Just received my first guitar build kit from Warmoth today

[MetalThrasher]

Looks pretty to me. Plan on putting a Duncan RTM in it. Questions. How should I approach building this meaning what should I start with and what should be the last thing I do. Any advice would be appreciated as I never did this before.

 

[Dan Gleesak]

That’s rad man. Parts guitars are a slippery slope lol. It’s a fun hobby though.

Dry fit everything first to make sure everything lines up.
Don’t force anything together and for gods sake don’t use a screw gun to attach the neck bolts. A screwdriver is just fine

 

[MetalThrasher]

Do I start with the wiring first or the Floyd?

 

[riffsfordaze]

Chris Holmes approves! Cool dog as well!

 

[rottingcorpse]

Just got my Warmoth body back from the painter and dropped everything off at my techs shop.
I'm doing the same thing you are, star body single pup and a reverse headstock. But no floyd.
Sourced everything from Warmoth. Will see how everything turns out.
Looks like you went with a roasted neck too. I went with jumbo stainless frets and a boat carve on flamed maple.
What are your neck specs?

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Looks pretty to me. Plan on putting a Duncan RTM in it. Questions. How should I approach building this meaning what should I start with and what should be the last thing I do. Any advice would be appreciated as I never did this before.View attachment 191539View attachment 191542

Love the color and reverse headstock.
Since there's no wood work or finishing it's mainly putting the pieces together. That's pretty straightforward. Biggest piece of advice is to take your time. Last thing you want to do is rush though and fuck something up.

Parts guitars are a slippery slope lol. It’s a fun hobby though.

This is 1000% true. I started with assembling a parts guitar from pieces I bought off eBay about 20 years ago. That quickly progressed to doing full scratch builds from raw slabs of wood. I've built at least one per year since then and still going.

 

[rsm]

nice. Good luck with the build!

Every time I spec out what I want to build it costs more than I want to spend, but much less than a custom build.

then add to that I have limited free time and many activities I'd rather do than build a guitar...

 

[Findthetone1]

Do I start with the wiring first or the Floyd?

At the very least, install the claw so you can solder the ground to it when you do the wiring.

 

[Devin]

I've only ever done one Warmoth build but it was a ton of fun; came out great too (even though i rushed the tru-oil finish over my stain and you can see drips up close)

Looks great from 5 feet away

 

[GreatRedDragon]

The first guitar I built was my Warmoth Strat, and it was easier than I thought it'd be. Warmoth is great.

Just take your time.

I repeat...

TAKE YOUR TIME

It's not a race.

 

[Dave M]

Dry fit everything first to make sure everything lines up.

Don’t force anything together .....

THIS ^^^

 

[Geo]

Put some painters tape on the body around the bridge route and control cavity, before you start.

 

[DanTravis62]

Put some painters tape on the body around the bridge route and control cavity, before you start.

Good advice

Dry fit everything first to make sure everything lines up.
Don’t force anything together and for gods sake don’t use a screw gun to attach the neck bolts. A screwdriver is just fine

Also good advice

Cool body style man! Especially with a Floyd rose partscaster, take your damn time.

If you force something, you're not gonna have a cash money time

 

[Dan Gleesak]

Do I start with the wiring first or the Floyd?

It’s a matter of preference. Most of my builds start as a “hm I wonder if I can put these two things together?” So I wait to do the wiring until I know I have a playable guitar.
Warmoth is pretty consistent, but it would be nice to have the Floyd ready to go once the neck is on so that you can string it up and see if any adjustments are needed

 

[DrewJD82]

FWIW, i’d also tape around the neck pocket because getting that neck in the first couple of times could end up taking some paint off. Happened to my Gilmour Strat when I got it from MJT/Musikraft; the neck/body were a perfect fit, but almost too perfect as I had to apply some pressure to get the neck seated and it cracked some paint off. Not terrible and the guitar is lightly relic’d anyway so fuck it, but figured I’d throw it out there.

I did another one shortly after that and it wasn’t an issue. It certainly is a habit-forming thing, those two won’t be my only ones!

 

[PDC]

Only from assembling, probably two dozen spare parts guitars over my life, I now like to start with all of the wiring before I attach the neck or bridge. It makes it so much easier to turn the body over from mounting pick ups to soldering in the control cavity when you don’t have the neck hanging off the end or the bridge making the body sit at an angle when face down. Once I’ve got the electronics in with no grounding noise, I will then move on to the bridge and neck to set up action and intonation. I also like to install the tuners and nut before I attach the neck to the body.

 

[MetalThrasher]

Thanks for all the tips! I plan on starting to put this together over the weekend. I will take my time because I don't want to screw anything up. Hopefully, I have this done by the end of summer lol. BTW for the person who asked about the neck. It's a warhead modern construction, goncalo alves neck and fretboard, 10-16 radius, standard thin with 6100 jumbo nickel frets! Neck looks really nice! I'm sure I will be posting more to this thread as I begin the build.