Building a guitar

An unfinished all rosewood neck is only $15 or so more expensive than a finished maple/rosewood neck plus rosewood doesn't need a finish. In my opinion the extra cost is worth it just for the look of the neck.

My other thoughts for woods are Bubinga, Goncalo Alves or Wenge with a rosewood board which would cost the same as the all rosewood neck or upgrading to a Pau Ferro board which would add $10 to the final price but my current preference is the all rosewood option. However everything could change once I get the body.

Not got the new body, I'm still waiting for Trademark to come back with a price for it. However I have made some choices for the new neck:

All rosewood
Jumbo frets (6150s IIRC)
preinstalled graphite nut (saves me a bit of hassle)
Gibson style neck size.

Yeah I do, I must admit I was expecting something paler but it's still a really nice body and the the grain is excellent.



My initial thoughts for a bloodwood/pau ferro neck for this body are definitely not suitable as I don't think the colour of the bloodwood would go well with that finish.

Well I will agree that the hardware I bought from them is top notch but I'm not buying the wooden bits from them again, I am investigating different options for the neck currently Satine with a Pau Ferro fretboard looks tempting and should look great on Trademark's body plus it wouldn't need a finish. I'm going to wait until I've got the body before ordering the neck though and I intend to have a lot of discussions with Warmoth about what I need.

Thanks for the offer Trademark, PM sent.

Currently my only options are Trademark's very kind offer and Warmoth as Carvin don't ship abroad and the local dealer don't stock parts. I might as well post my initial thoughts for the Warmoth parts but there are still a few bits to be determined such as the neck finish:

Body: universal rout, Wilkinson bridge rout made from either maple, mahogany or walnut (this depends on neck finishing costs).

Neck, total vintage construction, fat back, 6130 frets, gotoh/grover tuner holes, maple/rosewood, finish yet to be decided.

EDIT: Typical, the brass nut arrived this morning and it doesn't fit the neck I've got.


Edited by N Ellingworth - April 12 2008 at 04:13

I will but I'm currently researching unfinished bodies and necks from Warmoth and Carvin it seems that Carvin are the cheaper option but are not compatible with standard fender spec hardware due to the neck mounting system Carvin use. I think at this stage with my woodworking abilities (or lack of) I need to buy a body and neck from the same manufacturer which are certain to fit together.

One thing I want to ensure is that I do use the Wilkinson trem and electrics which were the most expensive part of the original purchase, I'm hopeful that the neck I've got will be usable with an old body I've got hanging around with some filling and redrilling so not all is lost.

Unfortunately it's a 'b' spec body and is non returnable, my fault for buying a cheap body.

EDIT: Had a discussion with my parents and they're willing to part finance a replacement body but I've been ordered to find the cheapest body possible and if I do that I'll end up with another piece of rubbish. Plus they're not convinced that I need a new neck either but I suspect that the neck I've got probably won't fit any body I buy now.


Edited by N Ellingworth - April 11 2008 at 12:38

The bridge and neck pocket.

Damn, that sucks man

I agree completely, the Wilkinson trem looks better than a vintage six screw and in theory should work a lot better too, hopefully during the week I can make a start on mounting it. I went for 250k pots as they're the type usually used for single coils. From an electrical point of view this guitar is definitely a traditional strat. I really want the brass nut to arrive soon so I can start playing it as it feels like it's going to play really nicely.