Warmoth Olympic White... is it really like the pics?

[Deleted member 271037]

I'm about to start building a neck. I've decided to buy the body (standard P-bass). It will save me some time and I'm also not equipped to do a top quality gloss finish. The magic is in the neck anyway IMO. As long as the body is from a top quality manufacturer I don't mind "cheating" litte a bit.

I've had good experiences with Warmoth in the past but I want an Olympic White body. Looking at the pics on the Warmoth website it looks like their idea of OW is whiter than most with maybe a hint of grey/green. Very "cold".

It this really how they look or is if just my laptop screen? When looking at other OW instruments on the same screen they look normal.

Or is this really a matter of Warmoth OW = what a brand new OW instrument would have looked like back in the day? In other words whiter than most OW instruments manufactured today which all seem to go for a somewhat "aged" OW look and can vary from slightly off-white to almost pink/yellow depending on the brand/model. Even when just looking at different new Fenders/Squiers OW can vary a LOT!

I don't think I've seen any finish with more "interpretations" than OW. But the Warmoth one really sticks out and I don't like what I'm seeing. My idea of OW is a hint of "pearly" warmth. Warmoth OW seems very cold. Are they really like this?

 

[Beej]

Here's an old reverb ad with an olympic white warmoth that has the white PG for colour comparison:
Warmoth Olympic White Precision Bass Body LOADED w/ Fender Original P-Bass Pickups | Reverb

It's one example, but looks in the ballpark to me. Like you say, it's a bit of a wide range.

 

[Smilodon]

The tricky part of this is that both cameras and displays capture and show colors differently. Unless the pictures you are comparing were captured using the exact same equipment you can't correctly compare them. If for example Warmoth uses synthetic "daylight" lights when photographing and everybody else photographs under tungsten lights the picture from Warmoth will look much more blue than the rest.

I did find a reference here for "Olympic white":
Invalid Link Removed.

So according to this reference it should be a slightly warm and slightly gray white. If the pickguard in the link Beej posted is pure white that looks about correct to me.

 

[uOpt]

Reverb ads should have white balance cards in the pics.

 

[Beej]

Side note about Oly White... I bought a brand new MIM in the mid-90's and the body and pickguard were almost exactly the same colour. Around 10 years later, the body looked like the usual Oly white and was much more buttercream than the pickguard. We know this of course, but it's a reminder that the oly white we know and love is a product of the original colour and aging/UV exposure, so it's a broad palette.

 

[Max Bogosity]

I have a cheap SX bass that was a pretty good Olympic White when new. Over the years it has turned distinctly green. Hard to predict exactly how they will evolve over time.

 

[ectoflanger]

I'm here for a similar reason- contemplating going with a Warmoth Jazz neck and body, only I want a colder white color more akin to Fender's Arctic White. But as you wrote, sometimes, depending on the lighting and camera angle, it looks whiter or yellower.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

It sounds to me like you should set up a simple spray booth. Buy the body pre-painted, so the majority of the work is done. Then, if you aren't happy with the shade, add a light top coat to adjust it.

 

[ectoflanger]

It sounds to me like you should set up a simple spray booth. Buy the body pre-painted, so the majority of the work is done. Then, if you aren't happy with the shade, add a light top coat to adjust it.

I was considering a storage room in a barn at my parents’ home, but a friend on Talkbass said it didn’t have enough ventilation- would like to send some pics sometime of possible alternate locationss in the three bays of what was a former cabinet shop. Perhaps you could provide sources on the specs for a simple spray booth. Also on the safety equipment- I do have a North respirator with the P100 organic vapor cartridges but some Talkbass friends have suggested that’s not enough for respiratory protection-

 

[ectoflanger]

So I found this online a few days ago and decided to go with it-

A 2023 Fender Mod Shop Jazz Bass