In Praise Of Warmoth

[cSuttle]

I just wanted to drop a small note about Warmoth and their customer service. Recently I emailed them and asked for a very strange favor. Something way out of the ordinary. I was willing to pay for it too. The sales department emailed me back right away for clarification. The next thing I know, I'm getting emails from Ken in the custom shop. Long story short, yesterday I got my request and they didn't even charge me anything for me. Ken couldn't have been nicer too.

That's what I call customer service. I realize that I have referred a lot of people to them in the past, but this was above the call of duty.

Just wanted to shared that I think these guys have it together.

[skibum5545]

Okay, now you've piqued my curiosity.

What was the strange favor?

[68 lost souls]

Yeah Im really curious aswel....

[rocksolid]

lol you've left us in suspense of the climax to your little story.

[cSuttle]

Okay, now you've piqued my curiosity.

What was the strange favor?

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Yeah, I was afraid of that when I posted. I would rather not say, because if they got barraged with a lot of requests like that they probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

Let's just leave it as it was something I would have paid for and ended up getting it for free with a number of nice, chatty, emails to go alone with it. I was very happy.

I like to return favors, hense I wanted to post this.

[JoeAArthur]

Okay, now you've piqued my curiosity.

What was the strange favor?

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Yeah, I was afraid of that when I posted. I would rather not say, because if they got barraged with a lot of requests like that they probably wouldn't be too happy about it.

Let's just leave it as it was something I would have paid for and ended up getting it for free with a number of nice, chatty, emails to go alone with it. I was very happy.

I like to return favors, hense I wanted to post this.

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I wanted a plain ol' Tele body. I found two of them on their web page, under the "showcase" section. When I called in about them... guess what - both of them had been sold.

One was sold almost two months before, but was still displayed as available. It been two additional months, and only one is now listed as being sold.

Since they couldn't tell me what they had available and what they didn't... I went elsewhere.

I found GuitarMill.com. Best Tele body I have ever had... and it is swamp ash instead of the Alder Warmoth bodies for ten bucks less.

I ain't ever gonna get anything else from Warmoth. They ain't got a clue how to run a business.

[javacody]

Welcome Joe. Are you the same guy who posts at the TDPRI? If so, I love slanted tele barrel saddles! LOL

cSuttle, come on, don't be embarrassed. If enough people are interested in what you had done, then Warmoth can start offering it as an option and make their customers that much happier. You would be helping them, not hurting them!

[Mickguard]

Best Tele body I have ever had...

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I'm curious...what does that mean?

I can understand raving about a neck, since that's the part you actually hold in your hand. But a body? What's the big difference between that and any other CNC-machined tele body?

Okay, sure, if you're going for some fancy wood...still, even then...

[Stalefish]

I've actually had pretty good experiences with Warmoth.. Ordered a neck and body from them and when the boxes arrived, there was a hole in the box containing the neck and the neck plate I'd had thrown in with the order was missing.. Gave 'em a call and they replaced the plate straight away.. Also, the neck feels great and I've got no complaints about the quality of the work.. Only strange thing is that they refuse to ship to pro luthiers..

[marksound]

I wanted a plain ol' Tele body.  I found two of them on their web page, under the "showcase" section.  When I called in about them... guess what - both of them had been sold. 

One was sold almost two months before, but was still displayed as available.  It been two additional months, and only one is now listed as being sold.

Since they couldn't tell me what they had available and what they didn't... I went elsewhere.

I found GuitarMill.com.  Best Tele body I have ever had... and it is swamp ash instead of the Alder Warmoth bodies for ten bucks less.

I ain't ever gonna get anything else from Warmoth.  They ain't got a clue how to run a business.

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Uh, why not just have them make what you wanted? That is what they do, right? They've been doing it for a while now and have one or two satisfied customers.

You can get "a plain ol' Tele body" anywhere. There are any number of parts suppliers all over the world. There's tons of bodies on ebay right now. Hell, there are probably a couple people on this forum who might knock one out for you if you just asked.

Sounds to me like there's more to the story than what's written here.

[Rocket]

I really can't praise them as a company that bends over backwards to do things they don't normally do. I've emailed them many times about things I would've liked done that weren't standard (or options) and I keep getting "No, no, no, no, no ."

[Guest AlexVDL]

I e-mailed Warmoth 3 years ago to ask if they could build me a LP carved top body without any neck pockets, so I can make my own glued in neck. They were willing to do that for just an additional 25 bucks on top of the standard price... well thats what I call customer service!

[GuitarMaestro]

I cannot deny that the folks at Warmoth are kind people, but if you want the slightest modification on what they offer you wont get it from my expirience. I cannot count how many simple things they could not provide and I have the feeling that they could easily do what I wanted but are just not motivated to sell other things then their stock parts. Just some examples:

1. 24 fret neck without fretboard overhang -> NO

2. Neck with tilt-back headtsock made from figured woods -> NO

3. Custom Peghead that is a little wider than their standard paddle peghead -> NO

4. Custom body shape -> No way....still listed on they site although they stopped doing that years ago

5. Neck through neck -> NO

6. Pre radiused and slotted fingerboard with compound radius -> NO

7. Getting a picture of the wood they'll use for a order (even offering a payment for that service) -> NO

....

I dont have anything against them but they are a stock parts supplier and customization or special orders are impossible with them....

[javacody]

Well, to be fair, they use CNC. For a custom body its going to take a lot of programming. Its expensive and time consuming.

I won't say anything about their service except that USA Custom Guitars rocks!

[Mickguard]

Well, to be fair, they use CNC.

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Which is why I just don't get the hype. You could buy a complete Asian clone guitar for less than half the price of a Warmoth body...and the wood's just fine--have a look at my carvecaster in the projects section. I paid 89 euros for the complete guitar.

[Argali]

One very annoying thing about Warmoth is the lack of available options with their baritone conversion necks. I will give them credit about answering e-mail fast, but the conversation I had with them also consisted of me asking a bunch of questions and getting a string of, "Nope, can't do that" in response.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Or you could just build your own bodies and necks and forget this warmoth business altogether

Seriously, on a forum dedicated to building guitars I still dont get why people buy necks and bodies. I mean your necks might not come out as perfect as there CNC but if you don't practice how are you going to get better at making stuff?

Thats my view anyways. Not that it matters

[Curtis P]

i am with Godin on this one, mind you, i still aint good at this stuff yet

:D

Curtis

[Ledzendrix1128]

Best Tele body I have ever had...

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I'm curious...what does that mean?

I can understand raving about a neck, since that's the part you actually hold in your hand. But a body? What's the big difference between that and any other CNC-machined tele body?

Okay, sure, if you're going for some fancy wood...still, even then...

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.... Are you kidding me???......

[thegarehanman]

He's not kidding. Warmoth doesn't sell crap bodies. Most manufacturers don't. They spend a lot of time developing their cnc software to produce replicas of the bodies they're making. If everyone is making exact replicas of fender bodies...they're all gonna be the same, asside from wood. If you're going to say he's wrong, prove your point.

[Maiden69]

Well, to be fair, they use CNC.

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Which is why I just don't get the hype. You could buy a complete Asian clone guitar for less than half the price of a Warmoth body...and the wood's just fine--have a look at my carvecaster in the projects section. I paid 89 euros for the complete guitar.

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Is not hype, yes you can get a complete guitar for the price of a warmoth body, but with warmoth you get what you asked for. On the other hand, with Epiphone (just to mention one) you got one of those surprise flavor candies... You never know if it is the wood they advertize, or how many pieces is the body made of.

And I still rather buy a neck from them than the $89 asian copies that you see online. Alto their fret work is nothin' expectacular is much better than the copies, just like Carvin.

maybe a lot of people had bad experiences when ordering custom stuff... I bet you it was because of either wrong wordage or wrong attitude while dealing with them. I haven't ordered that much from them, but everytime I talk on the phone with them I get a yes for and answer, granted sometimes that yes has a fee involved, but it's like everything in business...

[Mickguard]

I'm talking about their bodies, not their necks --I'm sure their necks are pretty great.

But if all you're looking for is a telecaster body, buy the asian clone, sell off the parts you don't need....

[Mattia]

well, yeah, if you don't care too much what wood it's made of, what said wood looks like, and/or how many pieces it's made of. Plenty of cheaper body suppliers that do decent bodies for less than Warmoth does 'em, though. That said, my first project was an assembled strat from Warmoth parts, and I'm not sorry I went with them.

[GuitarMaestro]

maybe a lot of people had bad experiences when ordering custom stuff... I bet you it was because of either wrong wordage or wrong attitude while dealing with them. I haven't ordered that much from them, but everytime I talk on the phone with them I get a yes for and answer, granted sometimes that yes has a fee involved, but it's like everything in business...

At least in my case that's certainly not the reason. I usually discussed the stuff with Ken himself, and he should know. Sometimes I offered to pay a big additional fee....He always appologized and told me exact reasons why they could not do the things I listed in my last post. What is not possible with their standard CNC programs, they are simply not going to do, because it makes no sense in terms of money. I understand them: Would you rather sell 3 standard necks or one custom neck in the same time? Custom orders cost way more time than they yield money. I bet your custom options were minor enough to not cost them much time....

I'm talking about their bodies, not their necks --I'm sure their necks are pretty great.

But if all you're looking for is a telecaster body, buy the asian clone, sell off the parts you don't need....

It's not that easy.....a good guitar body is made of 1-2 pieces of well dried and selected wood. The cheaper the wood the worse usually....Price is not neccessarily a guarantee for a good body, but I bet the odds of getting a great sounding Warmoth body is way higher than getting a good sounding cheap Asian body. They have to cut corners somewhere....

[Maiden69]

yeah, they were what I would consider minor mods. I haven't asked for any major stuff like the neck you wanted without overhang because I can get it from somewere else at a better price. Or even buy a Carvin neck thru and use it as a set neck or mod it to my specs.

And idch, believe me that you will never get a cheap body at the price range you are mentioning that will sound good. wait until I start cannibalizing my Epi and I will post pics of the wood it's made of. I still think it is limba, but is hard to tell until I get the finish and the veneer out of it. And the flame maple veneer is like paper thin. So you get what you pay for. And for $89 I would get a one piece mahogany or limba blank from Gilmer (see I mention Gilmer since he ain't cheap) and make a great sounding body.