Custom Guitar Body/Neck ? Warmoth, ect ...

[psychic_driver]

Do any of you have experience building guitars from 'scratch' using pre existing or custom bodies & necks from dealers like warmoth, five alram guitars, ect ? I'm curious about the quality of the final guitar vs a normal prefab axe of comparable price ...

In my search for a sick pointy guitar I'm not seeing many with specs I like. I am not a Floyd guy & finding a guitar that's both jagged & hardtail severely limits my options out of the gate ... Combined with a couple other preferences the preexisting market for exactly what I want is almost zero

Which has led me to consider just having one built ... Price wise it looks like a brand new body + neck + pickups & all the hardware would come out to 800ish on the low end, as high as 1600 or 2000 (skys the limit really) if I get more custom or use more expensive wood, fancy pickups or whatever. Basically the same price as buying a brand new ESP SD-2 or ibanez xiphos, both of which come with the Floyd I don't want.

Any opinions or experiences in this realm would be appreciated !

Closest guitar to my ideal specs is a BC Rich Stealth - got a Gibson scale length neck, hardtail bridge & HH pickup configuration. My biggest gripe is the body looks a little small & its not pointy enough lol ... All the edges are rounded off & its not as mean looking as an ironbird or sd-2 random star or xiphos

 

[psychic_driver]

https://fivealarmguitars.com/XP_p_110.html

This body shape routed differently would do nicely & if I can get a good quality neck to fit it I'd be in business ... Just not sure if its worth the time/effort/money rather than buying an already playable but less than ideal specd instrument for the same price

 

[reignman454]

Opinions may Vary, I have Warmoth builds that absolutely diarrhea on production guitars from 95ish-2010. Can't speak much after that (mostly Strats) but literally smoke the quality coming out of Fender at that time.


You could do way worse than Warmoth.

 

[DanTravis62]

Warmoth is great quality as far as woods, finishes, etc

But if you're gonna do it, you need to know how to do a setup, the basics of truss rod adjustment, etc

 

[psychic_driver]

Warmoth is great quality as far as woods, finishes, etc

But if you're gonna do it, you need to know how to do a setup, the basics of truss rod adjustment, etc

I am not a pro but I know how to set up a guitar to my liking & get it properly intonated.

If I got my hands on quality parts I could easily bolt a neck to a body, install hardware/electronics & get it strung & set up ...

My hangup is I am unsure about the quality I'd be getting from these 'custom' shops vs a production ibanez, BC rich or ESP for the same $1200 - $1600 - $2000 price point ...

 

[DanTravis62]

I am not a pro but I know how to set up a guitar to my liking & get it properly intonated.

If I got my hands on quality parts I could easily bolt a neck to a body, install hardware/electronics & get it strung & set up ...

My hangup is I am unsure about the quality I'd be getting from these 'custom' shops vs a production ibanez, BC rich or ESP for the same $1200 - $1600 - $2000 price point ...

it's going to be better quality materials than made in china, made in indonesia, etc

By quite a big gap - the materials, finishes, woods are on par with made in USA, made in Japan, made in germany stuff

But there's a reason I brought up the setup stuff - because it's really, really important and not something be be brushed off

If you buy the parts and don't know what the fuck you're doing, and say "this sucks warmoths a ripoff" its 100% on you, not warmoth, 100% of the time

It happens on RT, TGP, every guitar forum multiple times a year and it's almost always the same story

 

[DanTravis62]

@psychic_driver I'll tell you how I know that that's the case:

because I (and probably dozens of other people) constantly scour classified sections for "non-functioning" or "non working condition" warmoth builds on TGP, facebook marketplace, etc, from people who fucked them up somehow, all the time.

I buy them cheap, fix the relatively small issues they have, and resell them or keep them. And I'm not the only one who does this.

 

[psychic_driver]

@psychic_driver I'll tell you how I know that that's the case:

because I (and probably dozens of other people) constantly scour classified sections for "non-functioning" or "non working condition" warmoth builds on TGP, facebook marketplace, etc, from people who fucked them up somehow, all the time.

I buy them cheap, fix the relatively small issues they have, and resell them or keep them. And I'm not the only one who does this.

I have seen some reviews of warmoth or other custom neck manufacturers where people complain the necks need fret leveling/crowning/dressing ... Are these the issues you are fixing ? Or do you think these complaints stem from user error/incompetence & not quality problems from the factory ?

I am confident in my ability to screw a neck in place, properly adjust a truss rod & make intonation & string height adjustments at the bridge. I am not able to do any of my own fretwork however ...

 

[DanTravis62]

I have seen some reviews of warmoth or other custom neck manufacturers where people complain the necks need fret leveling/crowning/dressing ... Are these the issues you are fixing ? Or do you think these complaints stem from user error/incompetence & not quality problems from the factory ?

I am confident in my ability to screw a neck in place, properly adjust a truss rod & make intonation & string height adjustments at the bridge. I am not able to do any of my own fretwork however ...

I've never needed to do a full fret job to a warmoth neck, but I have had to dress a fret or two before - keep in mind that I've probably gone through a couple dozen of them over the years, though.

The vast majority of the time, they just need the truss rod adjusted and to be properly set up.

If you get a non-warmoth neck though, that's going to be almost guaranteed that you have to do a full crown and level

Do you have someone local that can check your work and go over everything? If you haven't done this before, but want to take the plunge, it might be good to have a backup plan just in case.

 

[psychic_driver]

Do you have someone local that can check your work and go over everything? If you haven't done this before, but want to take the plunge, it might be good to have a backup plan just in case.

Absolutely. The friendly tech at my local shop is always generous with his time & advice ... Plus I know a luthier in the hills not too far from me who deals in sustainiacs ... Was thinking of bringing one of these custom builds to him anyway to put in some more exotic electronics ... Might as well have him give the whole thing a once over while he's at it

Thanks for all the info ! Sounding like warmoth neck + a pointy body is a solid option ... I'm seeing some pretty sick brand new warmoth necks for under $500 ... Pointy bodies for about the same ... Another 500+ or so for pickups, hardware & a little tech time ... I'd have a pretty pimped out custom for basically the same price as a brand new production xiphos or SD-2 ... With none of the resale value lol

 

[DanTravis62]

Absolutely. The friendly tech at my local shop is always generous with his time & advice ... Plus I know a luthier in the hills not too far from me who deals in sustainiacs ... Was thinking of bringing one of these custom builds to him anyway to put in some more exotic electronics ... Might as well have him give the whole thing a once over while he's at it

Thanks for all the info ! Sounding like warmoth neck + a pointy body is a solid option ... I'm seeing some pretty sick brand new warmoth necks for under $500 ... Pointy bodies for about the same ... Another 500+ or so for pickups, hardware & a little tech time ... I'd have a pretty pimped out custom for basically the same price as a brand new production xiphos or SD-2 ... With none of the resale value lol

That is all 1000% true, including the resale value XD

Just be really really sure of the specs because if you want to sell it youll take a bath

 

[psychic_driver]

That is all 1000% true, including the resale value XD

Just be really really sure of the specs because if you want to sell it youll take a bath

I'm gonna chew on the idea for a while ... Keep scouting around. Real tempting tho ...

Thanks again !

 

[Music&Chaos]

Tell you what man - I have been able yo get some really crazy deals on Warmoth parts and they are awesome. Really a dream to work with. I have also gotten several necks from a sellet on eBay in the US I really like for good prices but they arent anywhere near what you are looking for. If you could get all Warmoth, I do not think you would be disappointed - provided you have the remaining setup skills, which i trust you do.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Absolutely. The friendly tech at my local shop is always generous with his time & advice ... Plus I know a luthier in the hills not too far from me who deals in sustainiacs ... Was thinking of bringing one of these custom builds to him anyway to put in some more exotic electronics ... Might as well have him give the whole thing a once over while he's at it

Thanks for all the info ! Sounding like warmoth neck + a pointy body is a solid option ... I'm seeing some pretty sick brand new warmoth necks for under $500 ... Pointy bodies for about the same ... Another 500+ or so for pickups, hardware & a little tech time ... I'd have a pretty pimped out custom for basically the same price as a brand new production xiphos or SD-2 ... With none of the resale value lol

I'm gonna chew on the idea for a while ... Keep scouting around. Real tempting tho ...

Thanks again !

Yeah best to mull it over. If you buy a guitar to sell it though.....why get it...? I have done the flip thing but not with guitars I like lol

 

[marvcus]

The hardest part for me was drilling the guide holes in the base of the neck for the bolts. Wasn’t sure how far to take it, etc in fear of drilling through the fretboard

 

[LP Freak]

The hardest part for me was drilling the guide holes in the base of the neck for the bolts. Wasn’t sure how far to take it, etc in fear of drilling through the fretboard

It’s best to get those pre drilled