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Are Warmoth "Screamin' Deals" Necks Factory Seconds?

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  • #46
    I think (that is, IMHO) that if you've played on both smaller and larger radius fingerboards much that the compound radius doesn't require any thought or playing adjustment at all. I honestly never thought anything about it and nothing ever seemed or felt weird. Set up is just the same as ever. Get your string height close and check your neck relief under proper string tension and adjust. Then set your string height proper by measuring at the 12th fret. Then adjust for your specific guitars anomalies (some guitars seem to like small differences in string height due to their tone or resonance). I'm pretty picky about nut slot height as well and I do that next. Then intonation. The compound radius may change the actual radius of the bridge, but since it's all done by individual string height it really doesn't matter.
    "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

    "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

    "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
    You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

    Comment


    • #47
      Originally posted by Chuck H View Post
      I think (that is, IMHO) that if you've played on both smaller and larger radius fingerboards much that the compound radius doesn't require any thought or playing adjustment at all.
      I've got lots of experience with constant radius fingerboards. I'm happy as a clam on 7.5", 9.5" and 12", though I've never really liked a constant radius 16" fingerboard. They're great for soloing but just awful for chording. I can't stand a Jackson neck, but that's for a number of reasons that go beyond he fingerboard radius. the flat, wide and thin thing has never appealed to me.
      "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

      "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

      Comment


      • #48
        Totally agree. I think my wizard neck had a constant 14" and even that felt too flat and unusual in the first position. But, to me, the flatter radius always feels fine higher up. That's why I was willing to try the compound radius. I fully expected it to feel weird, but it didn't. And it's not just long time familiarity. I can pick up a guitar with a constant radius fingerboard without even noticing the difference. The exception being that the old Fender 7.25" radius feels ridiculous above the 12th fret to me. The 9.5" radius feels just ok. Still too round. the Gibson 12" constant radius feels fine though. I have a Yamaha with a 350mm (13.77") constant radius and it feels just fine. Where the Wizard neck just felt too much like a pancake both front and back the Yamaha just hints at starting to get "high performance" and the rounder back profile helps. Anyway... I think anyone that's played a lot of different guitars would be at home with the compound radius.
        "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

        "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

        "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
        You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

        Comment


        • #49
          This W* will be my first CR neck. I won't be getting around to mounting it for a while, still need to get other things done first. But in the interim I've been fondling it while I watch TV. The transitions do feel smooth and go by without notice. I think it's going to serve the desired purpose -- for me, that is being able to bend up high on a strat without having to raise the action really high to avoid fretting out.
          "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

          "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

          Comment


          • #50
            Progress Update: Tuner Installation

            Sorry for the delay, but this project is moving along at a glacial pace.

            I finally got around to doing the tuner installation today. I opted for Fender locking tuners, just to try something different. The Fender lockers use the Schaller-size pilot hole, which is 25/64" non-tapered. I had W drill the tuner holes as part of my order specification. They did a nice job on the 25/64" holes, as my drill bit fit nice and tight. But they didn't drill any pilot holes for the tuners' indexing pins. As you can see in the photo below there are only the 6 holes for the shafts of the tuners, and the holes for the indexing pins will be my responsibility:



            I decided to use the Fender locking tuners in the Chrome finish, Fender PN 0990818100. I managed to find them on-sale at MF for $32 shipped. They have two 3/16" x 1/8" indexing pins on each tuner. Here's a photo that I've borrowed from the web:



            The hardest part of the install was going to be drilling the 12 indexing pins in the right locations. StewMac sells a jig to do this that costs way too much money, so I ended up taking a lot of measurements with a pair of calipers and designing a jig out of a piece of scrap plastic L-bracket that my neighbor had left over from a window remodeling project. It took two tries to get it right, but the second attempt produced a jig that was perfect. I positioned a 25/64" drill bit in the tuner hole, placed the jig on top of it, and then drilled a shallow pair of test holes for the indexing pins using a 3/16" drill bit and a stop-gauge that I fabricated out of a piece of dowel. I installed all of the tuners and verified that their bodies were in alignment using a straightedge, and verified that all of the shafts were perpindicular to the top of the headstock. After verifying that everything was OK I went back and drilled full depth holes.

            Here's how it turned out:




            Just in case anyone decides to use these types of tuners on a project, be forewarned that having two indexing pins rather than a single indexing pin means that you'll have to be very precise about hole locations in order to get a smooth fit. With a little patience it's not hard to do.

            Click image for larger version

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            "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

            "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

            Comment


            • #51
              Finish?
              "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

              "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

              "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
              You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

              Comment


              • #52
                The neck is still naked, just as it came from the factory. I didn't want to do any finish work until I had drilled all of the holes, just in case I buggered something up along the way. Fortunately that wasn't a problem. Eventually it's going to get oiled.

                I couldn't resist the temptation to bolt everything together to get some play time on it, so I went ahead and installed the nut, bolted it together and strung it up. Nice fit. The W neck went onto the new Fender body without any need for shims or any other alignment issues. I've done the preliminary tremolo balancing act with a set of 10s and I've played it a bit.

                I'm liking the fatness of the "fatback" profile (no front to back taper, 1" all the way). The nut is high right now, so the action is a little high at the nut end, and I know that I'm going to have to make adjustments to the nut height, but I'm holding off on doing that until everything has a chance to settle in a bit under tension. My goal is to set this one up with 12s. One step at a time...
                Last edited by bob p; 04-22-2018, 03:39 AM. Reason: speling errurs
                "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

                "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

                Comment


                • #53
                  So Chuck, did you say that you are playing with a HB at the bridge position? I'm wondering what you did for a bridge, as my understanding is that the vintage strat bridge assembly has the 2-7/32 string spacing, which is wider than traditional HB string spacing. Most people that go to HSS on a strat seem to use the narrower 2-1/16 string spacing so they don't have to go with wider than normal HB pickups. Most HSS type strats use a narrower trem/bridge spacing than the vintage SSS so they can use stock HB pups.

                  Example:

                  Code:
                  Strat Type         6-screw pivot spacing    String Spacing
                  ----------------   ---------------------    ----------------------
                  Vintage SSS        2-7/32                   2-7/32
                  Hybrid SSS/HSS     2-7/32                   2-1/16
                  Mexican Strat      2-1/16                   2-1/16
                  Right now I'm sitting on the fence about SSS vs. HSS. I have the hybrid bridge option in the middle. I'm used to the Vintage SSS 2-7/32 spacing so this narrow spacing is taking some getting used to.
                  "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

                  "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Someone famous liked tongue oil on the neck... who was that?

                    Oh yeah it was Prince!
                    Click image for larger version

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                    Hmm that neck probably tests positive now...for any number of things...

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                    • #55


                      Tongue oil! LMAO!

                      I'll probably end up using TUNG oil instead.
                      "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

                      "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Originally posted by Chuck H View Post
                        Tung oil, FWIW ambers like crazy. My guitar is a tad browner and half as amber and it's over twenty years old. They must have surveys and panels that they bounce these decisions off because there's no way the entire replica market decided on f#@&ing orange arbitrarily. So I guess most shoppers like it.?.
                        Chuck, I'd like to see your 20 yo amber'd tung oil finish. Photos of new fake-amber synthetic finishes are a dime a dozen, but genuine aged seed oil? Can't say that I've seen any. Got pics?
                        "Stand back, I'm holding a calculator." - chinrest

                        "I happen to have an original 1955 Stratocaster! The neck and body have been replaced with top quality Warmoth parts, I upgraded the hardware and put in custom, hand wound pickups. It's fabulous. There's nothing like that vintage tone or owning an original." - Chuck H

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          I'll try to come up with some pics. Our digital camera took a "S" right after the warranty period, even though we didn't use it much. I don't use a smart phone so I'll need to have my wife take the pic and send it to my email and then retrieve it (small PITA but nbd).

                          As to string spacing... I have a Seymour Duncan JB mini in the bridge. That's the single coil sized one with the two narrow coils. I like it pretty well. Might be a little TOO fat if anything. Anyway, since it's made for a strat it spaces out for a strat, BUT...

                          The outer poles are actually a tad outside my string spacing. Still under the strings, but erring a little wide. The reason is that I'm using a non Fender bridge that (I believe) has the Mexican spacing. I've never taken any finite measurements, but I chose the narrower bridge because I HATE strings being too close to the finger board edges. I like a little room there so that when I'm wanking there's less chance of pulling or pushing a string over the fret edge. Strats run too close anyway for me and I've played strats that have strings SO close to the edges that I can feel the edge of the board under my fingers. Pleh. Give me some wiggle room instead, thank you. But I have long, narrow fingers. I don't think the tiny, overall difference in spacing would be otherwise noticeable, but if had sausage fingers maybe I'd notice the narrower spacing.?. YMMV but there's a piece of practical partscaster build experience to consider.
                          "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

                          "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

                          "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
                          You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            I've used Libron Finishing oil, which is probably mostly tung, to great effect on both body and neck of my 8 string

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                            • #59
                              There are a lot of products out there. Most are a combination of some sort of wiping varnish and hard oils with a little solvent thrown in. Real tung oil takes 2 days to a week to dry between coats!!! My patience was sorely tested. The stuff i used was an OOoold can from the store room in a paint shop I worked for. It was old when I found it twenty five years ago and the product no longer existed in any company inventory. It was a quart can and just said "Dunne Paints" and "Tung Oil". But the results were good. Watco is probably the most popular, mostly tung oil and some other seed oils and is used happily by some builders here. Trying to stack coats takes almost as long as tung oil. True oil gets some press here too, but I don't care for boiled linseed oils, they feel stickier to me. My current favorite product is Seafin Teak Oil. I have no idea what's in it, but it goes on like tung oil and the finished product feels a lot like tung oil. But since you can stack coats on successive days I have to assume it's a wiping varnish with some hard oils in it. I have some pool cues, a big wooden bowl, a small table and chairs and some decorative wood around that I've used it on. Not to mention a number finishing jobs I've done for customers as a painter. I will almost certainly use it for my next guitar project. One reason is that I'm in the PNW now and waiting for real tung oil to dry could mean a month between coats! The humidity is rarely below 60% and usually in the 80's.
                              "Take two placebos, works twice as well." Enzo

                              "Now get off my lawn with your silicooties and boom-chucka speakers and computers masquerading as amplifiers" Justin Thomas

                              "If you're not interested in opinions and the experience of others, why even start a thread?
                              You can't just expect consent." Helmholtz

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                I've had good luck in the past with this polymerized tung oil:

                                Polymerized Tung Oil - Lee Valley Tools

                                I found it produced a nicer finish than the Watco 'Danish' oil. It's been a long time since I've used it, but recently I saw a mahogany neck I finished with it about 15 years ago and it was still looking good and smooth. That probably had a dozen or more coats, but you can do a coat a day with no problems. Using it on mahogany was an experiment; I wasn't sure how well it would work on a softer wood but it seems to have held up really well. I haven't used that oil in quite a while but I think I'll get some more for a maple tele neck I'm finishing up. It has straight tung oil on it right now, which is smooth, but in line with what Chuck said above, it's never quite felt entirely dry. Not wet per se, but the sort or surface dust sticks to. It's not quite the northwest here, but generally fairly damp too.

                                Andy

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