Warmoth Jazzcaster Build!

[MEC]

Friday night I went to sleep thinking about buying a Blacktop Jag and Saturday I went to GC to check them out.
While I did really like the Jag, by the time I left I was hard wanting a Cobain Mustang.
Once I got home and started checking things out I realized if I was going to drop that kind of cash on a guitar, It would need to be exactly
how I want it to be. Also, putting it all together will make it even more "mine". In fact if I had the time, skills, patience, tools etc.
I would probably start with a few blocks of wood and go from there. Maybe someday, until then I've come up with this:



The guitar is solid Alder. I plan on getting it routed for a Humbucker in the neck but with a pickguard change
I could use almost anything. I also plan on getting a Fatback 10/16 Maple/Rosewood Warmoth neck with cream dots,
white TUSQ nut, 6150 SS fret wire and Gotoh locking tuners.

All told, I should be able to get it together and buy a hard case for it for right at $1000

So basically, I'm just looking for input, advice, observances, pros and cons of Warmoth Guitars etc.?

[amorphous]

Warmoth are not bad bodies. I looked into when i did my Jazzmaster build - but ended up finding a guy on offsetguitars.com that build the body / routed / made the pickguard for me - you end up getting a way better piece of wood and if you don't mind finishing it - you can do a thinner nitro finish (or oil, etc) I ended up with a one piece Honduran Mahogany Jazzmaster body.

I think i really fell in love with my guitar because i built it. Seems much more part of me. You'll see what i mean!

[MEC]

^I thought about getting someone else to do the body for all the reasons you stated and still might.
I just feel like when dealing with an established company like Warmoth, I'll have a faster turnaround and
more recourse/less guilt when complaining should something turn out different than promised/expected.

I may contact Mr. Nelson and see if he'd be into it.

[amorphous]

true, VERY true....

I have one issue with my build to still sort out - the trem cavity was made a bit small - won't quite drop as far as my TMJM - minor niggle, i know - but something you won't have with a Warmoth/allparts mass built build.

that and there is less and less people doing exact copies of guitar bodies/necks - so it seems.

[dubkitty]

if you're going to do the Warmoth thing you might want to try to find an unfinished body on their site in the illustrated list that hasn't been routed for PUs yet, or that's been routed to something near your spec. you could then have the ability to pick a body which might have better grain consistency, fewer pieces, etc. and have it routed and/or finished as you wished. they also have a feature where you can pick specific body blanks from a "Premium Choice" (i think they call it) selection and have them run up in the design of your choice, but naturally that costs rather more. can you tell i've considered this? baby wants a rosewood Tele.

[MEC]

^ Yeah, I checked for those but they didn't have any Jazzcasters and all the Jazzmasters were already routed.
I'm going to keep an eye out and check again before I place my order though.

[amorphous]

^ Yeah, I checked for those but they didn't have any Jazzcasters and all the Jazzmasters were already routed.
I'm going to keep an eye out and check again before I place my order though.

why not do a tele bridge modified and use a JM trem? JM trems are the shit! When setup correctly, they are amazingly smoof.

[Chankgeez]

Why Warmoth?

Have you done some shopping around?

http://www.usacustomguitars.com/

http://guitarmill.com/guitarmill/

[MEC]

So, I checked around and decided to go with Warmoth afterall.

I ordered everything a few weeks ago so now I'm sitting here with
a SKB hardshell case and a box full of parts.

I went with Harmonic Design pickups, a Z-90 in the neck and a
Super 90 in the bridge. They should be here in a week or so.

The body and neck are still about 2 months away but I'll be ready when they get here DAMNIT!

[amorphous]

very nice! what color are you going with? The one at the top is a way cool color scheme...

[MEC]

very nice! what color are you going with? The one at the top is a way cool color scheme...

It's going to look just like the one in the picture except the neck pickup looks like a P90 and
the bridge pickup looks like a traditional Tele bridge pick up. The neck is maple w/rosewood
fret board, SS frets and cream dots.

I would have gotten a "desert sand" finish with the same (parchment) pickguard but
Warmoth doesn't do that color finish.

I think I might reverse the control plate too.

[amorphous]

awesome man, can't wait to see the final build up!

[MEC]

I've had this together for about a month and I'm really digging it!

[Bellyheart]

Maple neck and standard tele bridge and that's the guitar for me. Looks great and hot hot. I'm happy you got what ya wanted. I wonder if that dude on offset it super backed up.

[amorphous]

well done MEC