2 neck questions - warmoth guitar

i was looking at the tele necks offered by warmoth. there are three types: warmoth pro, vintage modern, and total vintage.

the features of the pro look good, but another poster said that only the total vintage really delivers an authentic sound. this is something that i want, but i also like the idea of the compound radius neck of the vintage modern.

would i risk destroying the tone by getting a vintage modern?

also, am i right to assume that i would destroy the tone entirely by getting a neck made for a different type of guitar (with same length) such as an LP neck, etc.?

It's an exaggeration to say that you'd destroy the vintage tone by getting a neck that was made to anything other than perfect vintage specs. A ridiculous one, as a matter of fact.

Having said that, the more changes you make to the vintage formula, the further you get away from vintage, and with enough changes you have a new formula.

Changing the truss rod design does have the potential to impact the tone in a noticeable way. Changing the radius of the fretboard probably does not.

+1 to what Koko Tele said.

Also, if Warmoth is still making the total vintage neck with vintage frets, you might want to factor in early fret wear into your equation, too. Depending on how you play, of course.

I've had two total vintage W necks one a Fatback that ended up as too big and not quite resonant enough, and a Boat neck that was the right size, but eventually needed medium frets.

I guess my point is that if you really want med frets and more radius options or custom size or width, it's cheaper to admit it the first time.

Dude, vintage modern is where it's at! Still got the single rod, which I think is the main tone factor. Plus the head adjust rod is miles better than heel adjust to me.

I think it's the way to go unless you're building a purely vintage style guitar.

And I agree with koko too. Think hard about the goal of your build before you start buying parts.

IMO the biggest difference is with the Pro and it's double action truss rod. Which makes for a very stable neck, but one that does tend to sound a little less vintage - harder/brighter with a touch more sustain.

The differences between total vintage and vintage modern being much less significant, and more about feel/playability than inherent tone.

IMO the biggest difference is with the Pro and it's double action truss rod. Which makes for a very stable neck, but one that does tend to sound a little less vintage - harder/brighter with a touch more sustain.

The differences between total vintage and vintage modern being much less significant, and more about feel/playability than inherent tone.

I agree wholly.

However I want to say, if you order a 24.75 scale neck, that might yield an equal or greater change in the range of sounds you're liable to find when you build it out.

I've got both Vintage and Vintage Modern Warmoth necks, about 50/50 actually and they're not all that different in sound. You can choose any fretwire (except 6125, which they strangely don't have) and a Vintage with a little bigger wire or a Vintage Modern with 6105, you start getting tons of overlap and on top of that, the thickness or girth of the neck (further varied by the width at the nut choice) and suddenly it is just a field of various necks, all with their own slight personality differences.

I think there could be more difference between the vintage style truss rods used by USACG, versus the both of the Warmoth designs taken together, than there is sound wise between these 2 Warmoth forms. Man, those USACGs beat either of them. Check those out. I've got I think 16 vintage rod USACG T necks with a compound radius, 9" to 12". Very nice indeed and because I ordered them 8 at a time, I got an amazing deal.