This isn't advice for newbies, it's an idea for Aaron and Warmoth: Maybe you should build an example in a video to visually demonstrate how the things are put together. Maybe even make more than one "how-to-build" video to demonstrate the solutions to different sets of problems that come up when assembling different types of guitars. (Hardtail vs. vibrato system, solidbody vs. hollowbody, etc.) Or do a series on a build. (Part One: Installing Tuners and Fitting Neck to Body; Part Two: Installing the Bridge; Part Three: Assembling a Pickguard and Soldering Electronics...or whatever. You get the idea.) The guitar(s) built could be kept around the office as (a) demonstrator(s) in future videos or raffled off or put up for auction to generate (a) contribution(s) to charity, or...
There's a third kind of beginner. The guy who just nerds around on the internet, stumbles across Warmoth, then suddenly has a vintage modern roast maple neck, standard thin,10-16 radius, stainless 6150, tusq earvana nut, a swamp ash vintage Tele in butterscotch blonde, a Fishman gristletone set, Wilkinson compensated 3-saddle bridge and vintage tuners, a hankering for a 5F1 kit, high spirits about the build, and the worlds best reason to learn how to play the damned thing....
A big "amen" from me as well on that. I've been doing this stuff for 10 years and the F-Hole Stuff will make you feel like an A-Hole really quick if your patience level isn't +100. Never understood why they don't just have an access panel on those :-) LOL I had to by a whole set of special pliers for my ES335.
Excellent topic. Mistakes I made my first time: - Didn't countersinked the holes in the body, which caused the screws to break the finish when unscrewing them - Didn't use wax on the screws, which led me to damage their heads - Didn't have imperial sized allen wrenches for the truss rod - Didn't knew the neck pocket was tapered and I almost break something - Didn't knew about the tools needed for installing vintage style tuner bushings. I made it through the first time with a clamp, the second time with 2 wheels and 1 post from an ABR 1 bridge. First time I scratched the bushings, I should have protected their surface with something.
Yeah. lube the screws, especially the tuning machine screws. I used wax as well, less slippy than soap, but soap will degrade over time and do stuff to your wood. That's a good one.
I really respect the fact that your advice for first time builders is actually some pretty economical advice. Satisfied customers are repeat customers.
I waited almost a month after I got my first warmoth shipment until I was finally ready to put everything together. Took all of Aaron’s advice from this video, and my hard tail, alder/maple 1-humbucker Strat turned out perfect 👌🏼
Hey bro, just discovered your treasure trove of vids...how could I have missed these? Built my first Warmoth in ‘94, back when you still had paper catalogs and I actually drove from Portland to your facility to pick up my first scalloped, compound radius neck and the explorer body it got married to. Huge fan then, bigger fan now. You all do astounding, beautiful work and I cannot imagine my life as a guitar player had you not been a resource to fuel my insatiable need to tinker and experiment. My approach has always been a bit idiosyncratic and no store bought guitar ever lasted more than a few minutes before it went “under the knife” and transmogrified into something that did not exist. I hope this doesn’t sound pretentious, I am certainly no Edward Van Halen!! In a nutshell, my most sincere thanks and kudos on your vids. You have a keen sense of delivering the goods in a direct, concise and well,rounded fashion and your good natured advice at the end always cracks me up. Thanks man and, incidentally, if and when the Dread COVID finally packs up and leaves town, when we all get to relax once again into our normal states of being, I would love to see your Scorpions cover band. I was born and raised in Germany and they were certainly a force to be reckoned with. Have a rocking weekend brother and all you fine Warmoth folk keep on with your exquisite work. Cheers.
Bring back regularly scheduled warmoth videos!!! I bought my first warmoth neck a few months back and these RU-vid vids were almost certainly the main reason
I bought a black Quilted Maple Body, East Indian Rosewood neck, hardtail bridge, (Fender locking tuners bought elsewhere) among other parts from you guys and at first it seemed shaky, I had to adjust the neck 3 times but after it settled the last time, it was absolutely awesome. I bought a Strobo-Tuner to get the intonation as close as I could (others may work but I read these were good) I set the string height by feel being as I've played for a long time and had a good idea where I wanted the action. The bridge was a hardtail and glad I went that direction. This was my first build and I gotta say, this is the best playing guitar I've ever played. I actually talked with you, Aaron on Facebook about it, we have a mutual friend. Soon I'm ready for another. I definitely recommend Warmoth.
Just finished my first build and learned so much! Some of the lessons I learned are: (1) It's better to drill a hole too small than too big. If you do go a bit too big, you can slide/glue in a tooth pick or a similar sized piece of wood to make the hole a bit smaller. (2) If you're replacing the neck on a Fender body that has the comfort cut on the heel (i.e. the top left screw is lower than the right), DO NOT get a modern neck as the side truss rod adjustment position will be right where you'd need to drill a new hole to attach the neck. A vintage/modern is fine with getting the new hole drilled. (3) Tele control holes are small, so prepare yourself for getting creative to fit everything in there if you go for anything complex (e.g. a super switch, push/pull pots, etc.). It can be done (I just did it!), but it's not easy. (4) If I could do it all again, I'd have started on a less expensive body and neck to make my beginner mistakes on them. That being said, the final product is beautiful, plays perfectly, and sounds amazing =D
I plan on buying Warmoth parts, but I also plan to have someone that has had years of experience assemble it for me. Can you give me a ballpark of around how much a La Cabronita would cost to assemble?
I started out buying used guitars. I've learned how to work on them and set them up out of necessity. I bought a used Warmoth strat neck to get a 1 3/4 nut width for my beginner fingers, and bolted it on a MIM Fender body. 5 guitars later, that neck is still my favorite.
Surf Green is such a beautiful guitar finish...its very cool that you went with a Soloist body, instead of a Strat body. Thanks for the entertaining videos...
I started playing guitar last July and built my first guitar December. I have been told I have guerilla hands, and I found playing a standard neck difficult. The guitar I built used mainly used parts plus a new Warmoth Superwide Strat neck. The new guitar with the Superwide made what was nearly impossible before, achievable. The build wasn't difficult, I even reshaped the neck a couple of times. I have all the parts for a second guitar, and will complete it once I am able to get another neck from Warmoth.
Great advice, end to end. I'll add this, when you drill a pilot hole for Kluson tuners all the way through the headstock, you can plug the hole with wood glue and a toothpick. Um, so I've heard.
My first attempt at building a guitar was in 06’. I cut out a Flying V shaped body then realized how difficult the neck would be to build. I am now building custom guitars for clients/local musicians. My main advice is to learn how it works, and why it works before you start working. This provides important context for why you are take steps and will prevent you from cutting corners. Use the “measure twice, cut once.” Mentality with the electronics. Map out each wire and then double check your work before applying solder. Think more than one step ahead. Especially if you’re painting or finishing the wood. Take your time to learn the proper procedure for the materials you are using and make a checklist of the tasks before you start. Take your time, and enjoy the process.
Sounds right on Aaron. I'm not sure how many holes might need to be added to your finished bodies but if any holes are needed.. A piece of masking tape and running the drill bit backwards first go a long way to reduce finish chipping.
Good idea. My method of drilling, pickgaurd for example: Mark your spot by poking it with a sheetrock screw, drill the hole, then hold a slightly larger bit in your fingers and twist a tiny funnel in the top of each hole before actually putting in the screw.
Another video idea would be to discuss tuning machine installation (lining them up and drilling pilot holes) as well as understanding how to determine what size hole Warmoth will drill out when prepping your neck. Another topic could be input jack routing size and selection...you know, what does it all mean??!!
Regarding tuners, The HipShot open gear staggered locking tuners with the UMP system are perfect for beginners. Just order the neck with 25/64 tuner holes and they mount right up with no drilling. Also, the staggered tuner heights eliminate the need for a string tree.
My first build had many of these features: Alder body, rear route, hardtail. I really wanted these specs, but I agree with you they made the assemble much easier. One thing that helps a lot to build is hipshot tuners with the adapter plate. It doesn't require drilling and is very convenient to install!
Damn I wish there was a way to order neck "swatches" to really feel it and decide what neck feels the best for my hands. And right now I can't exactly go to a guitar shop and try out different necks. Even before the virus, it was hard to find shops that knew what profiles their various guitar necks were in stock.
Great suggestions, Aaron I totally agree about your choice of woods for the neck/body. With the body pre-drilled for the hardtail bridge, it will definitely save a lot of time and potential frustration. The rear route makes it sooo much easier. Ask me how I know. All good stuff for the novice, or not so novice first build. And with Warmoth parts, it'll be a sweet machine. -three basses, two Strats, and a tele, and they're all good ones!
Thank you for this. I’ve spent the last 6 weeks planning my first build and have just started with ordering parts. I’ve got a dozen sample boards in my garage testing out all different stain and finishing techniques and found a decent (cheap) okome Tele body online that I can test while I wait for my Warmoth body. Also the people on Warmoth unofficial forum have been extremely helpful in answering my questions.
1. Pay the extra money and have Warmoth put in the nut. It takes a lot of experience to cut a nut properly even a pre-slotted one. 2. Buy a fret end file and watch a RU-vid video on how to round over the ends of the frets. 3. Solder as little as possible until you’re more experienced. Get a pre-assembled pickguard or wiring harness. Wiring pots and pickups is harder than it looks.
Super advice on all fronts. On necks, my advice learned through quite a bit of trial and error is to go with Modern Construction and the TUSQ nut. The Modern Construction are rock solid and can handle anything from quiet jazz all the way to the hardest of hard. Vintage Modern seems to not handle distortion quite as well. I have two Modern and two Vintage Modern -- and it holds true for each. The TUSQ nut is a must and sounds so much better than the Corian that it is impossible to overstate. Third bit of advice -- learned the hard way -- is be very careful if you do decide to swap the nut yourself. If you've never done it before and just wing it, you can (and I did) destroy a perfectly good and brand new neck. This issue is best solved by just getting the TUSQ when you buy it. The extra 10 bucks is better than spending another 300 for another neck.
I agree. Good advice on soldering. My credentials: first electric build in 1964. Lost count of how many to date. I would have also mentioned something about bridges and placement.
Aaron, I am a beginner (the later) and have been thinking about attempting to build a guitar (Strat style) and after watching this video I am not so afraid anymore! Thank you Sir!! Great video!!
I started with a hard tail Strat in 92, many, many Teles later, I’m still at it. My only area of ‘concern’ or attention would be in choosing the nut width. 1/16” makes a whole lot of difference in feel, especially with the thicker necks. Another point I would like to add, is getting a professional set up. Comes to around £80-120 in London, where I live. I like the nut slots cut lower than supplied, and having this done and set up by a luthier can make a huge difference.
I plan on buying Warmoth parts, but I also plan to have someone that has had years of experience assemble it for me. Can you give me a ballpark of around how much a La Cabronita would cost to assemble?
@@jamesrobinson529 I'm not sure because I'm not a professional at this, I just build for myself. It should not cost much of there is no finishing required . I would suggest getting a roasted maple neck that does not need any hard finish, just some tung oil will do. Try contacting Lowell at repairs@nodenguitars.co.uk He could give you an exact sum. He's very good and very reasonably priced. Tell home that Dui suggested to contact him.
Aaron, I really, really appreciate these videos right now! Thanks for doing these and offering your personal perspective. I wish I had this info 10 years ago when I started building Warmoth-based guitars. ;-)
Cool tips, some more beginner points: Ground the bridge! Pre-drill holes Standard thin is the basic fit all WITH the standard nut width and scale length Experiment on your cheapocaster before trying building from scratch
Hey Eran! I’ve been emailing one of the guys with you the past week here, nice guy name is Spike. Anyway I just sent him all the specs I picked out on your website here and I just want him to go over everything and make sure I didn’t screw any options up with a brain fart 🤣 I’m going with SS frets, flamed maple neck, Ebony fretboard, Gibson conversion neck and all sorts of cool stuff, can’t wait. Thanks again man, your videos are great along with your products!
When drilling into wood, take your time. Find a drill bit that is the same as the inner diameter of the screw ( the narrow part on the inside - not the outside of the helix screw) and then put the screw (screw head at the tip of the drill with the screw pointing towards the drill) and put some tape around the drill bit where the screw ends - that way you know exactly how far to drill. No guess work required. If you're mounting pickup with pickup rings, wire everything first and install them into the guitar. Get some painters masking tape (like the blue Scotch tape) that's narrow enough to put between the two pole pieces in a humbuckers front and rear coils, this way you can line up the pole pieces with the strings. Use the painters masking tape to hold the pickups in place while you drill the holes for the pickup rings. Again, get a drill bit that is the same diameter of the inner part of the screw and put some tape on the drill bit to mark the length. As with everything when drilling. Measure more than once, look and check more than once and when it comes to drilling, you'll only end up having to drill once. Just a comment to the folks at Warmoth. Maybe offer kits with the correct sized drills for parts like pickup mount screws, bridges etc for new builders.
I'd recommend a headstock that has the truss rod accessible for fist time builds. My only regret on my first warmoth build was hiding the adjustment screw behind the pickguard
My tele has a very thin neck and I have to adjust the truss rod at least 2 times a year. The truss rod nut was under the pickguard until I order a spoke wheel nut to a lathe machinist. I love spoke wheel nuts and the looks of a 62 strat with the truss rod nut very high peeking through the pickguard
I cool video would be all of the tools you would need for your first build. I really liked the recommendation on a good soldering station. I have a soldering iron but not the other parts.
Good advice. I would also say watch a couple of good hands on tutorials. Videos make a ton of difference and helped me a lot on my first build. The Crimson Guitars channel is a gold mine (along with a ton of others of course)
Arron my first build was a tele , because there was no hard tail Strat body bodies in stock , so I figured if I was going to screw up anything I wanted to keep the cost down, plus I didn’t want to mess with a floating tremolo. Now I that I’ve done multiple builds , I look forward to doing something different!🎸
I just built a Tele for someone a few days ago and it was all solderless. Everything clipped together but the ground cable, and that I had to tape on because the #$%^ solder would not stick.
I would suggest, unless you are ordering a matching Warmoth body with your neck or have a licensed Fender body, go ahead and pay the extra $ and order the neck WITHOUT the neck pocket holes predrilled. I’ve had to plug and redrill many pilot holes because the customer thought they would match up perfectly with their GFS/eBay special body...
Makes me want to try and build one. I have a Warmoth guitar; but, I had a local luthier put it all together. SC Les Paul body, Mahogany back, carved maple top, lip over binding, gloss black. I put a Warmoth Pro Construction compound radius standard thin contour unfinished rosewood neck with ebony board on it in 25-1/2” scale length. It’s also a Warmoth headstock shape, very similar to a PRS. I wanted a straighter path string pull through the nut. It was a scale length / string tension experiment. Other various custom hardware (sort of John Sykes inspired) included TonePros locking bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, RS Guitarworks vintage wiring kit and pots, Highorder hand-wound humbuckers (asymmetrical wound A2 in the bridge, and a symmetrical wind A3 in the neck, basically wound to low output vintage PAF spec; and both are unpotted with no covers....black), neck binding, block inlays, bone nut. What I got in the end was amazing. I’ll put it up against my Gibson Les Paul Standard any day. The asymmetrical A2 bridge pickup has a really complex upper-mid snarl that I just love; and the unfinished neck just plays like butter.
I do agree that a hardtail bridge is the way to go for a first time assembler. Rear route eliminates extra work and with that said, I wouldn't limit it to a certain body style. One thing I've admired about Warmoth is that they have more available options than anybody else. I've made more than a handful of guitars around Carvin NT (neck-thru) kit necks & they've all been great. Most bolt on neck guitars I have played in local stores in my area never compared. It has taken me almost 30 years to experience a Warmoth build to convince me that these are true instruments, not just some run of the mill guitars to be dismissed. My first guitar was a Hyundai "strat" with one pickup (humbucker). I was fortunate to get it, don't get me wrong, but that same configuration from Warmoth with say, a black Korina body, quartersawn maple neck, and ebony fretboard would've made the difference of it still being playable today. You get what you pay for... I have a super strat and tele from Warmoth and they are fantastic.
My tips - buy a Kit guitar. Had experience with building single slanted humbuker with Gotoh trem (EVH ernie ball style). with help of Warmoth - ordered a blank body, they routed Floyd and neck cavity. Had to improvise to fit Gotoh - intermediate to advanced skills. Also built kit ukulele and original uke.
My very first guitar was a custom build, lol. Literally not a single part of it was pre-assembled (some were not even the right part at all). It taught me soooooo much. I still have it and play it regularly.
From my experience, the only major thing you left out was the wood's finish. Warmoth's finishes are top notch. Unless you have experience putting a finish on wood, I would encourage buying something from Warmoth that already has a finish on it. Unless it is a wood that doesn't need a finish i.e. roasted maple, wenge, rosewood. I highly recommend focussing on the actual assembly and setup of a guitar/bass. I know plenty of luthiers who outsource the finishing process of their guitars because finishing wood is an art form within itself. You'll spend weeks putting on your own finish, and then buffing it, and then getting it to feel right, and then letting it cure, and then stripping it because you don't like the finish and redoing the whole process. And in the end, you may have something you're not totally proud of and you may not enjoy playing it. If you want to get into finishing wood, I would start with finishing as a separate hobby from guitar building.
Good advice in general but by keeping it simple you'll just end up with something basic that you could buy in a store off the rack. The idea at the beginning of the video was to build something better or more personalized than what you could find in a store.
Good point. But also, a major point is the gratification of building your own guitar. Also no matter how basic, you get the neck shape, pickup, color, frets, fingerboard radius just for you. And also this is for beginners.
I also agree with this. I have two Warmoths, other is kinda bolt-on Les Paul with 25.5 scale and the other is a boatneck strat with contoured heel. Can't get those specs from stock easily. Staying vanilla you can get a very good quality Squier much cheaper than building your own. Of course, building your own is fun, so it makes sense even if it costs more and you end up with very high-quality instrument.
I am saving up money for my first build ever. Been wanting to do it since Eddie passed aways. I ve studiet some things and I might wanna disagree with few things. First thing is, the wood doesnt matter. I know this can trigger a whole conversation but the Pups and amp is what really makes your tone. The second thing is with the top rout. I disagree. If there was option for having a jack hole on the pickguard, Id do it. Cause you see, you can solder yourself many pickguards with many pickup variatons and just screw it on the body. Another thing which would help is Floyd Rose. You dont even need to worry about putting your strings down. Just pull the bar down and take out the pickguard. Otherwise, there are some great tips. Thank you Aaron. Wish you and the Warmoth team the best in 2021.
Great video as usual. I would reccomend basswood as well - less expensive, used on $199 Ibanez and $3500 Charvel Guthrie Govan. Nice full sound. Also, spring for pre-finish body, probably shop in stock bodies. Much less work for first time.
It's a good thing I'm catching this video after finishing my first build. Lol. I definitely didn't go vanilla. I did go with a mahogany strat body. With a figured walnut top. A modern, wizard roast flame maple neck with an ebony fretboard. The bridge is a gold Vega Trem. Pickups are cream duncan hot rails in the neck and middle with push/pull tone for splitting and a duncan prail in the bridge with the triple shot ring. The frets definitely needed some finishing work. Once she was all set up she's a very versatile ripper, for sure!! Man, I freaking love this thing!! Edit: I dubbed my Warmoth/Stratocaster build, The WarCaster!
I've been playing guitar quite a while, and I grew up knowing something about woodwork. Somehow I've never put a guitar together, either scratch or kit. I have done repairs and setups on all my stuff, taken them apart and redone things to make them better. Everything you said is true. Maybe it's time to snag a kit and see what I can get out of it.
Hey Aaron Great advice! It is amazing when you pair beautiful crafted WARMOTH body's,neck's and hardware of YOUR choice. When your project becomes a CUSTOM guitar built to your specs!! I love that feeling!! Warning guitar building is extremely addictive!!
I started with standard thin and progressed to boatnecks. All in 1 3/4" nut width. (freakishly large hands). Eventually I evolved into 59 round backs with an 1 3/4" nut width. This took probably 25 different necks until I figured this out. Lots of eBay sales to turn them around, until I got it right. Now I use 4 guitars with the exact neck dimensions. Couldn't be happier. "You may never get a signature guitar like someone famous does, but at least you can get exactly what you want from Warmoth"...There's your next ad catchphrase guys!!!
Great video. I have an upcoming order that you have influenced. A back route. I never considered that. But it’s made it into my build now. Being in Australia I’ll probably still have to stay up late and make a phone call to finish my order to make sure I’m not ordering conflicting options. I saw your last video from home and I’m going to miss your home videos but I understand you on to bigger and better tasks. Rock on mate.
Another thing to add is taking your hand coordination into consideration. For example, I know my way around a 22-fretboard but that doesn't mean I'm as coordinated with 24 frets. It's good to know what fits your hands best.
IIn my experience working on guitars, I think getting some experience building, repairing, or modifying a guitar in any way is HUGELY valuable. At the very least, learning how to set up a guitar properly on your own (truss rod adjustment, intonation, pickup height, etc) will save you lot's of time and money in the long run (even in the short run tbh), and will keep your passion for guitar high as you will always have a guitar that plays its best and feels good to play. One option for beginner to look at before building a guitar from scratch would be to buy a cheap or used guitar and using that as a platform to replace pickups or wiring, replacing a neck, or anything else really, so that you can learn those skills for when you want to build a guitar, or repair/modify a nicer one. Having a cheaper guitar you care less about will help you feel more comfortable when working on it, so you can focus on being patient while working on it, trying the same thing multiple times to get it right, etc. Such a valuable experience IMO, and the end result is a nicer guitar that you didn't have to pay as much for! It's also very valuable to maybe a have a nicer, more expensive guitar in your collection so you can actually see and feel what a high quality, well-made guitar looks, sounds, and feels like. You'll have a better idea of what good, organizing wiring feels like, what a good neck feels like, so you have some kind of frame of reference when finally get to building that guitar you always wanted (with Warmoth parts of course haha). Experience is the best teacher. There are tons of great videos and tutorials online, which I do recommend spending time looking through, but nothing beats actually getting your hands a little dirty working on guitar, and even making mistakes! You WILL accidentally wire something incorrectly, or scratch your guitar with a tool, or put a pickup in the wrong position, at some point in your guitar-building/repairing career, so best to get it out of your system BEFORE you start building that dream guitar.
One comment on Aaron's advice about going w/Strats - the pick guard will not just come off if you buy a standard Warmoth Strat replacement neck because the 22nd fret overhangs the pick guard by a little bit. If you want to just pop it off like Aaron says, you need to request 21 frets and pay a little bit extra for that.
I will recommend hipshot grip-lock tuners till the end of time. Two major perks, 1) locking tuners are so much easier to string and tune. 2) universal mounting plates mean you don't have to drill any holes in the headstock at all.
Hey Aaron!! comment novel coming up right here because Your indepth videos yes *YOUR* videos mainly are why I finally pulled the trigger on a warmoth build and honestly the neck might be exactly like a few roasted maple ones you've demoed before! This has been going on for a few months and, now that its complete I wanted to share some findings as a first time red strat build / put together however I'm only really concerned on talking about the *neck* aka *where the business happens I think you can agree it has to be just right*! this is the *ONE* thing that I was extremely tentative about and researched long before I ordered . *so if this has been you then please keep reading:)* : I've always played some form of a shreddy or standard C shape maybe a titch BIT rounder/bigger etc but any further on the large side and it's too uncomfortable so with this one I went with *standard thin* . Next with nut width/ spacing this took a long time and I went with the gibson esque one *1-3/4ths 44mm* because the ONLY thing worse than a large uncomfortable neck, is a perfect fast one that has that string spacing *where the low e and high e feel like they slip off the board*! . I've turned down what would be considered quite a few great guitars/ in store that way sadly! And I'll go right out and say that was on some musicman, suhr and definitely a charvel or two! . Now the big thing I found with the warmoth standard thin profile is that it's only *thin in terms of its depth* And *wide on the shoulders* definitely feels different from your average fender C shape and I believe anybody watching these for a build *should take note of that* . Now this wide feeling may just feel exaggerated to me because of the *nut* I chose but I really researched this before hand and it seems any other option on that list had the risk to make the strings slip on the fretboard ends, so now that problem definitely cannot happen! Lol . I'd say my strat almost feels too different now, not necessarily when I'm playing, but when I start playing it after say my acoustic or other strat that day. This strat build now feels kind of like a les paul would in terms of *nut width /spacing* (I know you're thinking at this point where's the man's *question* already lol here it is ) . SO what's your experience with the neck like this ? Leave it as is, get used to it , for atleast a month? And be happy that I finally got my wish aka no pesky e string slippage🤙? . Or should I just go to a local custom luthier near me to shave down the shoulders on the roasted maple neck a bit ? After all what if the added shoulder size on this standard thin profile is what's making this feel wider and a bit more foreign than the C shape necks I've played the whole time before this build? . Maybe i should look Into cutting a new nut one titch smaller so 43mm" *could that keep the spacing close ish on every string but the high and low E from slipping off* ? (no lutheirs are open now probably cause of Corona virus lockdown thats another thing I'll probably so be waiting a while) . The guitar as a whole plays phenomenally and the flame roasted maple really came out flawlessly! Interms of sheer craftsmanship I cant say the neck, stainless steel frets or body in terms of quality came with any flaws at all! . I'd be interested to hear back from you or anyone whos been in my shoes here *whenever you have a chance* and I'm curious about what *your neck/nut width specs would be to to remedy this situation* . I'll entertain any ideas as I genuinely hope this msg helps any others who are building for their first time as well am want to start off strong. . Looking forward to hearing from you hopefully Aaron! (I can even give you my email if replying to this novel is better on there lol) finally please stay safe and healthy in your part of the world and cheers from Niagara falls Canada ! 🙏😊🤟 - Adam
Hipshot locking staggered tuners imho are the simplest to install, & with the universal plate, no drilling is required. I built 3 warmoth strats and all 3 had Super stable tuning with those tuners. Have fun guys!
A rear-routed body is undeniably great for experimenting with different pickups. Depending on your OCD level pickup installation will lead to swearing if you want the alignment to be just 'right' (printing template makes it painless enough though). In contrast, it's trivial to align the pickguard and drill holes on a front-routed body once the bridge and neck are installed.
My first build was Walnut Jazzmaster with a maple Boatneck.(oops) I wish you guys had more non trem options in your showcase. I still have my second build Maple Jazzmaster with a explorer neck.
I agree with everything you said. About everything. Side note, I have never messed with teles so that was interesting and I learned something new. I would say to a novice builder to first learn how set up your bass / guitar. It takes patience and practice. But once you build it, if you can’t set it up, you will be in a bit of a pickle. Seems silly to build without being able to set it up. I would aim for factor spec and maybe some other tried and true spec set up that you may be aware of that works for you. Document the specs. A point of comparison. Also, screwing. Over tighten and you will ruin it. (It’s fixable with superglue in most cases.). Do it by hand. Just snug. A pick guard screw is going to be just snug when the pick guard is just flush under magnification. A neck screw is going to take a little more. I use Johnson’s wood floor wax for ease and wood protection. But the screwing should be consistent to maintain the resonance of the wood. Over tighten and it loses resonance. Don’t use a drill. If you do, understand the risks. (Not on mine pal.) Learn how to set up a tremolo. It’s interesting and fun. It will take time and parts. Or put five springs on it and clamp that sucker down until you figure it out. (Fender strat tremolos float above the body a bit - there is a screw in the body that the springs attach to...) Thanks for the video.
Just read another post. Important. If you find yourself distracted AT ALL or frustrated STOP. TAKE A BREAK. It should be done in a positive mindset zone at all times. Slip in this for a second and you may regret it big time.
I'd say starting with a standard top route hard-tail Strat is the easiest way to go, especially if you use a loaded pick guard…. very simple and easy….only a few things to solder ….. as for tuners i would recommend using Hipshot tuners with the UMP system….once again ..simple and easy….it's not hard to put together your own guitar … if you can operate a soldering iron and a screwdriver you can do it….
Agree 100% on the keep it simple.....but the tuner recommendation is a bit much. You are going to be in real trouble if you can't even install vintage tuners!!!
I plan on buying Warmoth parts, but I also plan to have someone that has had years of experience assemble it for me. Can you give me a ballpark of around how much a La Cabronita would cost to assemble?
Strap buttons...how to install...determining location, etc. Would be a nice topic. I struggled with this "final step" and actually had to refill a pilot hole and redrill. If there is a good system to follow to get this right the first time, would love to know for the next build.
Use boutique builders pages on instagram for inspiration if you're using natural finishes on wood. Pickguard combinations and bobbin colours for combinations etc. It might look good on the builder but will it in person? Be sure before you buy otherwise you might want to change something down the line. A new one I've seen and like for example is an amber stain finish on a wood like alder or ash with a red pearl or a tortoise pickguard pickguard, looks cool and I got the inspiration for that build from a Novo I saw 👍.
I’d be interested in your thoughts, Aaron, on some of the more-distinctive options available to someone building their own guitar - A tele thinline without an F-hole? A strat body with a tele neck? Any kind of body with a Warmoth conversion (Gibson-scale) neck? A pickguard with just two control holes? Also, while Warmoth bodies and necks can be a little pricey, there are some real bargains available here: The Gotoh tele bridge. Stainless-steel frets (just try to get your guitar shop to refret your guitar with SS frets!) The pickguards - custom-cut to order - are also a really good deal.
