Warmoth Owners Club!!

[Juggernaught]

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!

View attachment 5330208 View attachment 5330209

So jealous of that sweet veneer. I didn't realize a veneer was an option for the jazz bass necks (but you have to email them about it).

 

[pbass888]

From a fellow tb'er.. a really old but in great condition warmoth neck. My 3rd Warmoth fretless neck (one rosewood , one rosewood epoxy ), and this is ebony.nice thick piece of ebony and the square end and “screwdriver” truss rod . Fender body , fralin split coil pickups with overwound bridge .

 

[pbass888]

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!

@Lucca
This is great for roasted maple and was suggested by Drake basses to me years ago , won’t finish but will condition and smells great

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-16-oz-Feed-N-Wax-Wood-Conditioner-FW0016/100592963


For roasted maple I have used gunstock oil and gunstock wax

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best pbass888

 

[Bassinthemudd]

@Lucca
This is great for roasted maple and was suggested by Drake basses to me years ago , won’t finish but will condition and smells great

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-16-oz-Feed-N-Wax-Wood-Conditioner-FW0016/100592963

How does it feel on a neck? I love the feel of my unfinished roasted maple neck, but would like a bit of protection.

 

[pbass888]

How does it feel on a neck? I love the feel of my unfinished roasted maple neck, but would like a bit of protection.

@Bassinthemudd , no change in feel . Howard's conditions the wood (here in the Rockies we have very dry weather) and makes sure it doesn't crack. Bonus is that it has a faint smell of orange and honey (two ingredients).

Quote from the website
Feed-N-Wax works great on wood guitar finishes and wood fretboards! Feed-N-Wax brings out the original color and depth of grain in the wood and helps protect and polish with beeswax and carnauba wax. It’s a popular choice among guitar owners to maintain their wood fretboards on all types of guitars. (Never condition the inside of a guitar).

here is the link
Can Feed-N-Wax be used on wood guitars and guitar fretboards? | Howard Products
best,
pbass888

 

[13bass]

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!

I never use anything on roasted maple necks. I buff them down incrementally using 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 200 grit sandpaper. Smooth as can be, and as they are roasted, almost all moisture has been removed, and oils from fingers is enough at that point. Nothing is needed IMO. Most on the Warmoth forum do the same thing.

 

[J Posega]

The last roasted maple neck I got I just rubbed on some Howard's Feed n Wax. It feels too good to want to do an actual finish over it.

 

[fauxtoe]

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.

Little update to this one -

- I went back and forth as to whether I wanted to do a rosewood or wenge neck shaft, and wenge ultimately won since I'm familiar with it and I already own an all wenge neck from Warmoth.

- Hopefully the macassar ebony fretboard has at least some nice grain or cool features to it. Since the unique choice option no longer exists it's totally the luck of the draw.

- Yes, that is 1-5/8" nut with a slim taper. I emailed customer service to double check that this was actually possible. I had seen necks in the showcase with this spec and he confirmed the information on the website about slim taper being limited to 1-1/2" and 1-11/16" is outdated. The two Warmoth necks I have on other builds are both slim taper and 1-1/2", but I'm very excited to do a 1-5/8" for this build.

- I'm hoping to start with the body soon. Seems every time I want to get my workspace prepped something comes up. Such is life!

- The poorly put together rendering is strictly for my brain because I'm a visual person, and it and the specs are subject to change in a moment's notice.

Body - Chambered black korina (limba) and will be finished with Tru Oil
Neck - Wenge with macassar ebony fretboard
Pickup - EMG Geezer Butler in the ivory color
Pickguard - Black anodized aluminum
Pickguard screws - Stainless
Bridge - Kluson High Mass (This is what Fender uses as their high mass bridge, and it's great!)
Tuners - Hipshot Ultralite USA 1/2" with Lollipop keys
String retainer - Hipshot three string
Knobs - Raw brass domed with knurling
Strap buttons - Dunlop Straplok dual design

 

[BlueTalon]

Little update to this one -

- I went back and forth as to whether I wanted to do a rosewood or wenge neck shaft, and wenge ultimately won since I'm familiar with it and I already own an all wenge neck from Warmoth.

- Hopefully the macassar ebony fretboard has at least some nice grain or cool features to it. Since the unique choice option no longer exists it's totally the luck of the draw.

- Yes, that is 1-5/8" nut with a slim taper. I emailed customer service to double check that this was actually possible. I had seen necks in the showcase with this spec and he confirmed the information on the website about slim taper being limited to 1-1/2" and 1-11/16" is outdated. The two Warmoth necks I have on other builds are both slim taper and 1-1/2", but I'm very excited to do a 1-5/8" for this build.

- I'm hoping to start with the body soon. Seems every time I want to get my workspace prepped something comes up. Such is life!

- The poorly put together rendering is strictly for my brain because I'm a visual person, and it and the specs are subject to change in a moment's notice.

Body - Chambered black korina (limba) and will be finished with Tru Oil
Neck - Wenge with macassar ebony fretboard
Pickup - EMG Geezer Butler in the ivory color
Pickguard - Black anodized aluminum
Pickguard screws - Stainless
Bridge - Kluson High Mass (This is what Fender uses as their high mass bridge, and it's great!)
Tuners - Hipshot Ultralite USA 1/2" with Lollipop keys
String retainer - Hipshot three string
Knobs - Raw brass domed with knurling
Strap buttons - Dunlop Straplok dual design

View attachment 5342370

View attachment 5342373

I'd go with black pickups and black knobs, but it looks sharp.

 

[fauxtoe]

I'd go with black pickups and black knobs, but it looks sharp.

Not enough contrast for me for this build. I researched what others have done with limba bodies and the all black setup blends too much for my taste. My favorite guitars that I came across were the ones that used off white pickups or knobs, or had some combination of gold/brass. If I stick with the brass knobs they will age over time to a nice patina since they are raw. I've also thought about using a Jazzmaster style knob in off white or black/chrome.

It's a unique wood/color to work with and a lot of things can work well. Had I been able to have this as a rear route it would have been all black for sure to let the wood grain do the talkin', but since I have that big ol' black pickguard to work with I wanted to have something stand out. But hey, that's the great thing about having parts that are fully interchangeable. I can change my mind

 

[BlueTalon]

My favorite guitars that I came across were the ones that used off white pickups or knobs, or had some combination of gold/brass.

Well there ya go.

 

[InvisibleMan]

So I just ordered another Warmoth It's a tribute to Anthony Jackson, which sounds a bit ambitious but hear me out.

I have a Squier Affinity P-bass routed into a swimming pool so I can test any pickup in any position. Recently I've been playing it with a 4-string Aero dual-coil wired in serial that I had lying around, in what Fodera call the "Anthony Jackson position", tuned B-E-A-D.

Even to my ear as a lifelong devotee of AJ's playing, it sounds pretty convincing, so much so that I've ordered this to make this rather satisfying experiment permanent:

The vintage white is intended to be a "mere mortals's" version of the holly on AJ's $35k "Presentation II"

I've decided not to go for the reverse headstock in the end.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Out of curiosity, what lead times have you guys been seeing for painted bodies?
Their site says 16-18 weeks for Custom body with Paint/finish…
That’s like 4 months at least!
I just ordered mine a month ago and it feels like forever already…!!! If I feel this antsy after a month, how will I survive another 3?

 

[juancaminos]

My maple neck with binding took at least four months!

 

[13bass]

Out of curiosity, what lead times have you guys been seeing for painted bodies?
Their site says 16-18 weeks for Custom body with Paint/finish…
That’s like 4 months at least!
I just ordered mine a month ago and it feels like forever already…!!! If I feel this antsy after a month, how will I survive another 3?

I ordered a in stock plain body, with custom paint/finish 12/15/23 and it is due to be delivered this Friday if that helps. And I saw the same 16-18 weeks then as well. Perhaps they are erring on the side of caution, under promise and over deliver rather than over promise and under deliver? And if they need to make the body, that extra time would be added on as well of course.

 

[iriegnome]

Hello fellow Warmoth fam!! You know I started this thread almost 16 years ago now. I am at a point where my collection has outgrew my space available. I am considering letting go one of my Warmoth basses and I am looking to see if anyone may be interested. I have the Warmoth G5 #1 neck and body. Neck is all maple w/maple board and the body is mahogany (I believe it is one piece). For years it was the picture you clicked on when you wanted to choose the build your own G5 neck and body.. It has a SD MM style pickup. It is passive. A small thumb rest was added (I believe I made it out of mahogany as well), but it is not permanent. 2 small dowels hold it in place. It was my very first 5 string bass and I built it in 2004. You can see it a bit more clear on post #1 of this thread.

 

[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

Done!

 

[Type-55]

InvisibleMan how did you figure pickup placement?
I always thought AJ's pickup was a little further forward?
I have the same idea for a bass. Looks great.

 

[InvisibleMan]

InvisibleMan how did you figure pickup placement?
I always thought AJ's pickup was a little further forward?
I have the same idea for a bass. Looks great.

I found an old post on TB where AJ corrected some other users discussing his pickup placement, and provided the exact measurement, but on a 36" scale. Since I was once a designer and am a massive bass-nerd I have a to-scale virtual drawing of a four-string with pickup placements for every common configuration (P-J, JJ 60s, 70s, MM, etc) in Adobe, which helps calculate string spacing and pickup positioning cleanly for new projects. I did the math to convert 36 inch scale to 34, converted to metric, got a hypothetical number from the drawing, and then set up the test bass to try it out. With a bit of tinkering I got the sound I wanted with the leading edge of the pickup 148mm from the (20-fret) neck pocket. With the dual-coil pickup in series it's pretty close. BEAD tuning made it even better! Now playing along to this 11-hour AJ playlist

 

[Bassinthemudd]

I did the math to convert 36 inch scale to 34, converted to metric, got a hypothetical number from the drawing, and then set up the test bass to try it out. With a bit of tinkering I got the sound I wanted with the leading edge of the pickup 148mm from the (20-fret) neck pocket.

After tinkering, how much had the placement changed from the hypothetical number? Also, looks pretty close to the MM sweet spot. How does it compare to that placement?