warmoth custom or charvel?

[John.E.Fawkes]

have the money to either buy a model 88 charvel
a jackson san dimas, similar spec to the model 88, 1 hum, jt-6 etc
OR
do i buy a custom body & custom neck from warmoth and then buy a floyd and some pickups etc..
is the warmoth thing worth doing? how could a warmoth custom potentially compare to the charvel model series.
the neck ive been thinking of getting made on warmoth is as follow:

Style: Jackson
Construction: Warmoth Pro Angled
Scale: 25-1/2 in.
Neck Wood: $173.00 USD
Shaft Wood: Maple
Fingerboard Wood: Maple
Orientation: Right Handed Reverse+ $0.00
Nut Width: 1 11/16"+ $0.00
Back Shape: Standard thin+ $0.00
Radius: 10-16" compound+ $0.00
# of Frets: 22+ $0.00
Fret Size: SS6115 (Stainless)+ $20.00
Tuner Ream: Schaller (25/64", 11/32")+ $0.00
Inlays: No Inlay,Side Dots Only+ $0.00
Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: R3 Floyd Prep, w/ Mounting Holes+ $55.00
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt+ $0.00
Finish: No Finish+ $0.00
Price: $248.00

^charvel-ish?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

The quality of the end result on the Warmoth depends in part on who does the assembly and setup. Your specs look good as far as "Charvel-ish" - I like the 10-16" radius and the Standard Thin, I think they compare well to the Charvel necks I've played - not too thin, not too thick.

As far as the body, you're getting either a recessed Floyd, which isn't the old-school way, or a Flush Mount (Floyd w/angled pocket), which is NOT like the Model-series guitars. You could shim the pocket, though, if you want the non-recessed trem with lots of pull-up.

I really like mine. Whether it's worth it to you, I can't say. Keep in mind there is a fair amount of finishing to do, most of it you can definitely do it yourself, or you can pay someone to do it, but it's not quite "put the screws in, solder it up, and go."

[John.E.Fawkes]

i was going to go for the flush mount type, pull up doesnt bother me at all, i dont really pull up anyways
i was thinking i could just buy a pickup, volume pot, correct jack input, tuners & real floyd, then put it all together and go?
what other work might be needed?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Fret level/crown/polish and a dressing on the ends would be a good idea, that might be the only thing you couldn't handle (and maybe you could, I don't know.)

You can get by without it so long as you like the action fairly high and/or aren't picky about semi-sharp fret ends. My buddy plays his "as delivered" but I always round off the corners on the fret ends, do a level with some fallaway and roll the neck edges a little bit.

You need to fit the neck to the pocket a little, pound the Floyd bushings in, nothing too terrible, other than the fretwork stuff if you're a DIY setup kind of guy I doubt you'd have much if any trouble with it.

[John.E.Fawkes]

hmm, the setup i wouldnt have much a problem doing at all, just the levelling/crowning/polishing i'd have a bit of trouble with maybe
spose i could always get my local guitarshop to do the fretwork.
didnt realise warmoth didnt sort that stuff out before sending it off :/

still unsure whether to go for the warmoth and do a little bit of work, or just get the model 88 or jackson san dimas, they work out around the same price

[John.E.Fawkes]

what about mightymite? anything to say about them?
or for that matter any other custom companys to consider?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Well, Warmoth, they file the fret ends at an angle and all, but yeah, they don't do the level/crown/polish part as they consider that part of the assembly/setup stuff I guess. I prefer to have the neck heel bolted into the body it's going to be on when I do the leveling, although it "shouldn't" matter.

Anyway, none of the places do that that I am aware of - no one CLAIMS to do it, and you would think they would be like "Those other manufacturers that start with a "W" will send you a neck that needs fret-work but NOT US, ours are ready to go out of the box!"

IMO the guys who say "Well my Musikraft was ready to go" or whatever, they're either just not as picky as you might be, or as I am or they got lucky.

What I mean is, any of those places will occasionally ship a neck where every last fret is pressed in just perfect, and more often than not they'll ship you one that needs just a little leveling, and if you're not too picky about super nice and smooth fret ends like my buddy isn't, and you got one of those occasional perfect ones, you could just put it together and play it.

[sharkfinnish]

model 88 no contest.

[j2379]

find a used pro mod, specs mayb close enough & if u dont like it as long as u didnt mess it up, you can get what u paid for it. i also hava musikraft charvel replica, this one was assembled real nice. the musikraft is a bit lighter, has little ot no neck angle, & has a 50 footer paint job, it plays as good as any usa made ""customs" ive got.

[Mazrim]

Just get a second hand San Dimas 1 production model.
They're fucking ace.

Should be able to score a nice one for about £550-£600.

[straycat]

Parts guitars aren't all that cheap to build you'll still have $800.00 + in it when its all done.
IMO get the model 88 and save some cash use the left over cash to put a used pro mod in lay a way and pay it off.
When putting a parts guitar together there is a lot of pre-fitting and usually some minor wood removal here and there.
Most neck MFG's do a general tweak of the frets but very little.The only one I found that does an outstanding fret job that needs just a polish is USACG.Tommy rocks I love his necks.

[rstites]

I'm just chiming in to agree with straycat. I build a lot of parts guitars. They are not cheap compared to quality second hand instruments. I build them to get what I want and to experiment with different ideas, but if I was tight for money, I'd pick up quality second hand instruments and just swap out electronics when necessary.

[straycat]

I scarf old spare bodies and necks all the time.Get all the parts I need on the cheap too.
I have built some nice parts guitars out of stuff just laying around.
I have built some high end parts guitars too Warmoth,USACG's,and a few others and in the end had 1000 bucks in them counting up all the parts and paintwork and my time putting them together.
Sometimes its a lot cheaper to buy a good used USA Jackson/Charvel,ESP,Fernandes or whatever.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Comparing used Jackon/Charvel/etc. to a quality parts guitar isn't necessarily fair but then again it's not my money so, if they're both valid choices it's hard to argue a Warmoth or other custom parts guitar is a better investment... I mean, the resale sucks for one thing.

If you're talking new, and saying, um... $999 Pro Mod vs. $999 Warmoth parts guitar, the Warmoth will probably be a lot nicer. But again, you could sell the Pro Mod for $700 easy, and you'd be lucky to get $500 out of the Warmoth.

[straycat]

Well put Jazz.A name brand guitar will always bring more at resale.
Parts guitars are nice but wont bring back your investment at all.