Help convince me.... Warmoth or Musikraft? - Page 2

serialsteve · January 9th, 2008, 08:49 AM

I used Warmoth for years and have had several bodies and necks. Not again. I kept one body out of the lot. They're too pricey for what you get (or don't get). At the time, they were the only game in town, so there wasn't much choice.

Musikraft is fantastic by comparison. The first MK neck I got (four years ago) had unfinished fret ends-I picked it up on eBay, but the wood and everything else were fine. I have since ordered five MK necks, including three solid rosewood necks which are simply perfect. You can order whatever specs you want and they're incredibly easy to work with. They were faster than advertised too. By comparison, the Warmoth stuff left me flat. No experience with USA Customs, but the headstocks aren't right which is an immediate "no" for me, no matter how simple it is to get them right. I don't want to have to do that if I'm paying a few hundred $$ for a neck.

I have two MK necks that are on my current Tele project (pics when I can get it finished), but this is one I did last year. Warmoth body with a lousy (IMHO) quality finish, but it was cheap and it's very light.

enalnitram · January 9th, 2008, 09:01 AM

for all those weighing in about necks and suppliers, i think it would be helpful to know when the necks were ordered. I've played some warmoth necks that were absolutely dreamy. but the warmoth neck which I own has problems. perhaps as time has gone by, the quality has gotten uneven. on my neck, the fret ends become sharp every winter and when i tighten the truss rod, it develops a double hump on the bass side. i'd like to replace it, and i intend to do more research on usacg, musikraft, and allparts.

BritishBluesBoy · January 9th, 2008, 09:21 AM

I have nothing but great things to say about Warmoth. You all seem to be fairly down on them, but my recent experience was fantastic. Great service and even better product. I am more than happy with my Warmoth partscaster (I haven't even touched any of my other guitars since I finished it) and would not hesitate in ordering from them again.

Sorry if you are getting bored of seeing it... But...

cband7 · January 9th, 2008, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telepatio

I did the same thing, custom order what I thought would fit the bill as my #1 guitar. What I got from Warmoth is excellent. The guitar is incredible. Customer service was never a problem for me.

If you look close, you can see the corner of my 50's Wurlitzer :-)

I used to have a Wurly - I spotted yours just by the leg! Can you still get tines for it? I still remember carving the tines into tune with an X-Acto knife; it still beat hauling a Rhodes Stage 88 around (ouch, my back!)

straightface · January 9th, 2008, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BritishBluesBoy

Sorry if you are getting bored of seeing it... But...

Bored? Never. Jealous? You bet!

buckwebster · January 9th, 2008, 03:09 PM

I'm real happy with my new Warmoth partscaster. If it matters, and I think it should, USA CG and Warmoth are both companies that build in the USA with good wood and fairly paid labor. The Allparts stuff comes from Asia where someone's labor was likely exploited. It's hard for me to play music on an instrument when I know it's manufacturing contributed to someone's suffering. It's nearly impossible to avoid chinese labor these days, but when possible it's nice to support USA or other non-exploited labor practices.

Buck

RomanS · January 9th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enalnitram

for all those weighing in about necks and suppliers, i think it would be helpful to know when the necks were ordered. I've played some warmoth necks that were absolutely dreamy. but the warmoth neck which I own has problems.

My first neck (rosewood on maple) and body were ordered about 2 years ago, and they were perfect; second neck ordered less than a year ago (8 or 9 months? Would have to check my PayPal...) - the neck and fretwork were perfect too, only the pre-cut Graphtec nut it came with needed a bit of filing down; just received my second body from Warmoth last week (Thinline Tele, rosewood top on swamp ash), and it is simply stunning (will post pics once I've finished finishing it, which might take a while); both white-pearl Tele pickguards I ordered from them were perfect, too!

Brendan · January 9th, 2008, 07:54 PM

Allparts necks are still from Japan, so I have no problems buying those. Not many lefty options though.

I received my Musikcraft neck today. It didn't take long to get here. Over the holidays they had a $250 ebay gift certificate available for $200 and I jumped on it. I ordered a vintage style 50's maple tele neck with the .95" V profile, 9.5" radius, SS frets, heavy rolled edges and a two-way truss rod. I went over it carefully and it looks great. Oregon humidity is preventing me from moving forward with my painting plans so this may not get used until spring.

boris bubbanov · January 9th, 2008, 10:36 PM

Seems to me there's 2 levels of discourse going on. One, the guys who custom order a neck or body down to the number of birdseyes on the headstock. Two, the webspecials guys who have general criteria but are mostly looking for high end quality.

I've been playing since 1960-something, and I still don't 'rate' a neck custom made for me. I know that that '#1' Strat USV2 neck I scored from the USACG webspecials page for $ 175 will give me nothing but satisfaction. Best of all, it'll be here in a week, and be finished, tadeo'd headstock and all that in another week. Talk about speedy gratification. This is the golden age for guitar custom assembly. And I don't see a single detail in all the specifications I'd rather have had differently done.

Bubbanov

Kind of reminds you of that Italian restaurant where they sit you down and food starts coming and it is all delicious and you were totally in the hands of the chef, he made all the choices. Sometimes the chef does know best.

bendecaster · January 10th, 2008, 02:44 AM

I've got some Warmoth necks. The first one I bought, about 10 years ago, and I'm very pleased with everything. The frets are great, the graphite nut that they installed is fine... I also ordered over the phone every time, and maybe that took some of the mystery out of it too. The person I dealt with took the time to explain what the features like neck contour, width, fret size... meant, and how it felt, what the tonal character was... I was asking many questions, as I wanted these necks to be exceptional, and they were.
I hear alot of good things about the other companies people have mentioned here, but I don't have any personal experience with them.
The one good thing about our beloved Teles is, if you don't like the neck you get, you can always unbolt it, and apply another. It sure ain't like one of those set-neck thangs.
Good luck,
Harry

January 9th, 2008, 09:21 AM	#43 (permalink)
BritishBluesBoy Friend of Leo's Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brooklyn, NY Age: 40 Posts: 4,421 62 Photos	I have nothing but great things to say about Warmoth. You all seem to be fairly down on them, but my recent experience was fantastic. Great service and even better product. I am more than happy with my Warmoth partscaster (I haven't even touched any of my other guitars since I finished it) and would not hesitate in ordering from them again. Sorry if you are getting bored of seeing it... But... __________________ BBB.

January 10th, 2008, 02:44 AM	#50 (permalink)
bendecaster Tele-Holic Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: maine Posts: 915	I've got some Warmoth necks. The first one I bought, about 10 years ago, and I'm very pleased with everything. The frets are great, the graphite nut that they installed is fine... I also ordered over the phone every time, and maybe that took some of the mystery out of it too. The person I dealt with took the time to explain what the features like neck contour, width, fret size... meant, and how it felt, what the tonal character was... I was asking many questions, as I wanted these necks to be exceptional, and they were. I hear alot of good things about the other companies people have mentioned here, but I don't have any personal experience with them. The one good thing about our beloved Teles is, if you don't like the neck you get, you can always unbolt it, and apply another. It sure ain't like one of those set-neck thangs. Good luck, Harry __________________ The Demented 7th

January 9th, 2008, 08:49 AM	#41 (permalink)
serialsteve Tele-Holic Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 640	I used Warmoth for years and have had several bodies and necks. Not again. I kept one body out of the lot. They're too pricey for what you get (or don't get). At the time, they were the only game in town, so there wasn't much choice. Musikraft is fantastic by comparison. The first MK neck I got (four years ago) had unfinished fret ends-I picked it up on eBay, but the wood and everything else were fine. I have since ordered five MK necks, including three solid rosewood necks which are simply perfect. You can order whatever specs you want and they're incredibly easy to work with. They were faster than advertised too. By comparison, the Warmoth stuff left me flat. No experience with USA Customs, but the headstocks aren't right which is an immediate "no" for me, no matter how simple it is to get them right. I don't want to have to do that if I'm paying a few hundred $$ for a neck. I have two MK necks that are on my current Tele project (pics when I can get it finished), but this is one I did last year. Warmoth body with a lousy (IMHO) quality finish, but it was cheap and it's very light.

January 9th, 2008, 09:01 AM	#42 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 195 2 Photos	for all those weighing in about necks and suppliers, i think it would be helpful to know when the necks were ordered. I've played some warmoth necks that were absolutely dreamy. but the warmoth neck which I own has problems. perhaps as time has gone by, the quality has gotten uneven. on my neck, the fret ends become sharp every winter and when i tighten the truss rod, it develops a double hump on the bass side. i'd like to replace it, and i intend to do more research on usacg, musikraft, and allparts.

January 9th, 2008, 03:09 PM	#46 (permalink)
buckwebster TDPRI Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: St. Louis, MO Age: 42 Posts: 21	I'm real happy with my new Warmoth partscaster. If it matters, and I think it should, USA CG and Warmoth are both companies that build in the USA with good wood and fairly paid labor. The Allparts stuff comes from Asia where someone's labor was likely exploited. It's hard for me to play music on an instrument when I know it's manufacturing contributed to someone's suffering. It's nearly impossible to avoid chinese labor these days, but when possible it's nice to support USA or other non-exploited labor practices. Buck

January 9th, 2008, 07:54 PM	#48 (permalink)
Brendan Tele-Meister Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 263	Allparts necks are still from Japan, so I have no problems buying those. Not many lefty options though. I received my Musikcraft neck today. It didn't take long to get here. Over the holidays they had a $250 ebay gift certificate available for $200 and I jumped on it. I ordered a vintage style 50's maple tele neck with the .95" V profile, 9.5" radius, SS frets, heavy rolled edges and a two-way truss rod. I went over it carefully and it looks great. Oregon humidity is preventing me from moving forward with my painting plans so this may not get used until spring.

January 9th, 2008, 10:36 PM	#49 (permalink)
boris bubbanov Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: New Orleans, LA + in the past Posts: 7,664	Seems to me there's 2 levels of discourse going on. One, the guys who custom order a neck or body down to the number of birdseyes on the headstock. Two, the webspecials guys who have general criteria but are mostly looking for high end quality. I've been playing since 1960-something, and I still don't 'rate' a neck custom made for me. I know that that '#1' Strat USV2 neck I scored from the USACG webspecials page for $ 175 will give me nothing but satisfaction. Best of all, it'll be here in a week, and be finished, tadeo'd headstock and all that in another week. Talk about speedy gratification. This is the golden age for guitar custom assembly. And I don't see a single detail in all the specifications I'd rather have had differently done. Bubbanov Kind of reminds you of that Italian restaurant where they sit you down and food starts coming and it is all delicious and you were totally in the hands of the chef, he made all the choices. Sometimes the chef does know best.