them, you can get the stuff that nobody makes commercially, particularly when it comes to combinations of finishes, routing, wood, and maybe neck dimensions.
• Make sure you know what you want because if whatever you build is not a keeper, you will take a bath financially when you sell it. (Footnote: if it comes to that, you may be better off selling components separately than selling the assembled instrument.)

I've built a handful of guitars and basses using Warmoth components, and they have been some of my favorites. Depending on what kind of hardware and pickups you go with, you might be able to get out around $800, but probably not if you get custom parts vs. buying stuff already available from the showcase. Finishing will run probably at least $300 for a neck and body. You could do an oil finish on a neck yourself and save, but Warmoth will not warrant a maple neck that doesn't get a hard finish. Using a showcase neck and body, I was able to build a J-bass for probably not much more than $800 with decent-but-not-remarkable hardware and decent-but-not-remarkable pickups (i.e., DiMarzio, not some boutique exotica). (Nothing against DiMarzio pickups, which have been great in that bass---the point is just that you could easily spend double what I did on pickups for a Warmoth build.)

On the other hand, I just recently ordered parts to build a new bass that should be my perfect go-to bass for a lot of applications for a while. With this one, I found a neck and body in the showcase, but they were unfinished so I'm paying full finishing costs for them. And, I'm splurging for some better hardware (Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Hipshot A bridge) and pickups (Fralin PJ set, probably, but still TBD). That one's going to have well over a grand into it when it's done.

If your vision is trans blue and roasted maple (which sounds beautiful, btw), you'd probably be looking at custom finishing at least for the body, and you might have to custom order it, depending on what's in the showcase at any given time. So, again depending on hardware and pickups, you might be pushing the higher end of the cost range.

But given your question of "is it worth it," if you know what you want, then it probably is. From my experience, the end result will probably be as good or better than any other bass you could get for the same total investment, and it can be exactly what you want. Of course with Fender-style instruments you can almost always get something functionally the same for less money, so I don't look on Warmoth builds as an exercise in utility, but more an indulgence and a chance to make a statement with design. For my part, I love the process of building them, so that's an added bonus and incentive for me to go that route.

 

[DavC]

i buy used parts .. preferably Warmoth ... but other items work fine also ...

if you want your money back , sell the parts later ...

after owning many boutique basses over the decades , now all are parts basses , using my favorite parts .. !

 

[pudge]

Warmoth stuff comes up a lot here in the classifieds,usually at a very good discount from the new cost.Their "screamin' deals section has some nice stuff too.If you have your heart set on specific specs you'll have to have them built to your liking.If you can be more flexible you can save a lot buying used.

 

[Alper Yilmaz]

I recently put together a Precision with Warmoth parts and it is much better a player than my Custom Shop ‘59 Relic for less than third of the price. Mine is not a ‘51 though. It is an alder body from their existing stocks (so much cheaper) and a maple neck with Indian rosewood fingerboard. I have Seymour Duncan Antiquity II as the pickup... If you want any Fender-style bass, I find Warmoth’s wood quality much better than Fenders so, go for it...

 

[groooooove]

like others have said,

the quality, assuming assembly and set up are well done, will smoke anything within twice the price range of your warmoth build.

 

[pbassnut]

Though you may not be able to end up with the exact finish or configuration you want, there are a whole lotta used Warmoth, USACG and AllParts bodies and necks on the market that can be had for very reasonable coin. I have quite a few FrankenFender basses that I gradually amassed the parts for over time that have cost me very little and have turned out to be excellent basses for me. There's a degree of "pot luck" uncertainty that goes into this approach, but it can be very rewarding when it all comes together.

 

[porterbass]

Here's my Warmoth build. I finished the body and did all the wiring myself. Audere pre-amp, Nordstrand blade pups, ultralite lollipop tuners, hipshot bridge. I have almost $1200 into it. I'd probably never get that at resale, but it's not for sale. I love it.

IMHO, Warmoth is very worth it if you are building what you plan on playing. It's absolutely not worth it for resale.

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That's gorgeous! What products did you use to do the finish/burst?

 

[Magthegrate]

That's gorgeous! What products did you use to do the finish/burst?

Thanks!

Stewmac black and blue liquid dyes. I dyed it all black and sanded it back three times, this made the grain of the ash stand out. On the third time I just didn't sand the edges and faded in the burst by hand with a sanding block. Then I went over it with the blue. The clear coat is about 5 coats of a wipe on poly. I don't have good spraying equipment. Imho, I work a lot better just by hand.

 

[comatosedragon]

Sorry for the temporary hijack (although this is a page about Warmoth builds)

Stewmac black and blue liquid dyes. I dyed it all black and sanded it back three times, this made the grain of the ash stand out. On the third time I just didn't sand the edges and faded in the burst by hand with a sanding block. Then I went over it with the blue. The clear coat is about 5 coats of a wipe on poly. I don't have good spraying equipment. Imho, I work a lot better just by hand.

It came out looking very nice, IMHO. I have never tried the black first method you posted. I have some wood dye from the Guitar Re-Ranch, and I really want to do a purple dye with awesome grain like you have. (I will be doing a Swamp ash body). Thanks for the quick write up of how you did that -- I have a few quick questions if you don't mind. Alcohol or water based dye? Also, how long in-between initial staining (black) and sanding? Did you use a grain filler or sanding sealer? I always use a grain filler, but I have never used sanding sealer ....

 

[Magthegrate]

Sorry for the temporary hijack (although this is a page about Warmoth builds)
I have a few quick questions if you don't mind. Alcohol or water based dye? Also, how long in-between initial staining (black) and sanding? Did you use a grain filler or sanding sealer? I always use a grain filler, but I have never used sanding sealer ....

The first two coats of black were with water, so that it would raise the grain and I could sand it off. The third coat of black and the blue coat were with alcohol so that it wouldn't raise the grain. I did not use any grain filler or sanding sealer, partially because I sort of like the look of the grain showing, even in the gloss finish, and partially because I don't have an experience using those things.

 

[burgerdj]

A trans blue finish looks awesome! I saw a Fender Japan Tele bass in a trans blue on guitarcenter.com about a year ago and have thought about it every week since...I was too late to pull the trigger (it was $1000 and I delayed a day or two). Here are a couple of TB threads with the same model bass (although I think I'd just do single coil vs the humbucker):
SOLD - Fender CIJ Thinline P. 1.5" nut, light, awesome!
FENDER THINLINE TELE BASS IN BLUEBURST!!!!

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If you want the custom finish, do the Warmoth or MJT, but if you just want a stock '51 P bass, find a Fender Japan '51 reissue or the Sting instead of the Warmoth build for the reasons others have listed.

One other note, decide if you want a true '51 style slab body vs a '54 style...the Warmoth does have both and the '54 style has the body contours.

All of that said, do this... Consider dual '51 style pickups...Yes!!! I was researching '51-54 style P basses and was considering a Warmoth or custom build when I came across this pic (I believe a TBer did this if I recall.)

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Then I did a bit more research and found this:
Dual little single coil on a 51/54 style p bass ?

Must have been one of those weird timing things because within a week or two of all of this research, I found this bass and bought it, a 2013 Fender Custom Shop with dual '51 pickups:

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The Fender CS has dual Seymour Duncan CS '51 Stack pickups (same as in the Fender CS Dusty Hill). If I hadn't found this Fender CS bass, I would have built a Warmoth with the same pickups.

After all of that...I vote for a trans blue '54 style (with a roasted maple neck) and with dual SD '51 Stack pickups. Cuz those pics above.

Here's a good thread to look through:
Where are the 51-56 single coil precision basses?
Good inspiration for your consideration and my fave from this thread..this SC P bass is owned by @fretno and is a Warmoth body with a custom nitro finish from @paulslagle. Amazing looking single coil P bass. Paul's finishes are ridiculously good:
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There are some cool looking ones in this thread too: Post Your '51-55 Precision or Tele-inspired bass

Lastly, there's a TBer who has done a number of custom '51-54 style Warmoth P bass builds. I just can't think of who it is right now. I'm sure I'll remember so I'll post for you so you can look at what he's done.

Good luck!!!

That single cut is amazing. More info please!

 

[neddyrow]

Here’s my slab build from warmoth. Very happy with it!

 

[Keger Jupit]

Not mine, (I wish) but a local has had this up for several months. He might be motivated

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[Jscriv]

I've done plenty of build like this. When it works out it's great but assume your only going to make as much as an MIM Fender will on resale. Everyone knows warmoth parts are great but they love to grind you down when buying a put together "parts bass"

 

[Stewie]

One of the big internet sites has MIM Tele necks for 249 includes finish and legit decal.

 

[Jscriv]

These are both parts basses from both fender and warmoth parts. All great componeents. I'd nevernever the time to sell em. Last few I did only brought back 3-400 bucks apiece. Fair prices but not worth the parts

 

[bikeplate]

Sure. Build what you like. Ive found Warmoth necks to be heavy, clunky, and tone sucking. USACG necks are a better choice IMO