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Warmoth Releases Mooncaster Short Scale Bass!
- Thread starter amphlett7
- Start date
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just saw this, and needed to. This is my current grouping of Warmoth mooncaster basses. All of them are 30" scale. All finished by Warmoth.
Mahogany on swamp ash, blue ice top, clear back. Maple/maple neck. (It used to be mahogany was the only top option for colored paint.)
Curly maple over swamp ash, clear. Pao ferro/pao ferro neck.
Swamp ash/swamp ash, clear. Pao ferro/ebony neck.
Quilted maple/swamp ash, brown burst top, translucent brown back. Wenge/wenge neck.
I love them all, but the first one I pick up is the curly maple. It was also my first. I keep tweaking them, changing necks around, swapping knobs, etc, so not all the pics match up to the group pic.
Mahogany on swamp ash, blue ice top, clear back. Maple/maple neck. (It used to be mahogany was the only top option for colored paint.)
Curly maple over swamp ash, clear. Pao ferro/pao ferro neck.
Swamp ash/swamp ash, clear. Pao ferro/ebony neck.
Quilted maple/swamp ash, brown burst top, translucent brown back. Wenge/wenge neck.
I love them all, but the first one I pick up is the curly maple. It was also my first. I keep tweaking them, changing necks around, swapping knobs, etc, so not all the pics match up to the group pic.
Those are stunning. I’ve always really liked this design. You’re making me want to start a new build…
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
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amazing! What pickups do you like best? I have thunderblades on my Lakland hollowbody and am super curious to try out the other ones in the line.
Thanks, guys.
Interesting you should ask, because I'm trying to figure it out myself, actually. The Thunder'blades i find to be the warmest, and the highest output, and probably not my favorite. I've also got two sets of Thunder'trons and one of Thunder'mags. When I built the last one, the swamp ash, I used 'trons, D'Addario nickel round wounds, and TV Jones tone pot harness circuit wiring (MV, T, V, V). All the previous were done with LaBella mustang flats and 50s Les Paul circuitry. Turns out I really like the 'trons with the round wounds and the TV Jones circuit. So I just rewired the curly maple the same way, swapped out the strings, and I'm giving it a go with the 'mags. Right now the strings are really squeaky. We'll see, I may need to experiment a bit with strings.
I'll probably keep the 'blades on the burst with flats. At this point they're the old, thumpy flat sound, and it works well with the 'blades IMO. I may try rewiring it, however.
Also IMO, they all sound great. They don't really have the grunt of a P bass pickup or the growl of a J bass, and really can't be equated with either. They are their own thing.
P.S. I realized after I typed the info above that the pickups I'm saying are in each bass don't match the pics I posted. Yeah, I like to experiment.
Interesting you should ask, because I'm trying to figure it out myself, actually. The Thunder'blades i find to be the warmest, and the highest output, and probably not my favorite. I've also got two sets of Thunder'trons and one of Thunder'mags. When I built the last one, the swamp ash, I used 'trons, D'Addario nickel round wounds, and TV Jones tone pot harness circuit wiring (MV, T, V, V). All the previous were done with LaBella mustang flats and 50s Les Paul circuitry. Turns out I really like the 'trons with the round wounds and the TV Jones circuit. So I just rewired the curly maple the same way, swapped out the strings, and I'm giving it a go with the 'mags. Right now the strings are really squeaky. We'll see, I may need to experiment a bit with strings.
I'll probably keep the 'blades on the burst with flats. At this point they're the old, thumpy flat sound, and it works well with the 'blades IMO. I may try rewiring it, however.
Also IMO, they all sound great. They don't really have the grunt of a P bass pickup or the growl of a J bass, and really can't be equated with either. They are their own thing.
P.S. I realized after I typed the info above that the pickups I'm saying are in each bass don't match the pics I posted. Yeah, I like to experiment.
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deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
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I hear ya. The blades really are their own thing. I love ‘em. But have wondered if any were a little more p’ish sounding.
also wonder if a thunder mag in the rear position and a blade in the neck would be a better combo.
also wonder if a thunder mag in the rear position and a blade in the neck would be a better combo.
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I'm guessing they're lighter than the incredibly heavy Fender Starcaster basses.
Other than that....Mooncaster?
How imaginative!
I hope they put a little more thought into the bass itself than that.
(Sorry, didn't realize this was a "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" thread )
Other than that....Mooncaster?
How imaginative!
I hope they put a little more thought into the bass itself than that.
(Sorry, didn't realize this was a "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" thread )
@js56hawk Yup, entirely my fault. I saw the thread, had the mooncasters, and wanted to share. "It's alive!" I do think they put a lot of thought and effort into them. In person, they are just beautiful. The swamp ash body is under 4 lbs naked. Assembled she comes in at an extremely comfortable 8 lb, 11 oz. I like Fender's deluxe f-stamp tuners, which are a little heavy. The 30" scale is delightful to my less than adept hands, especially with a raw pao ferro neck.
@depestend My favorite sound right now is a full set of the Thunder'trons, wired with TV Jones wiring, and the round wounds. I set the neck vol full, and bridge vol rolled back to about 80%. When I roll the bridge back to 80% there's a distinct change to the tone. I'd say it brings in some bark that isn't there with the bridge at full. It's got a "woody" flavor to it as compared to my precision, but certainly closer to my amateur ear than the Thunder'blades.
@depestend My favorite sound right now is a full set of the Thunder'trons, wired with TV Jones wiring, and the round wounds. I set the neck vol full, and bridge vol rolled back to about 80%. When I roll the bridge back to 80% there's a distinct change to the tone. I'd say it brings in some bark that isn't there with the bridge at full. It's got a "woody" flavor to it as compared to my precision, but certainly closer to my amateur ear than the Thunder'blades.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
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I'd like to try a ThunderTron in the bridge position. The blade is great in the neck position, but I don't totally love it in the bridge. Hard to put my finger on why. It might just be too clean sounding.
Had a few discussions with Warmoth about options that had been mentioned in this thread (DarkStar / BiSonic routes, 34" scale options) and got a no on all of them.
I think I would do a 30" scale build regardless, but I'd absolutely prefer the Novak BS-DS pickups to the Thundertrons. I'd also want the neck pickup to be as close to the neck as possible - all the shortscale hollowbody instruments that have the vibe I'm looking for have their pickup much further "north" than what's on the Mooncaster. So...I wonder how much pain I'd be inviting upon myself if I order a body from Warmoth without pickup routs and have someone rout it out...
I think I would do a 30" scale build regardless, but I'd absolutely prefer the Novak BS-DS pickups to the Thundertrons. I'd also want the neck pickup to be as close to the neck as possible - all the shortscale hollowbody instruments that have the vibe I'm looking for have their pickup much further "north" than what's on the Mooncaster. So...I wonder how much pain I'd be inviting upon myself if I order a body from Warmoth without pickup routs and have someone rout it out...
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
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For those of you with completed Mooncasters - what spacing did you go with for the bridge? 18mm or 19mm?
Chatgpt told me to do 18mm I believe but AI is full of crap half of the time. I did build out an entire PC using it though so I think it can be good with technical stuff like that
Seriously need some opinions here...
I spent all night the other day designing a mooncaster and finding parts but then I found a youtube demo (after thinking I had seen all there was to see) and was a little disappointed because I felt like it sounded... Small? Weak..Not very resonant maybe. I was hoping for a nice big hollowbody sound like the gretsches or guilds. I'm wondering if possibly it's just a not great recording, and the bass player isn't very good either.
Heres the thing though... I heard the same pickups in this demo and they sounded more prominent and bigger.
Just hoping to get some insight from y'all as per tonal characteristics and maybe just overall opinions. I really want to get a hollowbody and It would be so cool to put a warmoth together. I just want to make sure it would have a nice big round hollowbody tone and not sound small. Hoping it was just not a great demo
I spent all night the other day designing a mooncaster and finding parts but then I found a youtube demo (after thinking I had seen all there was to see) and was a little disappointed because I felt like it sounded... Small? Weak..Not very resonant maybe. I was hoping for a nice big hollowbody sound like the gretsches or guilds. I'm wondering if possibly it's just a not great recording, and the bass player isn't very good either.
Heres the thing though... I heard the same pickups in this demo and they sounded more prominent and bigger.
Just hoping to get some insight from y'all as per tonal characteristics and maybe just overall opinions. I really want to get a hollowbody and It would be so cool to put a warmoth together. I just want to make sure it would have a nice big round hollowbody tone and not sound small. Hoping it was just not a great demo
I’d probably get a cheap Hofner if that sound was the desire, otherwise for an all around cool bass , fun build time and slight money dump Warmoth in a heartbeat.
