My Warmoth Tele clone, fret inlays off center

[mjp808]

So I (basically) finished my Tele clone more than a year ago, went with Warmoth to hopefully avoid any idiosyncrasies. I had custom body made and chose a maple/ebony/MOP compound radius neck off their shelf. After patiently painting/finishing and putting it together everything seemed spot on except the dot inlays looked slightly off center, toward low E. It played fine, and I figured it was some slight alignment problem that my tech could fix.

So this week I took it in to Gary Brawer here in SF to get it set up. I showed him the problem. He examined everything then got out his caliper and we found out the inlays (15th fret and up) were drilled a millimeter off center. I know that seems like nothing, but when the dot is visually touching the D and a 2mm+ space gapping it and the G it's glaring.

So basically it took me this long to realize that it's a production defect, because I trusted that Warmoth would never let something like that go on the shelf, so it never occurred to me to measure it with my caliper.

I would like a replacement, what do you guys think? Do a lot of Teles do this? Thanks

[waparker4]

Not a big deal. If it sounds good, I would not replace it.

[Arbiter]

A. It looks fine from five feet away.
B. This is not the first neck I've ever seen with this, to put it mildly.
C. After a year, you're not going to have any recourse with Warmoth anyway.

PS: D. Love the look w/no pickguard. Is that...is that a TREM I see?

[flyingbanana]

Are you sure it's not the strings throwing it off? Measure them yourself and double check. In any case...it's cosmetic. If the guitar is fantastic...I wouldn't change a thing.

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by mjp808

I would like a replacement, what do you guys think? Do a lot of Teles do this? Thanks

Sounds kinda "whiney" for a mm, and what do you want Warmoth to do after 1 year. Come on man, just play the guitar.

[Rod Parsons]

If the nut is cut right, I would say it would be a bit off, just like yours is. I have a Warmouth neck, and I just had a renound luther put on a new bone nut and 12 new frets. It is exactly off just like yours near the nut. It plays great. The lower bassier strings are bigger, and take up a little more room.

[LightninMike]

You will never notice it when you are playing....and for those watching you play, they won't notice it from more than 4 feet away
I doubt one of us replying to this thread would notice if we saw you playing out, and we have seen the photo

I won't say a word to anyone about it

(and if you are playing at TRI, the cameras are far enough away nobody will ever know)

[mjp808]

Arbiter: Yeah it's a Hipshot, bar is not in pic.

Really, everybody? That just seems really sloppy to me, installing the dots along a drifting centerline. I gotta stand my ground on this one. I admit I have a heightened sense of visual balance, I am a graphic designer.

Consider this:

It's like paying for a custom designer suit cut and finding out one of the legs on the pants is noticeably shorter. Yeah, the pants still cover your legs like they are supposed to, but they look funny and moreover, you would expect at least matching legs from a professional tailor.

I get it, looks are secondary to playability and anyone that says otherwise should be sanctimoniously condescended as a guitar poseur, but be honest...why are we all here customizing and painting our own guitars, picking wood with nice even grain, etc.? Somebody back me up, please, I can't be that OCD! And yes it plays really nice.

Can somebody just agree that this is somewhat sub-standard workmanship?

Lastly, any of you purists want to buy a nice Tele neck with funky, off-center MOP fret dots?

[Johmo]

Too late to do anything about it other than contact them and express displeasure. I wouldn't expect a replacement or fix, but I agree it should have been done correctly and it would bother me as well. Also, it sounds like at least one other poster has a similar issue. Warmoth would probably want to know so they can correct their manufacturing process.

[ringodingo]

It's a shame that the Warmoth neck inlay is not an example of precision workmanship, but SHIRLEY the warrantee ran out long ago.

[piece of ash]

Hmmm... put a ruler up to the monitor... and the dot beween 20 & 21 is indeed in the center... guitar tech must have some special caliper. The dot between 18 & 19 appears to be out of line... but a straightedge reveals flash glare as the culprit.

The strings aren't centered over the neck... but they shouldn't be. Bass strings are thicker, so the whole group has to shift toward treble to maintain equal margins at the edge of the fretboard.

I used to have auto shop. One day a lady picking up her car threw a small tantrum because we installed her hubcaps wrong. The points on the Mercedes star weren't at the 12, 4, & 8 o'clock positions... as they appear on the hood emblem. I had a guy drag a floor jack around front and "fix" them.

[jimdkc]

Don't listen to these guys! It's a hideous abomination!

Send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you!

[nosmo]

Originally Posted by mjp808

...I get it, playability is secondary to looks and anyone that says otherwise should be sanctimoniously condescended as a guitar poseur...

Did I read that right? I prefer good looking guitars, but if it doesn't work - it's trash! I hope you meant looks are secondary to function.

Originally Posted by mjp808

...Can somebody just agree that this is somewhat sub-standard workmanship?

OK - I will.

Originally Posted by mjp808

...Lastly, any of you purists want to buy a nice Tele neck with funky, off-center MOP fret dots?

Go ahead and send it to me. Of course I'm not paying full price - the damn dots are off!

[Soapbarstrat]

Originally Posted by piece of ash

Hmmm... put a ruler up to the monitor...

I grabbed a piece of paper, marked out from low E fret-board edge to edge of dot, then moved that over to the other side, which showed the dots (at least the 2 that I checked) seem to be about a mm closer toward the low E side.

I'd also be pissed off, and I'd tell the whole story to warmoth. Maybe, just maybe, they understand someone taking a year to get a partscaster completely tweaked to the point of finally having it so they can see how all the details come together.

[mjp808]

jimdkc--lol

thanks guys--yeah, i wish i would have pinpointed this anomaly early on, i couldnt afford a proper tech setup until recently, so until he looked at it and measured it, i thought there was no way warmoth made a mistake like that, so it never occurred to me to measure it myself, like i said i assumed it was the neck alignment or the bridge or something more common and logical. I kinda feel like i have a case for an exchange.

thanks p.o. ash--the photo is purely for a visual--maybe ill post a photo with a caliper. After my tech measured it, when i got home i (painstakingly) used both my digital and my dial caliper and measured the same offset.

well if warmoth is nice enough to extend some sort of recompense, i will post it here

I will let this thread die a natural death--thanks everybody for your feedback

[mjp808]

Originally Posted by nosmo

Did I read that right? I prefer good looking guitars, but if it doesn't work - it's trash! I hope you meant looks are secondary to function.

ooops, mistake, reverse that--I corrected it. #1. Playability #2 Looks

Originally Posted by nosmo

Go ahead and send it to me. Of course I'm not paying full price - the damn dots are off!

EXACTLY--had i known, I wouldn't have bought it at all!! God is in the details.

There is a tiny suspicious part of me that thinks maybe they might have known it was off, but put it up for sale anyway hoping I was one of the folks that wouldn't care or notice--no such luck for me or warmoth--damn my discerning eye and high expectations!

[GigsbyBoyUK]

Your first action should have been to contact Warmouth. That's what we would have done before www. Nowadays we complain to thousands of people before even giving the supplier/company a chance to have their say. Beats me why people do this...

[Rod Parsons]

I just blew your fretboard picture up on my photo software and measured accurately, and I find the dots to be dead center... Warmouth did a great job with centering the dots. Your nut was also cut perfectly for playability and comfort. If the dots ran perfectly in between the 2 middle strings, then in my opinion, it would be off. The bass strings NEED MORE ROOM than the treble strings. Your neck, to me, seems absolutely perfect... And I'm an artist. Visuals in this case don't mean squat. I do say this respectively.. Love it and enjoy it..

[J Lacey]

Originally Posted by Rod Parsons

I just blew your fretboard picture up on my photo software and measured accurately, and I find the dots to be dead center... Warmouth did a great job with centering the dots. Your nut was also cut perfectly for playability and comfort. If the dots ran perfectly in between the 2 middle strings, then in my opinion, it would be off. The bass strings NEED MORE ROOM than the treble strings. Your neck, to me, seems absolutely perfect... And I'm an artist. Visuals in this case don't mean squat. I do say this respectively.. Love it and enjoy it..

Great statement above......


Speaking from my very limited experience concerning builds I know this to be fact. There's several things that must take place for your guitar to feel, function and play right that are more importeant than any dot location. Im 95% complete on a build now that has perfectly centered fret dots that I installed down the neck but not exactly centered with strings after build. Neck pocket, bridge location , saddle locations,nut, etc. all play into what your trying to achieve. Even the mounting of these items can change a mm if you take it off and put it back 10 times. I know, I've done it. I can show you 3 factory teles that have same issue you have in your topic. If you built that guitar with out installing fret dots until after it was 100% complete and set up to play correctly and then installed your fret dots centering them between those two strings as you wish, chances are very good that the dots would not be in the center of your neck.......maybe Im wrong and only have limited bench time building guitars, but that's the way I see it...........play it. Have fun.


Jeff

[mjp808]

Originally Posted by Rod Parsons

I just blew your fretboard picture up on my photo software and measured accurately, and I find the dots to be dead center... Warmouth did a great job with centering the dots. Your nut was also cut perfectly for playability and comfort. If the dots ran perfectly in between the 2 middle strings, then in my opinion, it would be off. The bass strings NEED MORE ROOM than the treble strings. Your neck, to me, seems absolutely perfect... And I'm an artist. Visuals in this case don't mean squat. I do say this respectively.. Love it and enjoy it..

You callin me a liar?

Seriously though, the 3 calipers dont lie. Obviously, photo has lens distortion and a weird shadow(macro shot from 8 inches away). I have no reason to make this up.

Here's the deal--I am not one of those people that uses forums purely to bitch and argue. I post only after asking myself if this subject and discussion might benefit someone else and adds to the collective knowledge. I have no issue with Warmoth, other than this weird neck. Now, if someone who cares about fret dots being centered and wants to order from Warmoth they know what to expect.

I just got my Musicians Friend catalog in the mail this afternoon and after looking over all the photos, guess what? perfectly centered dots--all of them. Even if they Photoshopped them, though I doubt it, it proves the aesthetic importance.