My Warmoth bari-7 guitar and project!!!

[Tesla_1989]

Ok, so as a couple of you know I'm like brand-new to ss.org. Long story short, I like what I see here so I've decided to post my continuous project!

Quite a few years back I really got into the 7-string influence after listening to some Dream Theater and began to learn a few things here and there (though mostly jazz if you can believe that), and my parents asked me if I'd want to have a guitar built, don't ask why, they just did. So, I did some research and my guitar teacher at the time told me about Warmoth, said they had some really good products, very customizable at that. So, after some time deliberation I came up with my bari-7! I will admit though, I had a local tech assemble the body, neck and trem as I wasn't very experienced at the time and didn't want to screw it up, but everything else aside from the initial setup was my work. So, here's the specs:

Body:
-Mahogany w/walnut top
- H-S-H routing
- FR bridge routing
- Tung-oil finish (done by yours truly )
- Rear-routed control cavity

Neck:
- Wenge
- Figured ziricote fingerboard
- Compound 10"-16" radius
- FR locking nut
- Locking sperzel tuners
- X-jumbo 5100 frets
- No inlays, side dots only
- 28 5/8" scale FTW!!!

Hardware:
- LFR (Takeuchi I believe, or so it says on the Warmoth site, and on the box I received the trem in), black
- Locking sperzel tuners, matte black
- Standard strap buttons, chrome
- 4 control knobs
- Black skull for volume
- 3x chrome domes for tone (1 for each pickup)
- 5-way pickup selector switch, set up exactly like a strat (I'm a huge fan of the strat )

Pickups:
- Neck: Duncan Distortion 7
- Middle: Duncan Strat-7
- Bridge: Duncan Invader-7

Strings: EB NES + .060 Ab (it's tuned Db-Db, only 1 1/2 steps down)
- Used to have Elixer baritone (.012-.068 + .080, tuned Gb-B)

So, that's about the jist of it. I'll have some pics up in the next post, hope you guys enjoy this. I'll be doing some mods to it, with an explanation in the coming days as I throw ideas around. Feel free to ask any questions about this guitar, I've been absolutely in love with it since I first got it

 

[Apophis]

looks interesting wenge neck

 

[Tesla_1989]

Ok guys, so here's some pics. My camera has an auto-flash that I can't disable for the life of me, so there's going to be a tad bit of glare, but the pics are pretty decent. Anyways, enjoy!

A couple rotated pics

The fingerboard, which pics can't really do justice, at least not with my camera

And one final pic of the pickups

 

[MaxOfMetal]

That's easily one of the nicest Warmoth 7s I've ever seen!

Great choice on trem by the way.

 

[Tesla_1989]

That's easily one of the nicest Warmoth 7s I've ever seen!

Great choice on trem by the way.

Thanks a bunch! Sadly though, the trem is one of the things to be worked-on in my mods-to-come. For some reason, it won't hold Elixers for the life of it. You'll also notice that the block in the 7th saddle has been cut-down a fair bit. Oddly-enough, that's the only way my tech and I could get it to hold the .080 when I was using it. I'll probably replace that soon though, after I get a different set of strings put on, these EBs died within the day I got the guitar back from my tech last time.

 

[troyguitar]

Wow, skull knob + floyd + invader tuned down 1.5 steps playing jazz? Interesting.

The wenge + ziricote combination is amazing though, one of these days I'll get a Warmoth 7 with those woods.

 

[Tesla_1989]

Wow, skull knob + floyd + invader tuned down 1.5 steps playing jazz? Interesting.

The wenge + ziricote combination is amazing though, one of these days I'll get a Warmoth 7 with those woods.

I originally played jazz with it as I was studying it at the time, but decided since it's got a HUGE tonal range thanks to the pickups that I'd venture outside the boundaries and took to Dream Theater a bit. Been learning some Circus Maximus lately too

 

[Hollowway]

Nice! Hey, could you take a picture of the heel on that as well? And did you get the recessed neck option (it looks like it) and the contoured heel option?

 

[Tesla_1989]

Sure, I'll have to see if my friend will let me use her camera though, as I don't have mine at school. All I can say is that the heel is a pretty decent size, a bit cumbersome at times. I don't think they offer the recessed heel on the baritone-7 neck, at least they didn't when I got mine.

 

[TomParenteau]

Mighty sweet except for the bridge. Warmoth rules. Everything else sucks.

 

[Tesla_1989]

Wow, I'm really happy to see all these responses so quickly! Glad you guys like the guitar.

Anyways, as I said in my original post, this is going to be an ongoing project for me. I've been very happy with the guitar but being that I love modding things, this is no exception. Here's a list of the potential things I'm thinking of changing/adding to my bari:

1. Replace the trem, most likely with an Edge-Pro so I can get some nice piezos on there
2. Coil splitters, a very workable option
3. MIDI, something I'd add post-piezo

Now the reason I want to replace the trem is somewhat of a multi-faceted thing. Basically, I normally use Elixers on this guitar, but it never holds the strings for very long. It doesn't matter what tuning, gauge or anything, strings will randomly slip out of the saddles and it's boggled both me and my techs for a couple years now. The blocks are in near-mint condition, so I know they're not worn-out. In any case, I've been really moved towards the EP7 ever since I saw a thread on here in regards to putting piezos on there. Hopefully I'll have that figured out by the end of this year. If any of you would happen to have any idea why this won't hold Elixers for very long please feel free to throw your knowledge out here. I originally thought it was the coating but I've seen plenty of people with FRs and Elixers with no problems at all.

@TomPerverteau
- You're not the only one who thinks that. I like the Floyd, but I need something different.

 

[troyguitar]

I would try scraping off the coating at the end that goes under the block, just to see if it's that simple of a problem.

 

[Tesla_1989]

I would try scraping off the coating at the end that goes under the block, just to see if it's that simple of a problem.

Tried that, had the same problem. The one thing that throws me off is that it's random. There's no real pattern as to when or which string will slip out, just that they do. That's why I originally considered the EP7, from what I've seen it looks like it'll hold the string better, but I'm still doing some research on that.

 

[dsm3sx]

Awesome!

I am inches away from pulling the trigger on a warmoth baritone 7 my self.

Can you post pics of the headstock and neck joint and back of the neck?

 

[Tesla_1989]

@dsm3sx
- Sure thing, as soon as my friend wakes up from her nap I'll see if she can snap a few pics of the guitar for you guys.

 

[Hollowway]

Yeah, there's a "contoured heel" option on Warmoth bodies. But it's just a little extra sanding they do around the screw closest to where your hand is when playing high up on the neck. Not nearly as "contoured" as you'd think, given the existence of AANJ joints. Also, they now offer a deeper seated neck, so the FB appears to sit right on top of the body. Yours has that, which really looks cool. My couple of sixer builds were done before that was an option, and I think yours looks 1000x better.

 

[TMM]

headstock pic?

 

[Tesla_1989]

Sorry, I've been out all day. I was working in theatre as we're putting on a production of Cabaret and time somehow got away from me. I should have a pic up tomorrow though, sorry for the wait.

 

[Tesla_1989]

Ok guys, sorry for the wait but as promised here are the pics you guys have requested!!!!

A note about the headstock: the reason the middle lock is the only on in on the nut is because I was cleaning out, there was some buildup (looked like corrosion from my strings) and my friend was too lazy to put them back in for the photo. Many thanks to her for taking these while I was in lab though

As for the back of the neck, I couldn't get a direct shot, only a couple slightly angled shots so I hope you guys don't mind.

Hope these pics are good for you guys, enjoy!

 

[Hollowway]

Hey, thanks for taking the pics! (Or thank your friend for us.)
I actually like that headstock way more in person than I do on warmoth.com. But I can't stand the old school heels on Warmoth bodies. I have 4 of them, and now I can't stand them, after thrus and aanjs. I wonder what would happen if you sanded the bejesus out of it, kind of like Huf does on his new Blackdroid heels. You'd have to shorten the screws, of course, but.... I might have to try that on one of mine.