OffsetGuitars.com

Have any of you guys ever built a warmoth offset?

if so, how is it?

I have a Warmoth Jag body that I'm having finished right now, to match up with a '66 binding & blocks neck that I had sitting around. Obviously I haven't played it yet but the quality is fantastic. The only real gripe I've heard is that the pickguards aren't entirely compatible with AVRI stuff. They also don't offer routing for the mute. I've heard the same thing about the JM. But they sell pickguards in virtually every color so that's not a real huge problem.

I got mine for $175. If I wanted to go for a '66 vintage body on the 'bay, I figure I'd go into the $500 range. Since the nitro finish that I'm having done will be around $100, I come out way ahead - I can even justify keeping it for that price and not be forced to sell it by the little Mr. Guilty that sometimes visits me in the night.

There's a Jazzmaster body on eBay right now for just over $100. It's got a three-pickup rout pattern (but that could be modded easily enough) and no bridge cutout - you could either rout it yourself or, perish the thought, put a hardtail bridge on it (something akin to the DuoSonic-Musicmaster bridge) or a Gibson TOM and a stop tail.  :-\

These thoughts border on heresy, I know, but you could also put a regular JM tremolo on it. 

Unfortunately, I have never been satisfied with Warmoth parts.  The quality isn't bad or anything, but they just feel awkward to me.  I've never been satisfied with any guitar I've built from their parts.  To be fair, USACG hasn't quite done it for me yet either.

Warmoth necks, although functional, have hideous "Ultra birdseye" maple.  It looks like a goddamn bird exploded on your neck, is what it looks like.

Thats what ive heard from a lot of people. On top of a lack of quality, theyre customer service people are kind of jerks too.

aen wrote: Warmoth necks, although functional, have hideous "Ultra birdseye" maple.  It looks like a goddamn bird exploded on your neck, is what it looks like.

I don't know that this is a particular Warmoth problem - it just seems that lots of people want and pay extra money to have this hideous pattern on their wood. I just don't get it either.

I really like the old JMs with a little bit of birdseye in the neck.  Not a fan of "flamed" maple at all though.

more like LAMED MAPLE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!

yeah flamed maple looks completley stupid. Quilted maple sucks too.

A horrible (IMHO) combination of birdseye and flame, just found on the web. Yuck!

That looks like some kind of weird serpent or something.

I just can't get into highly figured wood like that, it makes the guitar look cold and lifeless to me.  I'm just a simple man though, my favorite finish is black.

donnyII wrote: yeah flamed maple looks completley stupid. Quilted maple sucks too.

Just dont tell my jag it's neck is flamed.  It might start doubting itself...

What's so funny to me is all this talk of "tone wood", when most of those "boo-tique" guitars that I have tried out feel cold and lifeless to me.  I really think a lot of hype behind those woods is the same as hype behind most clothes, because it "looks cool".  I played a Dean standard once, flame top, mahogany back, it sounded dull and lifeless. 

The best sounding guitar's I've played were made of some of the cheapest crap ever used.  I had a guitar I made out of southern yellow pine, it sounded incredible! Had another mate of pressure treated pine, a Jazzmaster copy I made using $45.00 worth of junk cast-off hardware, and that one sounded good.  Heck, my Jag-Stang has amazing tone, and it's made of the same stuff they make some wooden airplanes out.

That's why I like Foto Flame, the cool flame look, but with the tone of basswood.