I have become a guitar snob. I lay the blame at the feet of Warmoth. Before I found their website I was happy to buy guitars off the rack. Now, if a guitar does not have ALL the features I want, then I just walk away. It took three years to assemble all the parts that make up my Warmoth Telecaster. It was a long time to wait, but worth every second. I learned more about what makes a guitar tick during that time. I also learned what I wanted in a guitar. If I had ordered the guitar I made in their virtual builder that first time on their website, I believe I would have ultimately been disappointed. During the time while I was saving for each piece I learned something new. Like the time I played my wife’s uncle’s guitar that did not have a heel contour, and realized I needed it. Or, my good friend mentioning that my guitar had all the comfort contours, and that I might want to add that to my Tele. Or, playing my other friend’s Les Paul and falling in love with the neck. Yes, my Tele has the neck dimensions of a Les Paul. It is made from Goncalo Alves wood that requires no finish, and is absolutely stunning to behold. The body is made from Swamp Ash, and is painted a transparent red finish with a black burst edge. It also has natural masked binding a feature I did not know I needed until I saw the example on the website. The finish on the body was perfect (I’ve since christened it with a couple of dings). My heresy did not end there. I have EMG-T active pickups and Graph Tech Ghost saddles. The addition of the piezo pickups actually came from looking through Fender’s website, and seeing the Acoustasonic model. My Tele has two outputs; one for the EMG’s and the other for the piezo. I have stacked knobs that control the volume and tone of each set of pickups, while from a distance the controls look pretty standard. I have a modern bridge eschewing the barrel saddles of Leo’s original design. All the hardware is black. Warmoth is not a cheap route to take, but you get what you pay for. My Tele is a great instrument, and many have marveled at its beauty and playability. I will admit it was scary to pay some much to build an instrument that I would not know if it was good until it was complete. The years it took to save up, and buy this instrument was time well spent. This route is not for everyone. I would recommend it, but totally understand when someone tells me they would never do it. I learned so much about how a guitar works, and how each component works with the others. The many options that are available make it possible to build a guitar for any style and for any taste. Once you build one you cannot help, but to start building other instruments in your mind. I have at least three more builds I would like to make. If nothing else, check out their virtual builder on-line and see what your imagination can dream up. Their products are excellent, and their customer service is very good as well. I could go over every last little detail of the guitar that I built, but if you decide to build a Warmoth guitar it will be different. The best advice I could give is play as many different instruments as possible. Even a guitar that is nothing like the one that you intend to build. You never know what you will learn.
Made in the USA. You choose all the elements online and receive the kit. I got a Lindy Fralin pickup separately. Mine is standard, with alder body, birdseye maple neck, rosewood fretboard, precision pickup. It sounds awesome, it's powerful and has an exemplary finish. I chose slimmer frets and it's very pleasant. USE The neck is perfect. It's a precision standard in terms of weight, shape, design Ditto regarding access to the upper frets. Good sounds!! Excellent, one pickup and one passive tone, and with that you can go from twangy to muffled sounds without a sweat! SOUND It's perfect for the music I play. Coupled with a good amp I don't see any music genre it couldn't take on. I use a GallienKrueger neo112 RB2. Open tone, crystalline, closed tone, dub! It's child's play. The sound is denser than with my Jazzbass, it's less mid-scooped, but also less deep. I don't use a compressor anymore, only an octaver and/or a bassball to amuse myself. Personally, I never turn the tone all the way up, not even to slap, but neither do I have a use for its muffled sound when the tone control is set to the minimum. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it since 2011. I have always played jazzbasses, but it was love at first sight when I tried out a precision. I chose it with this in mind, passive, 4 strings. It rocks! The only mod I would do to it is maybe add a Jazzbass pickup for the mids/bridge. I can't wait to see what I can get out of this beauty! Great value for money, it sounds much better than the Fender US I tested at the store.
