Warmoth: Undervalued?

[Johnny Fila]

I love my Warmoth basses, whether I bought them used or built them, and, as many of you know, many builders, such as Nino, here on TB use their product. However, I think that there exists, perhaps misconception is the word I want, an undervaluing of the warmoth product and I wonder why that is.
What say you guys?
I'll also try to use a poll, somehow.........
hopefully I used enough choices for everyone, we'll see.

 

[sjoakes]

I think you are referring to their lack of resale value...

To which I would say, their drop in value comes with the uncertainty of the skill in which the part were assembled.

The assumption is that most warmoths are assembled by someone who doesn't necessarily have a ton of experience building and setting up basses/guitars. That uncertainty translates to loss in value.

The exception to that rule is with people, such as Nino, who have been building a reputation of quality work. So when their name is associated with warmoth, the value increases.

 

[hyperlitem]

they devalue at the rate as most customs devalue id say. Its a bass built for a specific person, so its not gonna be everyones cup of tea, its just different when a 5 grand custom bass devalues to 3 grand and a warmoth that the parts cost $500 devaules to $300. I agree wtih sjoakes also, im not ever gonna buy a bass built by sumone i dont know from parts, nino is exempt from this.

 

[Ben Rose]

I believe that Warmoth makes very good parts, and from what I've seen of Nino's basses, good finishes as well. From a resale standpoint, I think Warmoth basses have a low value because most people are not Nino or Filakovsky. There are plenty of poorly assembled Warmoth basses floating around. That is going to drive the resale value down unless the builder has built a reputation and distinguished him/herself as an expert "assembler".

There are several guys on a local level that can do a good job putting together a parts bass. One or two could probably do a great job. If I bought a bass from them, it would be an excellent value for the money as an initial purchase, but because nobody has ever heard of these people (outside of the local level), the resale value would not be worth much more than a Warmoth bass I assembled myself. Once resale value is included, someone would probably take less of a (or perhaps the same) total financial hit after buying and selling
a Sadowsky Metro. You'd be out a few hundred bucks over the complete cycle.

 

[Ben Rose]

I think you are referring to their lack of resale value...

To which I would say, their drop in value comes with the uncertainty of the skill in which the part were assembled.

The assumption is that most warmoths are assembled by someone who doesn't necessarily have a ton of experience building and setting up basses/guitars. That uncertainty translates to loss in value.

The exception to that rule is with people, such as Nino, who have been building a reputation of quality work. So when their name is associated with warmoth, the value increases.

Said it in way fewer words than me.

 

[Johnny Fila]

I think you are referring to their lack of resale value...

To which I would say, their drop in value comes with the uncertainty of the skill in which the part were assembled.

The assumption is that most warmoths are assembled by someone who doesn't necessarily have a ton of experience building and setting up basses/guitars. That uncertainty translates to loss in value.

The exception to that rule is with people, such as Nino, who have been building a reputation of quality work. So when their name is associated with warmoth, the value increases.

excellent answer I beleive.

 

[godoze]

I have built and sold several basses from warmoth... I agree about the reasons given for resale but we all know what they can do if done properly.

 

[Unchain]

Go Valenti!

 

[Halftooth]

I've played a Warmoth parts bass that was assembled by a local luthier that was totally amazing. But, with that said, the resale value on them is enough to scare me away, and as others have mentioned, the lack of qualified builders or assemblers has given these parts bass manufacturers a bad name to the point that you can't ever sell them even in a bind. If you're going to buy one and keep forever, or at least a very long time, I wouldn't hesitate, but since I buy and sell quite often, these basses just wouldn't work for me because of the resale. I would bet though that a used one would be one heck of a value though.

 

[Philbiker]

No carrots option? What's talkbass coming to?

 

[Johnny Fila]

No carrots option? What's talkbass coming to?

Next poll I do phil, will have carrots AND peas

 

[Nino Valenti]

I think Warmoth makes excellent parts. My only complaint is their lack of options for basses.

Unless the original builder did some major damage, i.e. drill thru the headstock, major scratched, IME, a lot of thier "damage" may be reversable. Plugs the neck holes, brigde holes, re-drill, re-wire, good as new.

 

[RLT]

Peas, carrots where's the beef??

 

[spc]

I love my Warmoth stuff, top notch I say.

 

[LajoieT]

There's no option for fair value????

I think they are excellent products at a fair (not bargain, and certainly not overpriced) price.

 

[Johnny Fila]

There's no option for fair value????

I think they are excellent products at a fair (not bargain, and certainly not overpriced) price.

Yes, I purposely left that out as I felt it might get too many responses and make the others null/void.

 

[MAJOR METAL]

Their stuff is as solid as a rock.

 

[Andy Brown]

I love Warmoth stuff. You can't spec a bass from any vendor quite like you can with Warmoth. Pick a body, pick a neck, pick ANY pickups, hardware, preamp, etc. Sweet.

PS - I've got one for sale assembled by Nino at a great price...

 

[jwymore]

I think you are referring to their lack of resale value...

To which I would say, their drop in value comes with the uncertainty of the skill in which the part were assembled.

The assumption is that most warmoths are assembled by someone who doesn't necessarily have a ton of experience building and setting up basses/guitars. That uncertainty translates to loss in value.

The exception to that rule is with people, such as Nino, who have been building a reputation of quality work. So when their name is associated with warmoth, the value increases.

I agreee with this statement as well ...

The first couple of basses I built were made from Warmoth bodies and necks. I had trouble selling them for what I had in them and when they re-sold as used the value was down around $400 to $500.

As I built a few more basses and did a bit more custom stuff I found that the name I had made for myself (although very small) made the re-sale value of my basses go up a bit more in line with used production basses.

I am now going the next step and doing custom body shapes and headstocks so we will see if that uniqueness adds any value in the market place. I certainly hope so ...

My first Warmoth, S/N 01001 ...

 

[sargebaker]

thats a darn fine P you got! I have no experience w/ Warmoth but their stuff is gorgeous and I've never heard a negative review, so I'd say undervalued, but based on my skills I'd pay for Nino (or any pro luthier really..) to assemble it.

This is off topic a bit but I'm curious, would Warmoth do a fretless GUITAR neck?