Pickguards for warmoth bodies?

[asimpletune]

Hi all, I have a warmoth jazzmaster body with standard routing (jm pickups + tremolo bridge), however I can't seem to find a pickguard that fits well. I saw on the warmoth website a part where they say they slightly changed the routing to accommodate a larger variety of bridge types.

My question is does that mean that I absolutely must buy a pickguard from warmoth? It's weird because I've seen pictures of warmoth bodies with non-warmth pick guards, but I'm not sure how people have managed to do it. Any insight would be appreciated.

[CorporateDisguise]

Yeah, Warmoth bodies need a Warmoth pickguard, unless you want to mod it. But even then, their routing and bridge location is slightly different. The Warmoth guards don’t go over the bridge thimbles, where standard guards do. I’m sure someone could custom cut something for you if Warmoth doesn’t offer the material you want.

[andy_tchp]

My question is does that mean that I absolutely must buy a pickguard from warmoth?

Unless you wish to route the body so the pickup routes match what Fender offer (this is how people have fitted a 'vintage' spec guard to a Warmoth body), then yes. The 'Warmoth pickguard doesn't follow around the bridge thimbles' part is the least of your worries with this.

They (Warmoth) altered the pickup locations in their Jazzmaster bodies for...reasons. Reasons only known to them.

I'm sure it's nothing to do with selling more of their own pickguards by making it near impossible to use common Fender/aftermarket pickguards.

[smjenkins]

I did something like this to my Warmoth JM back in 2012.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=54802&p=799253#p799253

I ended up routing that body so it could use standard US JM pickguards and then put a powdercoated metal pickguard on it:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=118617

If you want a black pickguard, I'd sell you that one for cheap. Just PM me.

[Embenny]

They (Warmoth) altered the pickup locations in their Jazzmaster bodies for...reasons. Reasons only known to them.

I'm sure it's nothing to do with selling more of their own pickguards by making it near impossible to use common Fender/aftermarket pickguards.

The reason is pretty clear. Despite being a giant factory depending on CNC, they don't have an in-house CAD/CNC engineer for bespoke designs or modifications. They have to contract out CNC design work and pay for it, so they moved the bridge pickup far enough to give clearance for every bridge they offer with one body template and one pickguard template. Same reason the pickguard stops where it does - one design that works with every single bridge.

You can thank the three people in the world who have ever wanted a Floyd Rose on a Jazzmaster for all this aggravation. It's the bridge that required the pickup to be moved 1/8" toward the neck.

The Jaguar got worse treatment than the JM. They literally have one universal/HH pickup rout and the vintage bridge. They didn't bother programming anything else. They didn't even bother paying the engineer to program Jaguar pickup routs for the pickguard (probably because you'd need another, shallower body rout template for wood-mounted pickups), so they just stuck strat pickups there. If you want a Warmoth Jag with single coils, they can only offer you pickguard-mounted strat pickups dangling in giant HH routs. No middle pickups, no jaguar pickups, no P90s or any other pickups whose dimensiond and routs they already have programmed in for other bodies and pickguards, no other bridges or tailpieces. Just HH routs, pickguard-mounted strat pickups or humbuckers, and the vintage bridge and vibrato, because they didn't ask for those when they had the toolpaths programmed and they'll be damned if they're gonna pay for more programming.

If you ever find yourself wondering why Warmoth can't offer an obvious option that shouldn't be difficult for a giant guitar factory to produce, the answer is always that they don't want to pay for more work from a CNC engineer.

[asimpletune]

I did something like this to my Warmoth JM back in 2012.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=54802&p=799253#p799253

I ended up routing that body so it could use standard US JM pickguards and then put a powdercoated metal pickguard on it:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=118617

If you want a black pickguard, I'd sell you that one for cheap. Just PM me.

Wow those are beautiful. I ended up ordering about 5 different pick guards from warmoth today, with the plan of returning the ones that I don't like. If nothing works I might just take you up on that offer. Thanks again!

[Cob]

Hi all, I have a warmoth jazzmaster body with standard routing (jm pickups + tremolo bridge), however I can't seem to find a pickguard that fits well. I saw on the warmoth website a part where they say they slightly changed the routing to accommodate a larger variety of bridge types.

My question is does that mean that I absolutely must buy a pickguard from warmoth? It's weird because I've seen pictures of warmoth bodies with non-warmth pick guards, but I'm not sure how people have managed to do it. Any insight would be appreciated.

Their body blank is based on a MIJ Jazzmaster. The MIJ JM pickguards will fit best.

[Fiddy]

I put a fender jagstang pickguard on a Warmoth Mustang body. A little filing of the neck pocket was all it took to fit.

[HNB]

When I put a US Jazzy guard on a Warmoth body, I just had to shave about 1/4" of wood along the bridge side edge of the bridge pickup. Wasn't a big deal. The thing that bugs me the most about warmoth bodies is the shallower body contours.

[HNB]

Here is a pic that shows where you adjust it to get a Fender guard to fit.

Inked25915395145_a4dfdbfdca_o_LI by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

[HNB]

I might have had to do the same with the neck pickup route, but I don't recall. LOL

[Sweetfinger]

If someone wants to send me a Warmoth pickguard, I can make a larger version that fits their body routing.