Musikraft opinions?

[gybe!]

I am getting the itch to put together a guitar again and am currently looking at my options....I had an unacceptable experience with USACG last year so I pretty much want to avoid them and have heard relatively poor reviews of the quality of wood that warmoth uses (primarily improperly dried, too early growth). So, I am looking at musikraft now and looking for any experiences people may have had (and their set necks look verrrrrrrry tempting).

For those of you that have recieved a neck from them, how was the fretwork? Especially the details...level, dress, fret ends, etc. How was the communication through the process?

 

[Shawn Lutz]

I have I think 9 Musikraft necks, just about all of them were ordered by me to my specs. The wood quality and workmanship is excellent. Jim is easy to deal with, fairly accurate on his delivery times (usually faster than what he said). He always answered my emails or any questions I had. The fretwork is decent and dressed nicely. Some were perfect but I had couple of them had sharper than I like fret ends but that was easily corrected with a few fret file strokes. Most of it was really from climate changes, shrinkage after a couple of months. I haven't built anything in a few years so I don't know how they are today nut I've seen a few stunning builds that were all Musikraft,body and necks.

What I liked about them is how easily customized your order can be. I like the Chavel style neck, tung oil finish but with a big fat neck profiles. I order highly figured wood, birdseye maple. I have a couple ebony boards and he uses a nice chunk of ebony, not super thin like a lot of other guys Get stainless steel frets if you go with them...

 

[Chris6870]

I bought a Jamerson neck and I love it. One of the best necks I have. They are/were affiliated with Musikraft I believe.

 

[Vrad]

I built a Musikraft Charvel several years back. The body was terrific. The first neck I got had a warp or something in it. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, or there was a defect. I replaced the neck and it's been flawless. Terrific guitar.

I've also assembled several USACG guitars for grooveHT while he was on deployment. They have been consistently great in every way.

Not sure you can go with either.

 

[Laura]

The natural guitar on the left is Musikraft (neck and body). I absolutely love the neck. The guitar plays and sounds great.

 

[JackTripper]

I"ve ordered two necks (Charvel style) from Musikraft, had a great experience with them both times. Tung oil finish, one was birdseye, very stable. Fret ends were a little rough, an easy fix, but pretty much out of the box ready to play. I had a warmoth, and the Musikrafts are much better by far. I've had a couple strat bodies too, very decent quality. The neck routing is dead on, so necks fit tight!

 

[gybe!]

I built a Musikraft Charvel several years back. The body was terrific. The first neck I got had a warp or something in it. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, or there was a defect. I replaced the neck and it's been flawless. Terrific guitar.

I've also assembled several USACG guitars for grooveHT while he was on deployment. They have been consistently great in every way.

Not sure you can go with either.

My last one was USACG and I ended up spending as much on the neck to make it right with a local luthier as I did to have it built in the first place It was faster and cheaper to do a complete refret versus trying to level out what they gave me. The frets were poorly seated, not even close to level and had mediocre dress at best so I can just say I was less than pleased. The neck was at least straight, so there was one positive. However, the communication was absolutely terrible (emails never answered, nearly impossible to get on the phone), they had misplaced my body wood that I sent them for a time period (they did eventually find it), threw out the remnants that I requested and said they would deliver (and by requested, I mean, 3x on the phone, 2x in email, and also attached to the body blank that I sent). Some things are a bit nitpicky, but it just seemed the level of service and crafstmanship was not matching what I paid them.

The body did end up great and the neck is now awesome, but I feel like I need to look at other options. The whole buying a custom made neck and needing a total refret right off the bat just seems wrong to me.

To be completely fair there was definitely some good in what I received from them. The neck to body route is matched so well you can literally lift the body by the neck without the screws in. The body route in general is exceptionally clean, the neck carve is great, and the wood I purchased from them is also great. The guitar is an absolute killer now, but it did take a lot to get there!

 

[Shawn Lutz]

that's a bummer about USACG. I don't have any of their necks but I do have two swamp and ash bodies that are really nice. I have Warmoth neck that is perfect. The only maker I wasn't really pleased was All Parts necks. I'm not too picky so even buying used Fender USA necks are cool too

 

[sixstringking713]

I have a warmoth neck for one of my builds and then a musikraft neck so I'll post my take on them...

Warmoth neck - it was my first guitar build and I noticed the nut looked weird like it didnt really fit an R3 floyd nut correctly. Due to my inexperience, i didnt question it and in retrospect i wish i sent the neck back because now it bugs the shit out of me and I want a new neck. Otherwise, the neck feels pretty good. Im not a fan of having a finish put on the neck though, in retrospect i wish i had it just be raw. I think they scared me into buying it because they would void the warranty if i didnt. Another thing worth mentioning is i feel like the headstock isnt sanded down enough on the edges. It seems like they cut the shape and just barely sanded the edges down for prep before finish. I love the work they did on the body however.

Musikraft Neck - LOVE this neck. Used it on my VH replica. By far my favorite neck out of all my guitars. I'm actually considering purchasing another one to replace the warmoth one on my other build. The fit and finish of the guitar neck is awesome. Big fan of musikraft. They also manufactured the franky body i used in the build.

 

[vultures]

I had a musikraft neck ordered to my specs, it was a phenomenal neck, the craftsmanship was delightfully surprising. They say the frets need to be dressed or what not, but to be honest mine was good from the get-go. I really wish they would make Ibanez necks, because I would order about 2 or 3 necks!

Do yourself a favor and spring for the Quarter-Sawn Maple backing, it will give you a neck that's sturdy and will last.

 

[Snowblind56]

I think the Warmoth vs USACG vs Musikraft thing gets as over-blown as Duncan vs Dimarzio or Fender vs Gibson. They all put out great product. They also all put out enough product that someone is going to get a dog once in a while and it seems that everyone who has gotten great service from one, has also had something bad from the other.

That being said, everything I have gotten from Warmoth has been perfect. I ordered one Charvel neck from Musikraft that felt great, but it was the worst neck that I have ever had dealing with seasonal changes. I ended up selling it because of that.

Basically, they all have similar product, but slightly different options. In my opinion, buy the one that has the options you need because the quality level is similar.

 

[scottosan]

I find it hard to believe that Tommy fro, USAGC would leave anyone hanging if they had a problem with this product. I have had to total opposite experience. Nothing but top notch work everytime.

 

[Vrad]

I built a Musikraft Charvel several years back. The body was terrific. The first neck I got had a warp or something in it. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, or there was a defect. I replaced the neck and it's been flawless. Terrific guitar.

I've also assembled several USACG guitars for grooveHT while he was on deployment. They have been consistently great in every way.

Not sure you can go with either.

My last one was USACG and I ended up spending as much on the neck to make it right with a local luthier as I did to have it built in the first place It was faster and cheaper to do a complete refret versus trying to level out what they gave me. The frets were poorly seated, not even close to level and had mediocre dress at best so I can just say I was less than pleased. The neck was at least straight, so there was one positive. However, the communication was absolutely terrible (emails never answered, nearly impossible to get on the phone), they had misplaced my body wood that I sent them for a time period (they did eventually find it), threw out the remnants that I requested and said they would deliver (and by requested, I mean, 3x on the phone, 2x in email, and also attached to the body blank that I sent). Some things are a bit nitpicky, but it just seemed the level of service and crafstmanship was not matching what I paid them.

The body did end up great and the neck is now awesome, but I feel like I need to look at other options. The whole buying a custom made neck and needing a total refret right off the bat just seems wrong to me.

To be completely fair there was definitely some good in what I received from them. The neck to body route is matched so well you can literally lift the body by the neck without the screws in. The body route in general is exceptionally clean, the neck carve is great, and the wood I purchased from them is also great. The guitar is an absolute killer now, but it did take a lot to get there!

That's actually the issue I had with the one Musikraft neck. I gave up on it and got another one and it was flawless. I think any of these guys are susceptible to that issue.

 

[gybe!]

I find it hard to believe that Tommy fro, USAGC would leave anyone hanging if they had a problem with this product. I have had to total opposite experience. Nothing but top notch work everytime.

Which is why I went with them last time, every review I had read had been stellar. However, you would actually have to be able to get a hold of Tommy in order for them to not leave you hanging, which unfortunately was a major part of the issue I had with them. When I last dealt with them they appeared to be in that limbo zone of a growing business where their staff (i.e., Tommy) can`t keep up with everything that is going on yet they can`t yet afford to pay additional help. Maybe I just caught them at a bad time, but they really pissed me off on a number of points, especially regarding the scraps to my body considering I supplied the wood for them to work with. I did attempt to contact them after getting my stuff and (shockingly) never heard a word from them. After that, I didn`t even bother contacting them over the neck issues as I knew I wouldn`t hear anything from them. I take part of the blame for moving forward with them in the first place given the level of difficulty I had getting a hold of them just to get my order placed, but the reviews were so positive I was insistent on working with them from the get-go.

I know my experience is quite different from what most have had, but it is what it is. I may be willing to give them another chance at some point, but I will go a different route until I see a compelling reason to go back to USACG.

 

[Rogue]

I find it hard to believe that Tommy fro, USAGC would leave anyone hanging if they had a problem with this product. I have had to total opposite experience. Nothing but top notch work everytime.

I had an issue. They sent me the wrong head stock (tele instead of strat). So I sent it back and took forever to get the right one back. He did upgrade the birdseye for me, but one fret had a nick in it and I have to at the least do a fret level as well. I might even have to level the fretboard, as looks like a tiny hump around the higher frets. You know, a different climate can make a neck do funky things, but the nick in the fret was just poor QC. I smooth it as best I could, but it's there and I feel it when I bend around it.

I didn't send it back because I was ready to get my guitar together and the last neck took way to long to get back.

It could have just been a situation that was just came about messed up. It happens. I like Tommy. He's always been very pleasant to speak with and inquisitive as to what I was wanting, but that purchase was a bad experience.

 

[Exo-metal]

Why all this above^^^^

 

[Startingline]

Spammer

 

[Mailman1971]

I cannot get rid of this asshole!!
Not sure what to do??
Banned him 4 times tonight.
I give up. Must be the new server.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

I cannot get rid of this asshole!!
Not sure what to do??
Banned him 4 times tonight.
I give up. Must be the new server.

IP ban... then if he comes back... block IP ban. Ban the whole block of near IPs. Collateral damage be damned.