Warmoth Vintage Pro and Tele Headstock Q

[59burst]

Hi -

Does anyone here have any experience or comments on the Warmoth "Vintage Modern" tele necks? I am looking for a tele neck, and I see I can't get a 9.5" radius on Warmoth total vintage neck. In order to get a 9.5" radius, it seems I need to go to the "Vintage Pro" construction. It has 22 frets, which is fine by me, but the truss rod adjustment is at the headstock. While that seems convenient, is there any disadvantage to that? Is the "Vintage Modern" tele neck a good one?

Also, I've looked carefully at Musikcraft tele replacement necks and even though they are licensed by Fender, the shape seem subtly different than a vintage Fender headstock - the high E tuner is closer to the end of the headstock (easily noticeable if you look at the back and have Klusons on it) than on a vintage Fender. I can't quite suss out the USACG tele headstock in this regard, as the shape is different.

Does anyone notice this shape difference, or am I hallucinating?

Thanks!!!

[fullerplast]

"Vintage Modern" construction will get you closest. Same single truss rod as the vintage, except adjustable at the headstock. The only other difference is 22 frets. You'll have a $35 charge for any fixed radius you want.

The "Vintage Pro" construction gives you the double expanding truss rod which has greater stability and adjustability but will change the tone and weight more due to the truss rod difference.

[59burst]

I live in San Francisco, and the climate seems to be stable - I rarely have to adjust the truss rod on any of my guitars, so I'm not put off by access at the body. I take it there is no disadvantage (either headstock strength or tonal) to having the adjustment at the headstock)?

Assuming I can come to terms with the Warmoth headstock shape, i.e, convince myself that the high E tuner is not too close to the end of the headstock, I plan to order a flame maple neck and mate it with an ash body and set it up with vintage spec hardware with Lollars, including a CC at the neck position.

[fullerplast]

I live in San Francisco, and the climate seems to be stable - I rarely have to adjust the truss rod on any of my guitars, so I'm not put off by access at the body. I take it there is no disadvantage (either headstock strength or tonal) to having the adjustment at the headstock)?

Assuming I can come to terms with the Warmoth headstock shape, i.e, convince myself that the high E tuner is not too close to the end of the headstock, I plan to order a flame maple neck and mate it with an ash body and set it up with vintage spec hardware with Lollars, including a CC at the neck position.

Technically, I would think that the headstock adjustment may be slightly weaker, due to the access hole but I don't think I've ever heard of a neck breaking there either (that wouldn't have also broken without a hole). Tonally, I don't think you would be able to tell a difference and there's no way of proving it either way.

I'm not at all sure what your headstock shape concern is...here's a photo, maybe you can use it to describe your concern?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v83/fullerplast/warmoth2.jpg

[Dave Orban]

I'd probably look at the USA Custom Guitar neck, and then reshape the headstock yourself, if you feel the need to. I just did that on one Tele build.

FWIW, I just put together another Tele with a Musikraft all-rosewood neck, and it's possibly the best guitar neck I've ever played...!

I haven't examined how precisely it matches the stock Fender profile, but then, I don't care if it's THAT "precise"...

[59burst]

I'm not at all sure what your headstock shape concern is...here's a photo, maybe you can use it to describe your concern?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v83/fullerplast/warmoth2.jpg



Here is a front view of a vintage Fender tele headstock (from Elderly Instruments). Note that the high E tuning post is slightly "behind" the lowest part of the ball end of the headstock.
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m223/59burst/30U-13505_headstock-front.jpghttp://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m223/59burst/30U-13505_headstock-back.jpg

I recently had a Tele built for me with a Musikcraft licensed neck and the high E tuning post was pretty much right above the low point of the headstock ball end, and the small pointed mounting plate for the high E tuner was much closer to the edge of the back of the headstock. I noticed it right away looking at the front of the headstock, and I went to all my Tele books to confirm. You can see this on some builder's sites who use Musikcraft licensed necks.

Obviously, there is no tonal consideration, but it didn't look right to me immediately, even though it is licensed.

Of course, Tele headstocks have changed subtly through time, too.

[59burst]

FWIW, I just put together another Tele with a Musikraft all-rosewood neck, and it's possibly the best guitar neck I've ever played...!

I haven't examined how precisely it matches the stock Fender profile, but then, I don't care if it's THAT "precise"...

I recently played a Tele with a Musikcraft neck and it was an awesome neck. But the headstock was (as far as I could tell, I could of course be mistaken) slightly different from a vintage Fender headstock, and given how similar it was, I got a little obsessed with it! It might have been easier for me if it hadn't been as similar. :messedup

[fullerplast]

I recently had a Tele built for me with a Musikcraft licensed neck and the high E tuning post was pretty much right above the low point of the headstock ball end, and the small pointed mounting plate for the high E tuner was much closer to the edge of the back of the headstock. I noticed it right away looking at the front of the headstock, and I went to all my Tele books to confirm. You can see this on some builder's sites who use Musikcraft licensed necks.

But what does that have to do with "coming to terms with the Warmoth headstock"? Musikcraft uses a different shape.:confused:

[59burst]

But what does that have to do with "coming to terms with the Warmoth headstock"? Musikcraft uses a different shape.:confused:

Apologies - I wasn't quite clear originally (not uncommon for me not to be clear!).

I've noticed what I perceive to be a difference in the Musikraft headstock as compared to a vintage Fender headstock.

I can't quite tell if USACG has that characteristic.

I'm looking at Warmoth now, and had some questions about the truss rod access, and was asking if anyone had experience with the "Vintage Modern".

When I wrote "coming to terms with the Warmoth headstock", I meant that I still need to look closely at it and compare to vintage ones. But before I got into that, I was looking for general comments on tone and construction. I hope I'm being clear. :o

Your comment that it is a different shape than Musikraft is helpful -thanks!

[Dave Orban]

Vintage pieces, being really hand-made, are all over the place, in both shape and positioning, so you'd really have to look at a whol bunch, and decide which one is YOUR benchmark...

The quality control on contemporary stuff is MUCH more consistent.... which is not to suggest that they're better.... just that there is more consistency, from piece to piece.

[59burst]

Vintage pieces, being really hand-made, are all over the place, in both shape and positioning, so you'd really have to look at a whol bunch, and decide which one is YOUR benchmark...

The quality control on contemporary stuff is MUCH more consistent.... which is not to suggest that they're better.... just that there is more consistency, from piece to piece.

Dave - you're right on that. I do see variation in the vintage ones. But I haven't come across any in my books or looking at pics on the web that place the tuners where the Musikraft one does.

There's nothing wrong the Musikraft shape, of course. It just is different than the vintage ones I see, and it just happens to be the thing I'm obsessing over at this point in time. :crazy

I've never worried about my USACG strat headstock shape or if the knobs on my R8 match the originals, but for some reason, this thing just jumped out at me!!!