First Partscaster decisions, Musickraft neck on Warmoth Body?

[timewaster1700]

I'm about 90% sure at this point that I'm going to build my first parts caster tele. I've been reading Ron Kirn's pdf's on the subject and been reading a lot of forums. I would like to get a few more opinions on what vendors to go with for body and neck. I would like to get a fully finished neck and a fully finished body. I like warmth's options for bodies and they seem to be good quality so I was thinking of going with a Warmoth body. I've heard that Musickraft makes nicer necks than Warmoth so I was considering getting a Musickraft neck. Now Mr. Kirn along with others suggest getting both neck and body from same place and I certainly respect and am thankful for their tips, but I was just going to see if anyone had built a parts caster tele with a warmth body and musickraft body. Does it fit well? I did hear a couple stories about musickraft necks moving a bunch. Maybe this was from them not fitting the body well?

Another thing I like about the musickraft neck option is you can get a lightly vintage tinted neck rather than the super dark and orange vintage tint on the warmoth. Also the roasted neck option for stability sounds interesting on the musickraft. Anyone done one? Think it made any real difference?

I suppose I would be safer just going with a Warmoth neck but I would lose the tint option and I've heard their finish isn't as nice as the musickraft.

Thanks for any help.

 

[catpat8000]

Now Mr. Kirn along with others suggest getting both neck and body from same place and I certainly respect and am thankful for their tips, but I was just going to see if anyone had built a parts caster tele with a warmth body and musickraft body. Does it fit well? I did hear a couple stories about musickraft necks moving a bunch. Maybe this was from them not fitting the body well?

Another thing I like about the musickraft neck option is you can get a lightly vintage tinted neck rather than the super dark and orange vintage tint on the warmoth. Also the roasted neck option for stability sounds interesting on the musickraft. Anyone done one? Think it made any real difference?

I suppose I would be safer just going with a Warmoth neck but I would lose the tint option and I've heard their finish isn't as nice as the musickraft.

Thanks for any help.

On the one hand you say you've heard Musikraft necks are better than Warmoth, and on the other you say you've heard they move around?

I'll tell you frankly that most of what you hear when people say "neck X is better than neck Y" is utter nonsense. How can I say that? In order to do a sample comparing one company's necks against another, you'd need to take a random sample of many, many necks and use some sort of objective physical criteria to compare them. How many partscaster builders do that? Zero. How many partscaster builders understand enough statistics to do this test? Almost none. Most people are just echoing stuff they've heard on the internet.

My advice is to pick the neck you want from whomever sells it then tell us all about it!

Pat

 

[timewaster1700]

On the one hand you say you've heard Musikraft necks are better than Warmoth, and on the other you say you've heard they move around?

I'll tell you frankly that most of what you hear when people say "neck X is better than neck Y" is utter nonsense. How can I say that? In order to do a sample comparing one company's necks against another, you'd need to take a random sample of many, many necks and use some sort of objective physical criteria to compare them. How many partscaster builders do that? Zero. How many partscaster builders understand enough statistics to do this test? Almost none. Most people are just echoing stuff they've heard on the internet.

My advice is to pick the neck you want from whomever sells it then tell us all about it!

Pat

Fair enough. Good point. I guess I've heard negative things about Warmoth, USACustoms, and Musickraft, however Musickraft seemed to have the fewest negative comments and several people who had owned multiple Warmoth and Musickraft necks said the Musickraft were better but your point is still taken. I guess I was mainly for fishing how well the Musickraft neck would fit on a Warmoth body if anyone had already done this scenario.

 

[catpat8000]

And sorry to say I can't help you mixing and matching necks and bodies

I have built three partscasters all with Warmoth bodies and necks and all three have fit very well (though I had to shim the neck on one of them) and all three Warmoth necks were finished to a very high degree. It would be hard for me to understand how they could be improved upon.

 

[timewaster1700]

And sorry to say I can't help you mixing and matching necks and bodies

I have built three partscasters all with Warmoth bodies and necks and all three have fit very well (though I had to shim the neck on one of them) and all three Warmoth necks were finished to a very high degree. It would be hard for me to understand how they could be improved upon.

Well that's great to hear! Maybe the threads I were reading were old. Maybe the people saying they didn't like the finish were too picky. Maybe I'm over thinking this. Maybe all of the above.

I do wish Warmoth had a light tint option though with their finish. I do like a slight yellow color the maple part of the neck. But not a deal breaker. The overall quality is much more important.

While I have your attention and since it sounds like you've built a few Warmoth partscasters. Would you recommend the Vintage/Modern neck the most? I don't know enough about truss rod design to know which one of their necks is best to get. I really have no clue.

 

[catpat8000]

I do wish Warmoth had a light tint option though with their finish. I do like a slight yellow color the maple part of the neck. But not a deal breaker. The overall quality is much more important.

While I have your attention and since it sounds like you've built a few Warmoth partscasters. Would you recommend the Vintage/Modern neck the most? I don't know enough about truss rod design to know which one of their necks is best to get. I really have no clue.

Personally, and I expect this is just my opinion, I prefer the modern necks. My reason is that the modern necks come with the Gotoh truss rod side adjuster which makes it very easy and very slick to adjust neck relief. Also, I personally prefer necks which don't have the brown stripe on the back of the neck.

Some pictures from the very first Warmoth project I did: (link removed)

I used a modern neck in the second guitar project too:
(link removed)

 

[kingofdogs1950]

Musikraft "C" .90 > .99 neck

I own an exceptionally nice Musikraft > Warmoth partscaster. I also have the same exact neck on a mahogany USAGC body, also an exceptionally nice guitar. I bought one of the necks used and liked it so well I bought a new neck with the same specs. Both necks fit their respective bodies with no issues.
The "C" profile works for me and the .90 to .99 taper fits my hand well.
Highly recommended.

Mark

 

[telemnemonics]

There are little things I like more and less about each company's products, but necks not fitting on bodies is not an issue I would worry about with the high end USA made products or Allparts MIJ products.

The warmoth neck shaping where the back of the neck meets the heel and headstock bothers me, and I would not buy a new one because of this.
The used Warmoth necks I've owned were fine, though one padauk neck cracked along the back, tropical hardwood. The square end on the board of 22 fretters is also a little clumsy.

I love my Musikraft bodies, never had their necks though.
I prefer to buy used necks that have proven themselves to stay straight as the wood ages.
Allparts necks are nice too, USACG are supposed to be top quality, and I love my vintage USA Fender necks best.
I would not go lower in price point than the above mentioned brands.

 

[Martinp]

I have a warmoth neck on a musikraft body, works great

 

[Norrin Radd]

I have a Musikraft neck and the workmanship on it is the best I've ever seen. I liked it so much I ordered another one - and I will order more in the future. Their craftsmanship is superb.

 

[timewaster1700]

Thank you all for chiming in. Sounds like putting a Musickraft neck on a Warmoth body wouldn't be a problem. But I also wonder if the extra price for the Musickraft is really worth it or not. I do like their finish options better.

Anyone ever done the roasting option with the Musickraft neck which supposedly makes the wood more stable? Does this really work?

 

[TeleTown]

Ive built 2 with a warmoth body and musikraft neck, and the fit on both are a nice and snug fit. I gig both on a regular with no problems. Best of luck!

 

[Blue Bill]

Me too on the MK necks, highly recommended. I ordered one a couple years ago, it is just about perfect, no issues. I got another one a couple months ago for another build, w s/s frets, it looks perfect also. The first one I ordered with the roasted maple option. It looks cool, kinda toasty, but I doubt it makes much difference soundwise, although the guitar does ring and sustain with the best of them. They should fit any Tele-spec body.

 

[timewaster1700]

Thank you guys for chiming in! Sounds like the roasted option is probably not necessary but I may go the Musickraft neck route.

Did any of you that bought a Musickraft neck have the nut installed when you ordered it or did you file and install the nut yourself? How did they do with the nut?

 

[Norrin Radd]

Thank you guys for chiming in! Sounds like the roasted option is probably not necessary but I may go the Musickraft neck route.

Did any of you that bought a Musickraft neck have the nut installed when you ordered it or did you file and install the nut yourself? How did they do with the nut?

Yes! I had them install a bone nut and it was pre-cut/slotted. No filing necessary for MINE. It was perfect out of the box. I also was very impressed with their fret work. Mine needed NO leveling or crowning - also perfect OOTB.

 

[cabra velha]

Fair enough. Good point. I guess I've heard negative things about Warmoth, USACustoms, and Musickraft, however Musickraft seemed to have the fewest negative comments and several people who had owned multiple Warmoth and Musickraft necks said the Musickraft were better but your point is still taken. I guess I was mainly for fishing how well the Musickraft neck would fit on a Warmoth body if anyone had already done this scenario.

. . .back to statistics. I think the main reason you will hear anything negative about warmoth is that they have been around longer and there is a bigger "sample size". Someone wise here once pointed out that there are quitte a few manufacturers turrning out dimensionally perfect necks, so you are left with different wood choices (an impossible variable) and fretwork qc.

 

[4 Cat Slim]

I've built with both Allparts necks and a neck from StewMac. No problems in either case.
I've seen quite a few Warmoth necks over the years, and been impressed with them, but never used one on a build. I don't have anything negative to say about any of these three sources.

Telenmemonics makes an excellent point, don't go lower in price point.

 

[gglockner]

Just recently purchased a Musikraft neck off of Ebay. Saved a bundle and could not be happier. It is a thing of beauty. It fit like a glove in the Clearfork body also purchase off of Ebay. Very impressed with both.

 

[Watersilk]

I'm about 90% sure at this point that I'm going to build my first parts caster tele. I've been reading Ron Kirn's pdf's on the subject and been reading a lot of forums. I would like to get a few more opinions on what vendors to go with for body and neck. I would like to get a fully finished neck and a fully finished body. I like warmth's options for bodies and they seem to be good quality so I was thinking of going with a Warmoth body. I've heard that Musickraft makes nicer necks than Warmoth so I was considering getting a Musickraft neck. Now Mr. Kirn along with others suggest getting both neck and body from same place and I certainly respect and am thankful for their tips, but I was just going to see if anyone had built a parts caster tele with a warmth body and musickraft body. Does it fit well? I did hear a couple stories about musickraft necks moving a bunch. Maybe this was from them not fitting the body well?

Another thing I like about the musickraft neck option is you can get a lightly vintage tinted neck rather than the super dark and orange vintage tint on the warmoth. Also the roasted neck option for stability sounds interesting on the musickraft. Anyone done one? Think it made any real difference?

I suppose I would be safer just going with a Warmoth neck but I would lose the tint option and I've heard their finish isn't as nice as the musickraft.

Thanks for any help.

Ron Kirn's advice is good. Buying a neck and body from the same manufacturer 'should' be the safer route. The neck fit in the pocket is crucial, it's no good having a beautiful body and neck, but the two are not matching. I found the same problem when I wanted to use a Hosco body with a Mighty Mite neck, I listened to the advice which was 'don't'! The Mighty Mite heel would be lose in the Hosco neck pocket; that was a bad match.

Warmoth's roasted maple necks are darker than normal maple. They vary a bit, some are really quite dark, I think a roasted maple neck with a clear lacquer would look about the same colour as a vintage neck, better than those orange lacquered ones.

 

[Peckhammer]

I was the USA Custom Guitars shop in Puyallup last Friday and was impressed with the necks and bodies I saw there. I left with a tele neck and I'll be going back to get another neck and a downsized tele body which caught my eye. They've got finishing services too if you need it.