Warmoth Owners Club!!

[Bassdrifter]

Steel is heavier, but I heard that some of the "dead spot" issues they have are with graphite. I've never used the graphite rods, so I can't say I have actual experience with them. I've never had an issue with the steal rods. IMO, not worth saving a few ounces, unless you need a super light weight bass. Cheers.

I do not know if 789g is an especially light neck.

What i do know, is that it is the most stable neck i have ever encountered. Hot,cold,humid or dry. Even changing strings. 0,3mm relief no adjustments.

Looked dull unfinished. Kind of disappointed when i received this, having payed a premium for the "flames". Policing and oiling helped.

Edit: There is no dead spots. Despite slim taper and graphite rods.

Anyway; 4005g is not a "super light weight bass", but i guess roasted wood, lightweight tuners and graphite rods helped not making it a heavy bass. (The brass bridge may not have helped that much)

PS. If you steal the rods anyway, why not get the ekspansive ones?

 

[Lucca]

What type of oil/polish/other can be used on a roasted maple shaft? I'm not a fan of roasted maple. I much prefer a normal maple shaft, ideally with vintage tinted gloss. But, I encountered an awesome Warmoth neck that I couldn't resist due to its thick macassar ebony fretboard and beautiful block inlays that make it easy to see what I'm doing onstage in dim lighting, so I bought it despite its roasted maple shaft. To my ear, there is a noticeable brittleness and hollowness to the tone compared to standard maple. If anyone can recommend something that can be successfully used to finish just the roasted maple shaft, I'd be forever grateful!

 

[BlueTalon]

I encountered an awesome Warmoth neck that I couldn't resist due to its thick macassar ebony fretboard... To my ear, there is a noticeable brittleness and hollowness to the tone compared to standard maple.

That ebony fretboard is going to contribute to the tone you're getting.

 

[fauxtoe]

Went a little crazy this holiday season and picked up a couple P bodies from the showcase -

#1
View attachment 5311670

View attachment 5311672

Notes: I did not think the back had all that interesting of grain features to it. So, for my slightly OCD brain I decided to just have it painted over black so there wouldn't be a mismatch with the top. Before you all throw stones at me, remember that Reverend uses white korina and they all get painted over. I wanted this one for the very nice top and the lightweight body, which is 4.63 lbs.

Electronics: EMG MMHZ pickup and a EMG BQC control preamp

Neck: KLOS Carbon Fiber Jazz Bass replacement (Ohhh yes, I am very much looking forward to having a neck from them). At $500 you should buy one too!


#2
Excuse me for not taking a screen grab for this one, but to abolish my not-a-sin of painting over white korina, I waited out Warmoth until they dropped the price of a showcase chambered black korina P bass body way down until I thought if I don't get it now, someone else will. They had only the two left by the time I did and they both were sold within 24 hours.

I ordered it completely unfinished and I'm going to apply lots of coats of Tru Oil by hand until I've decided it looks good. Should be a great one to try this with as the grain is very nice looking. It will get a set of Fralin P pickups that I've had sitting around in the box for a year and it will be fully passive. Hardware, neck, etc, is all TBD.

And here is bass #2 that I just received this afternoon in its completely unfinished form. Ohhh this is going to be a really nice one! Black korina, chambered body, weighing in at 5 lbs. Not the lightest of what was available, but the most interesting looking grain of what they had in the showcase.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

And here is bass #2 that I just received this afternoon in its completely unfinished form. Ohhh this is going to be a really nice one! Black korina, chambered body, weighing in at 5 lbs. Not the lightest of what was available, but the most interesting looking grain of what they had in the showcase.


View attachment 5319953

View attachment 5319954

Nice! What colour pickguard are you putting on it?

 

[BlueTalon]

Nice! What colour pickguard are you putting on it?

I was going to ask you why you'd want to put any pickguard at all on that beautiful wood... and then I saw it was front-routed. If it was me, I'd fashion a piece of something that would just barely cover the route.

 

[Bassdrifter]

What type of oil/polish/other can be used on a roasted maple shaft?

I am very happy with Micro-Mech. Micro-Mesh Finishing Pack - StewMac. Super fast all the way to 12 000. One does not really need to oil it, but a super thin application of boiled linseed oil or other drying finishing oil does not hurt. You can not feel it when it is cured. Just the supersmooth wood.

 

[fauxtoe]

Nice! What colour pickguard are you putting on it?

I was going to ask you why you'd want to put any pickguard at all on that beautiful wood... and then I saw it was front-routed. If it was me, I'd fashion a piece of something that would just barely cover the route.

Totally agree about maybe doing something minimal to cover the cavity, but I also don't mind it having that "classic" P bass look with a pickguard. If I had been given a choice this would have been rear routed from the start, but since it was a bit of a calculated impulse buy from the Showcase it's an as-is scenario. I would at least have to put a bezel around the pickups in order to satisfy my slight OCD brain because the angled corners in the route would absolutely bug me if they were exposed.

As far as pickguard color goes, the current options in my head are - single ply matte black, black anodized aluminum (my favorite so far), black cream black, or something made out of wood (like walnut). However, the wood option I'm not so keen on because I didn't have it routed for a side mounted input jack. Although, I could drill my own if it came down to it. I've also talked to a maker of wood pickguards and he stopped doing them for P basses because it just wasn't strong enough to prevent it from breaking at the jack.

For hardware I'm leaning towards black and brass. Chrome/nickel I don't think would look good on this unless it was a satin finish. I'm also thinking about doing a cream/ivory pickup cover for just a little bit of contrast. I've looked at tons of photos of oil finished black korina guitars and there so many different ways of combining things it will make your head hurt.

If you're also wondering what neck I plan to use,...so am I! If I go with a Warmoth I think I'm leaning towards a rosewood shaft with an ebony board and cream dots, or goncalo alves with ebony and cream. I've also thought about cream binding with either of those as I have another neck from them with it and it's absolutely amazing. And, as it was pointed out on the Warmoth forum, it forces them to do more work on the fret ends when binding is involved and I've experienced this first hand.

Anyways, thanks for my rambling! Opinions always welcome! I'm going to be at NAMM next week and will be keeping my eyes open at the hardware maker booths for something I may have not thought about or didn't know existed. It's not a rush project as it's going to take some time to get all of the coats of Tru Oil applied and for it to fully cure.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

As far as pickguard color goes, the current options in my head are - single ply matte black, black anodized aluminum (my favorite so far)

Here's my Black Korina Jazz with anodized aluminum pickguard. I've wanted a P Bass twin for a while. Looking forward to seeing yours when it's finished.

 

[fauxtoe]

Here's my Black Korina Jazz with anodized aluminum pickguard. I've wanted a P Bass twin for a while. Looking forward to seeing yours when it's finished. View attachment 5320254

Oh now that is very nice! How is your finished? Gloss poly?

Edit: Just saw the second photo and I can see that it might not be poly.

I'm aiming to keep mine as satin sheen as possible, and doing an oil finish should achieve that while being fairly easy to apply and massively cheaper.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

Oh now that is very nice! How is your finished? Gloss poly?

I'm aiming to keep mine as satin sheen as possible, and doing an oil finish should achieve that while being fairly easy to apply and massively cheaper.

Mine was finished with Tru-Oil. It's definitely a great inexpensive way to go. And although it is inexpensive, I don't consider it inferior to any other finish.

I'm not sure how many coats were applied (maybe @Lex P. can chime in,) I'd guess at least 10. My most recent Tru-Oil finish was 6 coats and is a very nice satin.

 

[fauxtoe]

Mine was finished with Tru-Oil. It's definitely a great inexpensive way to go. And although it is inexpensive, I don't consider it inferior to any other finish.

Very nice! Yeah I don't consider an oil finish to be inferior whatsoever. Wood has been finished with oil for hundreds, if not into the thousands of years. Warmoth I'm sure doesn't want to do them because they take too much time. They found a good formula with their poly finishes and have stuck with it to keep up with their volume.

 

[Juggernaught]

My Hipshot Ultralight tuners were last seen in Syracuse NY on Saturday, but my Warmoth + Nordstrand + Flexcore Mahogany with 5A Quilt Maple top PJ built is almost complete!

 

[InvisibleMan]

My Hipshot Ultralight tuners were last seen in Syracuse NY on Saturday, but my Warmoth + Nordstrand + Flexcore Mahogany with 5A Quilt Maple top PJ built is almost complete!View attachment 5327104

Nice! You must be itching to get those tuners!

 

[Juggernaught]

Nice! You must be itching to get those tuners!

I feel like a dog waiting for their owner to come home. FedEx delivery info has gone dark, so that doesn't help!

 

[Juggernaught]

My Hipshot Ultralight tuners were last seen in Syracuse NY on Saturday, but my Warmoth + Nordstrand + Flexcore Mahogany with 5A Quilt Maple top PJ built is almost complete!View attachment 5327104

One thing I'd like to note about going with Warmoth and Flexcore is that with the top and accent line, the 1/4" toggle switches *barely* go all the way through. I might need to route a slightly larger hole in the control cavity to get washers on the other side to clean it up.

 

[Syco_bass]

One thing I'd like to note about going with Warmoth and Flexcore is that with the top and accent line, the 1/4" toggle switches *barely* go all the way through. I might need to route a slightly larger hole in the control cavity to get washers on the other side to clean it up.

Beautiful instrument. Go slow, measure 3 times, use a drill press or a plunge router if possible. Good luck.

 

[Juggernaught]

Beautiful instrument. Go slow, measure 3 times, use a drill press or a plunge router if possible. Good luck.

Will do! After I put a few hundred hours into playing it.

 

[Juggernaught]

My Hipshot Ultralight tuners were last seen in Syracuse NY on Saturday, but my Warmoth + Nordstrand + Flexcore Mahogany with 5A Quilt Maple top PJ built is almost complete!View attachment 5327104

Fedex appears to have lost the tuners, so Hipshot is sending new ones. I couldn't wait though and I bought some cheap tuners so I could at least set it up and play with it. 95% set up, and this thing sounds fantastic!

I'll send final pics once it's all done, but my only regret is not getting a neck wood that might match the body better. The quartersawn maple is much lighter than the figuring on the top wood, which doesn't have the best look with the headstock. Perhaps I can get someone to add a veneer to the headstock down the line...

 

[InvisibleMan]

Fedex appears to have lost the tuners, so Hipshot is sending new ones. I couldn't wait though and I bought some cheap tuners so I could at least set it up and play with it. 95% set up, and this thing sounds fantastic!

I'll send final pics once it's all done, but my only regret is not getting a neck wood that might match the body better. The quartersawn maple is much lighter than the figuring on the top wood, which doesn't have the best look with the headstock. Perhaps I can get someone to add a veneer to the headstock down the line...

That sounds very frustrating! Glad you got it set up. I guess I'm too late in this case but for anyone else in this situation lacking ultralite tuners for whatever reason, I bought "Guyker" ultralite tuners on AliExpress for one pretty significant saving on what was in other respects an all-out Warmoth build, and they have been great! Came quite quickly too!