Warmoth Fender Telecaster Custom Koa Guitar Build - Taylor Swift / Grant Mickelson
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Documenting my latest Warmoth guitar build with guest builder: tech/luthier Chris Roberts from Roberts Custom Instruments. This guitar build is intended to compare with similar spec Shur and Anderson models. Also featured are two good friends of mine, Grant Mickelson (lead guitarist for Taylor Swift for the past 8 years, among other A-list bands), and Michael Gomez (lead guitarist for the award winning band, Unspoken. Hope you all enjoy!
**Mahogany (chambered) body, HIGHLY figured koa (carved) top, solid roswood neck, turquoise dots, locking tuners.
This video is incredibly helpful for those of us planning partscaster builds! Thanks! Warmoth owes you a debt of gratitude for the marketing and lesson :)
There's no feeling like that sense of accomplishment you get after building a custom project, whether it's modifying a car, building/modifying a guitar, or even building a simple table out of 2x4s and plywood. It's something that you built and no one can ever take that experience away from you.
Amen brother
Every Warmoth guitar build I have done has been excellent ! And I enjoy them more than the other brand name Guitars I own.Choose the best parts and you get the best Guitar.
The single best looking /sounding Tele I've ever seen! Gonna do it!!!
Finally a professional video on a Warmoth build. Thank you so much. Learned a lot! Best wishes!
That Koa top is priceless!! Just Wow! Sounds great too.
What a killer guitar. That piece of Koa is one for the books!!! The sound... Wow. Nothing better than a solid body with SD hummers.
Greg's Garage in the video or in the comments he mentions its a chambered body.
Well, a hollow body with SD humbuckers is better xD
8:38 "...makes a huge difference in the way the tone is gonna be presented..." "The way the tone is presented." Boy that's some serious salesman lingo.
@Boony Tooty are you saying him pointing that out is annoying you?
@Boony Tooty or are you talking about the salesman.
Warmoth is a killer shop. I have built four guitars with their bodies/necks. Two Strats, a Tele and an SG. Stunning looks, stunning quality and assembled by the best tech on planet earth (me) lol Only because I care about it so much I used the highest quality parts I can find.
My #1 is a Warmoth Strat that I built several years ago using pieces and parts that I spec’d to reflect what I see as the very best possible Hot Rod Strat that still maintains an original look until you look closer. It has a a half scallop, a Super Vee double locking trem, and a very complex pickup wiring setup. The best of all possible worlds. Warmoth is terribly underrated in my opinion. With a little vision and a reasonable investment in high quality hardware, it really is possible to build something of exceptional quality without having to spend your kid’s college funds 😁
What I love about warmoth is they can actually be very affordable, it's mostly the cosmetic features that make it expensive. If looks don't matter to you, you could build a guitar better than a fender for the price of a squier
I’m seeing a lot of comments about how bad the knobs look, but I think they look fine and people should stop being so critical. The guitar sounds great!
Man I'm convinced that's gotta be the most beautiful Tele I've ever seen. I have a pair of BRIERLEY custom made Pups that have been sitting in a box for years. I'm going for it.
I have an unfinished rosewood neck on my Warmoth build. Absolutely love it.
He opens the box, and the guitar body is already finished. This is my kind of guitar build. The no work kind. What a beautiful body that thing has with a beautiful finish. The frets are little small for my tastes, but it has great intonation, but it looks a little bit hard to play. I need to take a look at this process. This is an awesome way to go I think.
Coloring by numbers. Was waiting on artistry. And no off button on the delay. Awesome.
Nice guitar build. What I couldn't believe was when he picked up that Black & Decker drill - and it actually worked! I have the same drill and the battery holds a charge for about 5 minutes.
Makita ftw
Such a coinsedence I stumble with your video cause a friend of mine is building me a custom guitar and michael Gomez is in it, He's a really dear friend of mine, fellow compatriot. Cheers and thanks for the inside !
Oscar Estrella cool!!
The sound dynamics are crazy on that guitar. Wide range of tone.
Gorgeous guitar
Gorgeous looking guitar. Sounds good too, plenty of options with the pick ups. I think the headstock is crying out for a bit of abalone inlay.
I love the look of the body right out of the box
I really know what are you talking about. I have made already 5 guitars and I love them. They are mine and no one has it. The satisfaction when you play it is great. I own Fender Ibanez Gibson Yamaha but the ones i have made, they suit to me more then the brand guitars i have
I am so very in love with this build
Why thank you :)
I see a lot of diatribe in these comments. This is a fucking STUNNING instrument that would easily retail for 4K comparably. Congrats brother
Daniel Lesniak lol. Thanks man, kinda makes you lose faith in humanity a little bit doesnt it? 😂
Man!! it's beautiful and sounds amazing!!! Kudos for that!!
That guitar is stunning. Great job and thanks for sharing.
Great work !
That is absolutely beautiful. Now I want to make one. Thanks for the video.
Marty Mcmannis thanks for the comment! You should make one, its so much fun!!!
this is one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen. if only I could afford Warmoth parts
They’re incredibly affordable. Maybe not Hawaiian Koa wood with a full Indian Rosewood neck, but Fender spec alder and maple bodies and necks are stupid cheap.
Only thing holding me back from making my own custom guitar like this... is resale value. Just in case I didn't like my creation for whatever reason.
All in all, wicked build dude.
The flame in that koa is awesome !
That body is amazing!!!
That’s a gorgeous body, wow. I bought a couple of warmoth guitars last week , from a widow of a guitar player . They were almost unplayed and really great guitars. Bought them for reselling but decided to keep them after all. I am now tempted to build something like this :-) .
Once you get started you can't stop! DIY till I DIE!
That guitar is amazingly beautiful except for those knobs.
Geez, that is a beautiful guitar
There's nothing like the feeling of strumming a guitar for the first time that you, yourself built! It's incredibly satisfying! It's easy to go to a store and buy something, but when you make it yourself, you have a bond with that instrument. I'm so thankful that I've found the hobby of building guitars. I love it!☺
I love this vid! I had put warmoth stuff on my list and the total was like $3460. So I book marked it and the name of the bookmark was "click when I make a fortune" Haha!
Beautiful guitar.. I've been looking at building a Warmoth Tele for awhile.. thanks for posting 👍
Brian Bagby absolutely, thanks for the comment!!
Thank you for this video! I been looking towards building one; youve clarified all my doubts!
That came out great! Sounds amazing too
JohnPerryMusic thanks! I think so too :)
That is a beautiful guitar! I have 6 Warmoth Strats. I enjoy playing them as much as assembling them. When I think I have too many Strats I decide to sell one. After I sit down and play it goodby I fall in love with it all over again and can't sell it. The compound radius necks rule. I guess I'll own them until I die, and yes, they are an expensive build. I could buy at least two off the shelf Fender Strats for the cost of one Warmoth build, but I think they're worth it.
depends on what you build I guess. a standard black or cherry strat build from warmoth is much cheaper compared to the cost of an off the shelf American standard strat with similar or even identical specs. warmoth doesn't start really getting expensive until you go into the kind of build like I did in this video.
Nice guitar, and great tips, thanks for sharing.
Roy Rodriguez thank you!
Beautiful guitar. I'm in the process of building my own Warmoth Koa on Alder Thinline tele . Roasted Flame Maple neck with Turquoise dot inlays. So it was cool to see another similar guitar.
This video got me started building guitars....
I enjoyed this video a lot! Beautiful guitar! 👍🏻
Carlos Gunz thanks!!
I've gotta be honest, ol boy with his zipper jacket would have had to take that thing off before he touched this amazingly beautiful guitar. That is of course if it was mine. But sadly it isn't. Anyways, great job on the choice of woods. She is beautiful!
Epic build. That top though....wow! If I just had a little more practice building, I would order parts to build my own... I'll stick to lower budget project guitars for now. Great vid.
Nice assembly, very nice! I would not call it building, but whatever. Looks awesome, sound killer.
dude with the jacket. wtf? putting a zipper on someone else's guitar. really?
totally get it, my balls were tight the whole time he was playing lol. He's a real piece of shit too so that didn't help lol
I agree with you. Also, when he, a supposed top, professional player puts aesthetics over purpose? Function before form, always !! I don't care if the guitar looks like shite if it plays/sounds better than a 'beauty queen' guitar. It's 'nice' to have both looks and a guitar that plays and sounds good, but the latter counts more with all music, always.
it's how they get that worn in look
Professional idiot.
@@PopGunEnt why'd you let him play it if you don't even like him?
why put the worlds ugliest knobs on this beautiful guitar!!!
I've always loved the knobs on the old Parker Fly guitars. These knobs were the closest I could find to those and Warmoth happened to have them. I absolutely love how small they are and the rubber grip on them is amazing. They're small, light, out of the way, smooth, fit the rest of the look of the guitar perfectly. But more than any of that, I love that I can't think of any other production guitar that has these knobs. Wanting this to be as "one of a kind" as I could make it. I didn't want to put standard tele or les paul knobs on a guitar I was designing to be unique.
fair play its your axe have it the way you like, just my opinion.
I was going to say the same thing. Chrome pickup's and bezels would have been nice too.
XC2long4u ; chrome is for bathroom fixtures.
they look like the old military knobs jerry garcia had on his custom guitars, i like em too!
Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but the dude with the leather jacket full of zippers would have removed it before handling the guitar if it were mine. A little respect goes a long way. Not everyone likes the road rash look, especially when it comes to premium woods and a price tag in excess of two thousand dollars. Even in today's times for some of us mere mortals, two grand is a lot of money. Very nice guitar by the way!! Just makes me kind of cringe seeing the cheese grater jacket scraping all over it...
haha, no you're not a jerk. and I agree but I was so focused on filming and recording his performance I didn't even notice. Looking back, the fact that he is such a giant douche I should've just told him to take his jacket off or leave, but he thinks he's such a rock star and I needed to get his performance (which sucked anyway) so I didn't even think about it in the moment lol
Well said, I thought much the same. I began as a nipper studying classical guitar and it was drummed into me, in the old cold rooms in the 70's, to not even wear shirts with buttons. I can't help but swing my belt buckle to my left side before picking up a guitar.
yes, but does it djent
No you're not being a jerk at all, I'm right with you on this one.
Lol, first thing I thought of. Then the unavoidable cringe when I saw that he was still wearing the jacket while playing that guitar!
That wood is awesome.
Good sounding guitar 👍
Also have an all Warmoth Custom Tele, quilted maple over mahagony with SD Antiquities. Not a pure tele, but super versatile, warm to spanky.
Great build!
Elvis thanks Elvis!
That guy can sure play guitar, but he's got that "I need to speak to the Store Manager" Haircut...
Probably something of a requirement given the acts he's supporting. The nose-ring and 2-tone beard are keeping him from going "full Karen".
I’d add some nice glass/clear speed knobs, similar to a les Paul’s, would look beautiful on that guitar. Nice build
DRILL 2.0 I’ll def consider it!
That's a really nice guitar. I've seen Warmoth necks before, but not the one piece rosewood type. Beautiful Koa wood, especially that grain the tech dude mentioned. The turquoise fret markers good great on that dark fingerboard. I don't like those knobs, but that's just my opinion. I've been considering a kit build, but it seems Warmoth has a much better diy selection of bodies, necks, pickups, etc. Thanks for posting.
It's truly a gorgeous guitar! Probably would easily cost 2-3 times what you have in it if you had it custom made! Nice job!👍😎🎸🎶
74dart man ugh. Exactly. Thank you!!!
Dustin Kirkendall yep!☺
Beautiful guitar
“Some companies that shall remain nameless” 5 sec later ...”Hamer” lol
I lol'd there as well.
No, Hamer wasn't one of the companies that put on a thin veneer of top wood, they would widen the binding to cover the thickness of a properly thick carved top and it would look weird.
Super nice guitar brother! I've always wanted to build a Warmoth strat or tele.
Jeebus. That's beautiful.
You should be happy with guitar, it looks and sounds amazing. Warmoth Rocks! Very quality parts. I’ve put together a few guitars and never have had to dress the frets. Just bolt on, set up and go! I have put Warmoth necks on non-Warmoth bodies which generally has gone well. Absolutely flawless when using all Warmoth wood. Their parts really work great together.
I play 12’s and wish I had thought about mentioning this to Warmoth before they cut my nut! One less thing to setup.
One thing they won’t do, Nitro finish on their bodies. There finish work is generally really great, but the choice of lacquer offered is all they will do...Poly 😣You can get their necks done in Nitro. Other custom fittings are available at a price (funky bridge, etc.)
druwk thanks for the comment!
Also, a full thickness cap can also have a veneer on it, the Ibanez SZ 520 has a full maple cap with reveal binding and a quilted veneer.
That is a beautiful guitar, love the rosewood neck. For me personally the volume knob is way to close to the pickup switch. I couldn’t imagine messing with those during a gig.
Gold or black hardware on koa would have really rocked it!
Added this for my guitar build playlist! Thanks for this so much loved the video and the advice!
That Warmoth "Warhead" shape kinda grows on you, especially on a custom guitar. Ditto the position markers...Nice!
I hated it at first, but you're right. after a while and looking at all the terrible custom and boutique designs out there, this one is actually pretty slick. and it looks perfect on a tele body
Those inlays are absolutely stunning - they look like they're glowing compared to the dark wood - awesome look! I built my own partscaster in 2009 and it is still the best guitar I have. I also build my own pedals - hit me up :)
Beautiful
thats an awesome looking top man
I know right??
Great video, great explanations along the way. My 2 cents, put the strap buttons on before the neck is attached, hammer in the ferrules before anything is on the front of the guitar, and an overlooked detail is non F-spaced bridge pickup.
Great build. Premium parts. Great guitars.
I love the natural finish and that neck with side adjustment mechanism from Warmoth.
* I just find it odd that there are a lot of focusing and stability issues coming from a photographer / videographer. Fstop probably too shallow?
But overall, that guitar is a killer.
They should offer hex screws as an option. Philips are junk! You can see the bit jumping out when he attaches the neck.
Had to grit my teeth when I heard that screw gun jump that screw😰
@@GCKelloch Oh wow, really? That's amazing, thank you thank you that's such an incredible comment you changed my life.
@@GCKelloch I said, they should offer it as an option. You tell me I can do it myself. What exactly would I be showing gratitude for? Your comment provided exactly zero value, and was a complete waste of time and internet data bandwidth.
Fantastic suggestion to trace the layout for the electronics.
Beautiful build. This convinces me that custom build is the way to go once you figure out the style of guitar you prefer. Its pricy at $2k but you got everything you wanted. Id love to know how much your luthier charged to assemble? Im also curious how the pricing would compare with a Kiesel order.
for my build Kiesel was $1500 more for the same specs as Warmoth.. Warmoth feels more like family when you talk to them
It's beautiful!
Danielle Scribbins thank you! I think so too :)
I have an MIM basic strat, neck, body built in same plant as US made ones, yes cheaper woods, cast vs forged bridge, plastic nut vs bone, budget tuners vs made by gotoh OEM's, budget electronics, set up well-makes biggest difference. Numerous people have talked about how well this played over their MIA strats. with solid body electrics the tonewood bit is likely more myth. A good neck/fret job, average tuners and mid level bridge with some mass to it and your there. I think our visual perceptions influence us more than our ears quite a bit of the time if we're not remaining aware of this, myself included. Of course who would want to figure out a 500-$700(new) guitar sounds as good as a 1500 on up guitar you've just spent your money on. though higher quality bridges/tuners/nuts and electronics do last longer.
Getting close to pulling the trigger on my own Warmoth build. One thing i learned was the drilling of the pickup rings. I was like why aren’t those fully mounted before he strings the guitar? Then i realize its to line up the poles with the strings....Duh. Well for that I thank you for posting this video!
That's an awesome build! It has me excited to finish up my own Warmoth build (ash/flame maple Strat with roasted flame neck.) Did you polish the frets or round off the fret ends at all? If not, is it much of an issue for you? I'm on the fence about it. Those pickups sound amazing, what are those?
For the folks commenting on price, I would say to shop the in-stock stuff. I got my body and neck out of the showcase, and they have a ton of less-expensive, pre-made options if you aren't specifically looking for one exact configuration. Moreover, you don't have to buy it all at once. I like Warmoth because you can buy things piece by piece to get a better deal, and assemble when it's all ready. Plus, the time you have invested makes it mean a bit more (at least to me.)
Great video!
thanks for the comment!! we did zero fretwork and it plays like a dream. the frets are stainless steel though.
Awesome guitar
JOE Butkins thank you! I agree!!!
i went to the warmoth site before the vid was even over :D
Diego Garcia - love it!!
I did come back & finish the vid though. Very nice build!!!
i was waiting for the ugly knobs i love them !!!!
douglas jardine yas!
try out a phiga bolt with a middle tone knob please
I was wondering about the wiring cavity and what was painted into it? Was that some kind of conductive paint that could be grounded to prevent feedback? Also, were the pickups screwed into the body wood, solid or suspended? Also, would you consider doing a through neck design build? This vid was really informative- thank you for posting.
Beautiful guitar. You nailed it. Better than Suhr or Anderson.
Looks great nice job!!!!!
Fantastic build,Don't get any better.Only thing that killed me is watching these guys play this beautiful guitar with Zippers on there jackets.To each is own.I know I wouldn't do it.
It's all about using QUALITY electronics and HARDWARE!
Nicely done.
I just drill through the mounting hole on the tuners with them locked down from the nut on top. No need to mark holes and remove them once they are aligned.
Hi Dustin. This video is so cool because it demonstrates what a great option it is to build your own custom guitar. It´s almost my dream guitar and I´m sorry to ask this if you´ve already replied to someone else but did your tech had to do any extra fret jobs? or did the neck and frets required no additional work? what are the pickups you`re using? they sound fantastic. Thanks and congratulations on your guitar.
Adolfo Quiros no additional work needed. Bridge is a JB and the neck we switched out to a vintage dimarzio.
Adolfo Quiros thanks for you comment!!
Right on the money
This guitar looks great (knobs are not so nice but it is just my opinion and it is not important) and sounds good. Natural color finish is really nice... So thank U for this video.
thanks for watching and commenting!!!
Gorgeous guitar almost would not want to play it just hang it on the wall like a piece of art, I have to agree with some of the other comments could have used different knobs maybe something chrome a la telecaster otherwise beautiful enjoy it
I actually bought that neck though for my "Barncaster" which was made from salvaged wood from a friend's farm. Great Tone though!
Would have liked to see you install that direct mount middle pickup...
All of the parts for this guitar were purchased through Warmoth. The total cost was $2060.00, yes I had my friend build it, normally he would've charged around $200.00. If I hadn't been filming I'd have built it myself as I've done several times. I built this guitar specifically to compare with Suhr / Tom Anderson koa models. The most basic Suhr Koa that I could find was a simple solid body (mine is chambered) VERY low grade koa body (mine is the highest grade you can purchase anywhere) with NO finish (mine is high gloss) and a standard mahogany neck (mine is solid one piece rosewood) - and no frills (mine has binding, upgraded dots, etc.). That Suhr is priced currently at $4000.00 - I spent exactly half that for this entire build. Any of you arguing the price and validity / value of a build like this simply haven't done your homework. Yes you can get a standard fender for around the same price, but who the hell wants to spend 2k on something that everybody and their mother can buy at the local Guitar-Mart? And even if you do have the 4k to spend on a Suhr or Anderson, you're still getting a production guitar. This is now a complete one of a kind, go try and build the same thing through Warmoth... you won't be able to, worst case scenario, two or three people in the world try to copy this build. As a musician that finds an extreme value in rare instruments... I'll take my money, and those odds, and go with a Warmoth or some other custom build like MJT.
Yes it's a beautiful guitar. What would be a George Gruhn appraisal?
no idea, nor would it matter in the slightest. Gruhn is an expert at appraising and assigning value to vintage, production instruments. This guitar is neither. I didn't buy/make it to be valued by anyone other than me. I value it at what a similar current production model of the same quality would be - right around 6-7k.
Reply
I don't consider $2060 an inexpensive guitar. I couldn't afford that!
I've never put much into what's on the headstock once I grew up and learned that with some applied woodworking and basic electrical/soldering skills, time and patience you can, just as you've done here magnificently, build your own solid body electric. Accoustics are a tad trickier of course. At the end of the day it's your fingers that do all the talking not what's written on the headstock. Damn fine job digger.
john beaman I did a warmoth build about 2 Years ago. I got the body , neck and bridge from warmoth and the electronics, tuners and and other hardware on eBay. Total cost was about $1100. But yea he said a squire or epiphone cost the same...but a warmoth build is always over a grand
''I'm a music producer'' ''I'm around musicians alot'' yet the microphone in the into sounds like someone put a brick in my washing machine. Beautifull guitar tho! I'ts nice to see great craftsmanship for an relatively good price. great vid.
4:01 The grain is the grain, but the flame (or quilt/birds eye) is the figure.