Why do people prefer Musikraft/Guitar Mill necks over Warmoth?

[hamletpowpowpow]

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses!

I have bought from all three of these sources. My current Jaguar neck came from Sound Guitar Works. Awesome quality. I went with a full 1" boat profile, jumbo frets and binding. For the headstock work, I found an accurate-looking headstock shape on the internet, printed it to scale, trimmed it with scissors and taped it to the face of my headstock. I then traced the outline with a sharp pencil and used a coarse grit drum sanding attachment on my drill press ($10 at hardware store) to remove the bulky areas. Then I sat in front of the TV with a sanding block, sand paper and a few small files. An hour later and it's done. Easy. That's what I did with all my USACG necks. It's hard to screw up.

I'm actually kinda really considering Sound Guitar. I'm pretty sure that's where Danocaster gets his necks from - the headstock shape is identical, and I actually kinda dig the slight difference in the curve, that little extra notch. I know he used to get his necks from USACG, and most of the guys from there are now at Sound Guitar, so it makes sense that the headstocks are the same shape/quality. I know Dan Kirn buys his necks from Sound Guitar and he's pretty serious about this stuff.


@Jaguar018, @Deed_poll, @kingmedicine

All super helpful, I really appreciate the feedback. @Deed, I've taken yr advice about the Warmoth vintage construction very seriously. I think what it comes down to is really about how fast I wanna get this. Warmoth is getting back to me super fast, they have a 4 week turnaround, and are super awesome to deal with. Sound Guitar has been really nice, but a bit slower in their replies, they're saying 6-8 weeks. The Danocaster/Kirn endorsements mean a lot, for sure.

[TheWayfarer]

Musikraft lets me build the neck I want without random unavailable options. Quality has always been great.

Warmoth’s back profiles also leave a lot to be desired.

[HNB]

Scott (PST Guitars) finished my neck and it is on the way to me for dye, stain, and finish. It is sooo hot looking!! He made it thin like a wizard neck. I can't wait to get it in person.

received_318345575849006 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

received_358928105091193 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

[molul]

I'd like to know why Warmoth doesn't round necks edges. With everything they already do, this step doesn't seem that complicated.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I’ve had necks from all 3. I love Warmoth necks! My Musikraft Maple Jazzmaster neck with black blocks and binding is very nice too.

Can you please post a picture of your
musickraft neck?

I’m interested in maybe having them make a roasted maple neck with black blocks and binding..

[RIORIO]

Here you go

I had it finished in nitro by a builder here in LA.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Here you go

I had it finished in nitro by a builder here in LA.

Wow man... That is Gorgeous!!!
Thanks !

[Rgand]

Beautiful! I love the black binding and markers.

[Horsefeather]

Warmoth's Fender headstock shapes are really inaccurate. I discovered this with the Tele neck I bought from them. To make it even worse than just wrong, it also lacks material where it would be needed to correct the shape. They don't care , though.

This type comment makes me crazy. Inaccurate for WHICH headstock?? Fender changed headstocks all the time, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a LOT. Look at all these, scroll to the bottom to see them overlayed. So... WHICH headstock??

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... MjNiM2NmNA

Any of those Tele shapes. You cannot get a Warmoth Tele neck to match ANY of those shapes because there isn't enough wood where there needs to be. All real Fender Teles have a fairly squared transition at the top of the tip coming off the straight back edge whereas Warmoth's is all droopy and limp looking. No way to fix that. And it's obvious from a mile away once you've seen it.

Their Strat shape has almost no curve to the belly and it's missing material under the low E tuner in the transition that doesn't match any Fender shape in that headstock PDF. And their Jazzmaster shape is wrong too, although that one might be fixable.

[kdanie]

My point is that 99% of people don't know WHAT a Fender headstock really is.... It's multiple things, not just what they think it is. Because it doesn't match THEIR guitar or one they have seen doesn't mean it's not a real Fender headstock

ken

[N0_Camping4U]

I own one Musikraft, GuitarMill, and Warmoth. I had to go Warmoth to put on my Fender XII build. The headstock isn't quite right, and the blocks are Gibson style blocks. But Warmoth (at this time) was the only company to do blocks, bindings, and 12 string headstock. I always 'ball' out on the necks, spend big and get nice figuring, wood, fretboard etc. The Warmoth is the only neck that I've needed to take to the guitar shop here to have the frets leveled down. It was popping up in numerous spots. Not sure how as I take great care of all of my instruments and store them properly. I'm not -out- on Warmoth but it's the only neck that has needed work. Feels great, however. But ended up costing me more than any other neck due to that.

[Horsefeather]

Well, my point was that the Warmoth shapes don't match any of the numerous Fender versions and are therefore inauthentic and dubious as "replacement parts."

[CrazyOldHermit]

Warmoth's attitude isn't really to make "replacement" parts anyway, because the word replacement implies it's replicating what was already there. Warmoth definitely drives much more towards the "upgrade" market, with the biggest giveaway being a compound radius being a standard option and straight radiuses being an upcharge. IMO there is a difference.

Musikraft has modern options but they are definitely much more accommodating of vintage spec.

I find Warmoth to be rather frustrating. They nickel and dime the shit out of you for anything that does not match their standard, and have very little deviation from that standard to begin with. What frustrates me most is that they are Fender licensed, do in-house finishing and sell hardware. In theory, they should be a one stop shop were one to desire, say, a Jaguar with matching headstock, which would put them on a completely different level. But because there are so many little deviations, some completely absurd (such as not offering Jaguar pickup routes on Jaguar pickguards), they are not what they could be and in fact they have no interest in being that. Even the simple request for a vintage accurate Jazzmaster body and pickguard, which they do for the Strat and Tele, is shot down. Frustrating.

[AWSchmit]

As others have said, Warmoth's headstocks shapes are not 100% accurate. I think they get closest with their Jazzmaster and CBS shapes... Their standard Strat shape looks like a copy of a 2002 MIM rather than vintage, which is what I would prefer. I don't like their Tele shape at all, hence why I have never bought one. All that being said, if you are after a Jazzmaster or CBS style vintage spec neck, they are hard to beat. Their vintage construction comes stock with a straight 7.25" fret board with no upcharge. I have bought 4 or so necks with Vintage construction and I could not have been happier. I do take the extra step to roll the fret board edge and dress the fret ends myself, but this can be personal preference, and personally, I like doing it to my tastes rather than it possibly being over done and now it can't be undone. The upcharge for a straight radius on their other construction styles is a bummer though. But still usually cheaper than the alternative, so what are ya gonna do? My biggest gripe on them right now is that they don't offer a Mustang/Jaguar neck in Vintage construction... If they would do that I would say they have 95% of anything I could ask for, nailed. I recently ordered a Mustang neck from them and if I could have gotten it made with vintage one piece construction I would have been over the moon.

[hamletpowpowpow]

This is dope AF. I live in LA and couldn't find anyone doing nitro refinishing. Do you mind sharing your contact with me?

Here you go

I had it finished in nitro by a builder here in LA.