Warren Classic II

The features of this guitar have been described extensively on Don's website and in the other reviews. The main difference with this guitar is that it has a maple capped board - the first of Don's guitars that have this. I think after the fact, Don was very happy that he tried this variation on this guitar. Snap and Quack!

The guitar resonates amazingly well acoustically. I love strat style guitars but my one gripe has always been a thin, trebly sounding bridge pickup. Don's bridge pickup is much warmer than a typical strat bridge pup. That combined with the intricate switching system yields an endless array of tones - yes - surprisingly all usable - even the ones where the tone knob is dialed completely down. Plugged in to a Goodsell 17, the guitar has met its other half - amazingly, full and rich tones plugged in. Every strat tone is there, and then some. I play primarily blues/rock/jazz/progressive stuff and this guitar can handle any of those applications. Have not tried the guitar through a terribly high gain amp, but if you are a metal player, you probably won't even be reading this review. There are no dislikes, tone wise! There is some pickup noise, but come on, single coil players know that to get true tone, one has to live with some hum.

Don's set-up was great, but I like to fight with the guitar a little bit. I changed the .010's to .011's and raised the action slightly and I was home free. The build is TOP notch. The feel of the neck is really like no other. I can only describe the feel as "powdery"; it's fast and smooth, but not slick or gummy. The slightly rolled off fretboard edges really add to the comfort of the neck. The neck pocket is tight, if you believe such things are important. Fretwork is also impeccable - I really can't think of one area here where the guitar didn't shine. One minor point was that there was some "fretting out" initially on the B string above the 17th fret on bends. After changing strings and some minor adjustments, this improved. The guitar is EXTREMELY well balanced.

Have only had the guitar for a few weeks. All I can say is that the guitar has a solid, righteous feel when picked up.

Don is passionate about his work, and the claims he makes on his website couldn't be closer to the truth. Don's guitars are available through some dealers, but I think it is much more personal and enjoyable to order the guitar through him. He answers e-mails promptly.

I have been playing for about 23 years, and have owned/still own many, many high end guitars. In the strat realm, there are very few guitars that fall in the league of the Warren. For the Vintage Purist, the guitar may not have the exact feel of say, a 57 strat (primarily due to the flatter radius), but the Warren has a special feel all of its own. It captures the basic vibe of a strat but overall it is so much more. Do yourself a favor and check one out, or otherwise, be confident in getting one blindly as well - you won't be disappointed.

As far as the features go, I'm going to let the Warren site and the other reviews tell the story. My strat was made of Alder with a rosewood neck. I would like to have Don make me one with an ash body and a maple neck like the early to mid 50s strats. The guitar case is nice. Guitar came with a DVD that explained how to use th guitar's electronics. This strat has more useful features than any strat out there.

The sounds of this guitar are amazing. I have played it through a 1969 Super Reverb, and early/mid 70s Pro Reverb and a Carvin Bel Air. I have owned quite a few Fender Strats (including custom shop) in my life. None of them compare to the Warren Classic II. The Warren gets better tone then any Fender that I have owned. I recently sold my favorite 1957 #6 of 10 Fender Relic Strat. After owning the Warren for a month, there was no need for the other guitar. I owned the 57' Relic for 6 years and loved and was attached to it but I found something better. I am still discovering the Tones on the Classic II. There are so many options. Whatever the flavor of the day is when I play (Buddy Guy, Arlen Roth, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton etc...) I know that I can get the sounds that I am after. I also purchased the Warren Arlen Roth Tele (which I will review next month). So, my favorite guitar bounces between the two. I really like the 2 and 4 positions for that Clapton, Buddy Guy, Mark Knopfler sound. The guitar gets a nice tele sound too if needed and when you put the guitar volume on 10 and combine with your favorite distortion, the guitar really sings. I mainly play blues and use little to no effects. Some Wah and distortion. I read in another review where someone said that the pickups sound a little thin in the 2 and 4 positions and I can hear that also. However, you have so many tonal options through the tone controls that you can fatten up the tone in those positions by change the settings of the tone knobs. One guitar cannot get every tone out there but this one sure gets a lot!

The set up was great. I bought this guitar from a dealer new. There were no flaws in the guitar whatsoever. I got the teal/green finish. It took me a little while to get used to the finish as I was used to seeing my sunburst strat all the time. I did not like the neck at first but I expected this because I only played my Relic which had a 'U' or boat shaped neck and that was the guitar that I mostly played for 6 years. However, in less than a month I was used to the Classic II neck and the relic was out the door. I knew when I got the Warren that I would need some time to adjust to the C shaped neck. I really like the neck on this guitar. the frets are the perfect size (not thin and not overly big). No dead frets. No choking out when bending. A great overall set up. No Buzzing either. Another great feature of this guitar is the Tremelo System. Bend away as the guitar always comes back in tune. I don't even use a bar much but this is such a great system that I am inlined to experiment. I have never had locking tuners before. Very easy to string up and use.

Everything on this guiatr is solid and dependable. I have no thought or concern of the guiatr not performing night after night. No expense was spared in making this guitar. Everything about it is solid as can be. I would not even bother with a back up guitar at a gig if it were not for the rare breaking of a string. The materials are of the highest quality.

Don has been great and I have talked to him a few times. He has helped me dial in tones and has made suugestions on getting the best tone out of the guitar. If anything ever went wrong with the guitar, I know that he would be there in a hearbeat. He is very passionate and knowledgable about his product. Not sure how long the warranty is on the guitar.

I have been playing over 10 years. Warrens are the only electrics that I own. If it were lost or stolen I would have Don make me a new one. A guitar this good is a rare find. I have played a couple of vintage strats and have not been impressed and have had many strats. I love the Strat. I grew up looking at images of B.Guy, O.Rush, Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, Jimmie Vaughan etc.. playing A Fender Strat. I was smitten by the Fender brand and sound. Unfortunately, the tone is not always in the brand. Great tone is not hidden in a corporate logo. I had to come to that realization. Stevie Ray had a few non Fender Strats. He had the Hamiltone (the one with his name in the neck) made by Jim Hamiltone, the white strat made by Charley Whiz with the lipstick pickups, and a Tokai strat which was on the cover of Texas flood. He played these guitars a lot. If he were alive today, I don't doubt that he would check a Warren guitar out and may even add it to his arsenal. My point here is that you shouldn't be afraid to step out of the Fender box to get a great guitar. Don Warren is putting out better Fender Guitars than Fender does. The tone is there and the technology has been updated. Don has built a better mouse trap. I am not saying that I would never own a Fendar strat again. But It would have to be incredible. Not good. Not great. The bar has been raised.

This guitar was made by Don Warren in the USA. It is a prototype of the Classic II. It has the same features as the Classic II but the finish is a thin layer of satin poly on the body and neck. It has a strat style alder body,bit oversized C-shape maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, medium jumbo frets, Lindy Fralin pickups,special Warren bridge/tremolo (see other descriptions),locking Schaller tuners, and graphite nut. The guitar has the classic II passive controls. See warrenguitars.com for full description of all the possible variations. It came with a good hardshell case.

I love the sounds of this guitar. I play blues and most anything else and am able to find a sound that suits most anything I play. It has incredible tonal variation. My favorite amp with this guitar is a 1967 Fender Deluxe Reverb with blackface wiring. I use fulldrive II, Ibanez compressor, Maxon stereo chorus, and Seymour Duncan pickup booster. The guitar has a classic strat sound but so much more. Very rich and sweet and the sustain is great. Re the variations, for example, I can get a classic Chuck Berry sound in the 4 position with the treble/bass tone knob pulled out and the mid-range tone knob on 10. I like some sounds better than others, of course. For example, my favorite sounds are the neck and bridge pickups on their own; my least favorite the 2 and 4 positions--a little too glassy for my taste. But the 2 and 4 positions with treble bass knob pulled and on 8-10 and the mid range at 5 have more body and grit, much more to my liking.

The guitar is a beauty. The setup was perfect. I had to raise the the low E string a hair to eliminate slight buzzing but otherwise it was perfect. It plays like a dream. This guitar was a whole new experience for me. My strat experience was with my 1985 strat standard. I also have a 90s tele thinline and several Gibsons with excellent action. I love the feel of this guitar above all the others; I find I my playing is up a notch just playing this guitar. There was a minor flaw in the finish that Don is going to fix and a scratch on the pick guard. He's replacing that. Compared to everything else in this category these issues are very minor.

Everything is solid on this guitar. The materials are the best available; no expense was spared. The thin satin poly finish is much easier to damage than traditional finishes. The increased resonance is worth the risk to me. I feel total confidence in the integrity of the guitar. I can't imagine the guitar failing me but I guess it still makes sense to have a backup.

Don Warren has been very responsive in dealing with the minor issues identified above. He's passionate about the quality of his guitars and it's clear to me he will do whatever needs to be done to address any problems.

I have been playing for over 40 years. My other electric guitars include 90s American series tele thinline, 64 Firebird, 85 strat, 83 les paul, 80 Es-335, SG Classic(p90s), 67 ES-125 CD, Taylor T-5. I would order a replacement immediately if it were stolen. At some point I'd also like to have a Warren tele style as well. I can't say enough good things about this guitar. When I bought this guitar I wasn't actually looking for a guitar. I had a chance to play one and was sold on it.

First let me say I ordered this guitar directly from Don Warren and have had it for two weeks. I first heard about Warren Guitars from this website and thought, ?can all these accolades be true?? After talking to Don on the phone, I decided he might be on to something; the price was reasonable, so I ordered a Classic II. As the guitar was being built Don expanded his business to include a dealer distribution model. During the entire process Don was always quick to respond or make suggestions about my guitar. He seemed to sense what I wanted and delivered the perfect guitar.

This guitar takes the strat concept to a new level. The pickups are vintage voiced using the same materials as the originals. Where this instrument departs from the vintage strat is in the tone controls and pickup switching. There are 10 pickup combinations available, along with a mid-range master and a nicely voiced treble roll off control. You could spend months discovering all the tones available. So far I have found a really cool acoustic sound, Clapton/Santana woman tone, country twang and my favorite ? in your face Buddy Guy blues attitude.

The Tremolo is also Don?s design. Similar to a PRS guitar with vintage type saddles. Very smooth, does not go out of tune, and is level to the body so you can palm mute and keep the thing in tune. The Schaller locking tuners used are my favorites, easy to change stings and very stable.

The alder body is medium weight and is very resonant. I don?t want to get into the debate of the weight of the guitar as it only matters if you have a bad shoulder IMO. Go for the tone and then consider if it is too heavy. Follow your ears as Don does and you can?t go wrong.

I might add the vibrato and locking tuners are excellent and try as you may you cannot knock the guitar out the tune. Tops of the saddle screws are smooth so you don?t prick yourself when palm muting.

The guitar comes with a nice brown rectangle case with yellow lining made by TKL.

Go to www.warrenguitars.com to see all the features of this guitar.

I have only played this guitar for 6 hours, but I have come to the conclusion there is no end to the number of tones possible. It takes about an hour to master the switching system, but once you do look out. I have always wanted a Strat where I could add in the neck pickup and the Classic II can do this which yields a nice two pickup Tele/LP special sound. You can also adjust the 2 and 4 positions to fatten up the quack with the treble control pulled up. This sounds like a humbucker in gain, but retaining the snap, tang and quack. It does not sound like a Les Paul, so if you need dead on LP sounds get the Warren Special. Sustain? Well it has longer sustain then my reissue 57 LP Black Beauty.

Every time I play my guitar I discover a new tone. I just picked her up and found that if I use the bridge pickup with the volume at 10, and then move the mid control to 10, I get a nice bright P-90 sound. Roll the treble to 8 and get a fat P-90 sound. Impressive.

I am playing my Warren through a Fender Custom Vibrolux with a King of Tone pedal (check these at www.analogman.com). Normally the Vibrolux breaks up on 3 with single coils, but the Classic II keeps the amp clean until 4 or so. Don told me the output of his pickups is built to vintage spec. You can fatten the sound up using the mid or series controls or by adding an overdrive pedal. Just like in the old days.

The intonation was set perfectly. An E chord played on the 12th fret was as in tune as an open one. The nut slots are perfectly cut for the D?Addario 10?s and the string height at the first fret was just right.

My Classic II is a Surf/Sea Foam green color (it is in between the two). Absolutely stunning in the saturation of the color. The best way to describe the color is lime sherbet. Very tasty. The finish is flawless with no buff marks, colors runs etc and is polished to a high gloss. A first I wanted a nitro finish, but Don explained his proprietary finish ?lets the wood vibrate in your hands and makes the whole thing so resonant and alive feeling?. I can tell you he is not kidding. When I first strummed the guitar I felt the notes in my hand and in my belly. It is as if the entire guitar was one piece. It sounds good enough unamplified to play late at night.

But the real eye opener here is the neck. I mentioned to Don I wanted the feel of a 65 Jazzmaster I own ? big neck shape, wide frets, wide at the nut with as low as possible action without buzzing and that?s what I got. Nice slab board with a dark chocolate rosewood. Radius is flat which gives it a more Gibson like feel, but is easier to play which is a good idea. Best fretwork I have seen and I have seen and played a lot of guitars in the last 40 years. The neck pocket is tight and passes the business card test. Terrific!

Arrived in perfect tune! Have not had to adjust it yet! It feels solid and the materials are of the highest quality. Will out live my heirs and me. The pots are quiet and smooth operating.

Don?t anticipate having any problems, but every time I call Don he answers the phone. He is willing to help you with set up problems over the phone. Don is an all around great guy with integrity that is missing in a lot of companies today. Although no warranty was stated I am sure Don will take of any problems as long as he is in the business.

Don?t hesitate buy one of these today. Best overall value on the market today. Don?s products put Gibson and Fender to shame. I have over thirty vintage guitars and this one out performs them all. Now all I need a great amp, I think I?ll ask Don what he uses.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.

The classic II was made in USA in 2002. It has 24 frets and is made from Solid Alder. It has a 5-way switch with a S/S/S pickup configuration. The pickups are Lindy Fralin. It is all passive electronics. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. The finish is lacquer. It is a strat style body. The tuners are sperzel, the bridge is similar to the John Mann tremelo bridge found on PRS guitars. The best way to describe the Warren is to imagine a beautiful vintage strat with all the amenities that made strats desirable, but it plays smoother and sounds better.

I primarily play bass now, but I use the six strings in my home studio. It is extremely flexible. It has all the great classic strat sounds. As a bonus, you can put any combination of the three pickups on at once and cop a great classic tele sound. Therein, you will also find the "Woman Tone". It's tones are great, whether you chose clean, dirty, flat or quack. I have had strats for years, and it is accepted practice to keep the volume up full. On the Warren, you can actually roll the volume back to get even more tone variety. But make no mistake, the sound does not come exclusively from the pick ups. I play unplugged at night while the family is asleep, and one thing that I discovered early on, is that my Warren Classic II's sound better unplugged than my other electrics. The tone is very rich, and I realize now what Don means when he says, that tone begins with the wood. These pick ups do hum, there are no apologies for this according to the website. I am willing to overlook it because I would not be willing to sacrifice tone to get rid of the hum. I use them primarily with a Line Six pod xt. I have recorded clean rhythmn tracks and screaming leads. I play primarily rock and blues. The Warren Classic II'd are a great fit for my needs.

The Warren Classic has an incredible neck. It is rounded for comfort and feels great right out of the box. The frets are polished to prefection. The finish is lacquer polished to a high gloss. I got a three-tone sunburst and a seafoam green. They are both beautiful. The three tone reminds me of the the 73 strat I foolishly sold to finance higher education years ago. The necks fits tightly into the neck pockets. They stay in tune and stay in adjustment beautifully. Don takes particular care in adjusting the pickups so that they work well together and are balanced properly. The set up is top notch, you won't find better.

These guitars are tanks. I would definitely take either to a gig. They stay in tune. The finish on each guitar has held up very well over the last couple years. The necks have never faltered, and they get played a lot.

Don is a great guy. He lives, breaths, and sleeps guitars. He is a player and likes to talk and hang with other players. You can always ask him a question and he will listen and try to address your concern. It amazes me how he can listen to a persons desires and tweak the guitar to make them materialize.

I have been playing for 33 years. I have two custom strats, a 1982 USA strat, Gibson SG 62 reissue, Two Time GS-12's (Time was a company in Burlington VT Where Trey's Guitar Tech learned to build guitars) Two Warren Classic II's, a Custom Warmoth Bass, 1978 Fender Jazz Bass, Ovation 12 string Ampeg Svt, Hartke 3500 Line 6 Pod XT and Bass Pod XT. I sold a 1986 PRS 10 Top black cherry bookmatched flame maple and 1981 Gibson 335, each in pristine condition, to finance the two Warren Classic II's I have never looked back on that deal any regrets. I have also owned a 73 strat and 75 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. I used to lust after old Gibsons, PRS and Fenders. The Warren has ruined that for me. From this point forward, I will only add Warren Guitars to my collection. If I lost it, I would replace it immediately. Everyone should have one thing in their life that is perfect. This is it for me.

The Warren Classic II guitar is loaded with features. "Quality In All Respects" would be the theme for this piece of art-work..........The finish on mine is sunburst with a white pearloid pick-guard. Simply beautiful to look at.... The woods used on this guitar were hand picked by Don Warren himself to insure enhanced tonal quality. The neck and body must compliment each other to form a tonal synergy. ...A lot of time and energy is spent on making sure the neck and body will compliment each other. If Don feels the body and neck do match he will try different combos until he gets that perfect match...... A rarity in guitar building these days. Being a stratoholic for 34 years I chose the Classic II for obvious reasons....This guitar has that classic Strat sound plus it offers other optional sounds which can be utilized through push and pull knobs. It is a smorgasbord of tonal options..........The pickups are Lindey Fralin?s and are wound to Don?s specs which really bring this guitar to life................The neck is a 12 inch radius and the fret work is of outstanding workmanship and quality...................

This sound of this guitar will just blow you away. It is a powerhouse of tonal bliss.........It nails those classic sounds of a vintage Stratocaster perfectly. The push and pull pots offers a vast amount of variations in tones with a total of 10 different pick-up combinations of sound to work with.....This guitar has such sweet sustain and offers and has a unique one of a kind character ...................

The action on the neck is superb and exceptional in it?s response ....The frets are dressed beautifully and the neck has a vintage feel to it that makes playing a true pleasure...............The finish is just beautiful and the grain patterns are very rich and deep in appearance.

When you pick up a Warren guitar you can feel that it is a very SOLID in it?s construction..... ..... The workmanship and all of the parts used on Warren guitars are the highest of quality ..... So I?m certain that this instrument will offer durability and reliability for many years to come..............

Don Warren was in constant contact with me during the entire process of building this guitar for me. He values ones input and lets one know exactly what is going on in the whole process and different stages of building a guitar. He even sent me photos of the body right after he had finished cutting it out.....One thing I can say Don is just a wonderful down to earth human being and it was a complete pleasure whenever I talked to him................In other words support is not just a 1-800 number with elevator music playing while you are on hold. It?s real and it?s human................

I have been using my using my Fender Stratocaster on stage for 34 years and decided I wanted to replace it and give the old girl her much needed rest and retirement.....I wanted a replacement guitar that had a classic Strat sound but also had more up to date features.............I played some the newer top of the line Strats and I don?t think they are the quality Leo would be proud of now days. I then relized that finding something to replace this guitar was not going to be easy task...................I considered buying an Anderson or Grosh guitar figuring they would probably have the caliber of instrument I desired. After doing some research and by sheer luck I stumbled upon Don Warren?s web-site........Everything I saw and read about the Warren Classic II on the web-site was exactly what I needed and wanted in a guitar.......I was skeptical at first due to the fact that it all sounded too good to be true but that feeling faded quicky ..... After I talked to Don and got some feedback and reviews from some of his past clients I knew that the Warren was a special guitar and Don was the man to build my guitar..............After contacting Don I discovered an individual who has an intense passion and love for guitar building..............He?s a perfectionist by nature and it is evident in his work which is unparalleled in quality.................Remember the name Warren because I am sure it destined to become one of the best known names in the guitar building industry....................... I have never played a guitar of such high caliber and versatility in my entire life. Actions speak louder than words and this guitar got the action..............The Warren?s a special guitar and playing it makes me feel special too........................

I am a future owner of a Warren Guitar, but after trying the instrument over many months, I am compelled to write a preview. The Classic II is a strat style instrument, but unlike any strat I've played. The model that I played has 3 single coils, 5 way switch, tremolo, alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and a sunburst finish (very beautiful) just like the one on the website: warrenguitars.com. The pots offer push/pull variations and the tone controls offer great range. It's a passive pickup system, specially designed. The neck feels substantial, not too thin or thick, and just the radius for me (12").

I played through a basic no frills amp at a guitar expo on three separate occasions. The sounds this guitar produces are far beyond the basic strat. The "regular" single coil sounds are clear and round, not thin or shrill. Then there are variations through push/pull pots and tone controls that thicken and boost while keeping all the nuance of the playing. I don't know how this is done in a passive pickup system, but I'd just as soon have no batteries to worry about!!!

The guitar I played was fitted with .09's or .10's and I use .11's. This almost always makes things difficult for me to determine whether it's my kind of instrument. Not so this time. I'm told the special truss rod assembly and bridge will allow me tweek this baby to my needs.
The intonation was right on, pickup outputs perfectly matched. Everything on this guitar has that broken in solid feeling that usually takes me years to achieve.

All components seem to be top quality. There is nothing cheap feeling about it. The frets are smooth at the edges, the finish is beautiful. All hardware is substantial. It's unusal for me to have no complaints, but there are none.

My observations are based on trying the guitar at my local guitar expo. I've been back 3 times over a year and a half and spoken to Don Warren about his guitars. He's involved in every detail and I'm confidant that when I buy this instrument, he will be standing behind it. I'm always impressed with someone that is passionate and committed to their vision. In some ways, he seems be building the better mousetrap. Not an easy task in these copy cat days of cheap knockoffs.

I've owned and played electrics for 35 years. Eventhough I've gotten away from the single coil sound because it's too thin for my taste, this guitar has brought me back. I'm saving for a Classic II to add to my Humbucker instruments. I've always customized my Strats/Teles to get multiple sounds, and have never been quite satisfied with the results. This is the guitar that I've been hearing in my head. It's simple and elegant, not pretentious or snobby. I'm even looking forward to using a tremolo for the first time in over 10 years! It offers a broad palette of sounds in a well constructed instrument at a very fair price!!!!

This is a strat style guitar with MUCH more than strat options and tones. The body is very light and resonant alder with a thin, almost in-layed, quilted maple top. The finish is a beautiful translucent amber that looks great from every angle. I could find no finish flaws -- believe me, I looked... absolutely perfect. The neck is straight grained maple with a rosewood fretboard. The tuners are a highly polished set of Schaller locking tuners. The neck angle is straight and uses one string tree. String angle at the nut is more than ample. The frets are medium sized and beautifully crowned and polished. The ends of the frets are completely smooth. The neck uses a 12 inch radius which feels glorious in my hands. I'm not exactly sure what Don Warren does in the sculpting and finish process to his necks but they are truly spectacular to play. More on this later. The neck uses a 25 1/2 inch scale and has a nice substantial feel to it. The pickguard and rear tremelo cover are white pearloid and all mounting screws are chrome in color. The pickups (S-S-S configuration) are a special Lindey Fralin design made to Don's exact specifications. The tremelo is a Don Warren design that is smooth and sustains for days. The jack plate is chrome as well as the strap buttons. The volume pot is a push-pull design that engages the neck pickup when pulled out -- allowing for all three pickups to be used simutaneously or simply the neck and bridge pickup like that of a Tele. The volume pot must use reistors because there is no high end signal loss when you turn it down. The middle control pot is a type of passive mid boost/cut. The third pot is another push-pull design that works as a normal tone control to roll off high end but also serves to put the pickups in series rather than parallel when pulled out. These pots are EXTREMELY SMOOTH. The guitar came with a rectangular case with a plush black liner.

Where do I start? This guitar does just about everything extremely well. With the versatile electronics scheme it is possible to coax a plethora of sounds from this TONE MACHINE. Firstly, it is the ultimate in strat tones. I don't know what the hell Lindey Fralin is doing in his workshop of late but these pickups are phenominal. Think of all the very best characteristics of a prized vintage strat tone and then intensify and focus that sound -- this is the sound of legends. The lows are tight, clear, and full of blazing attitude yet are never harsh or brash. The mids are full and sweet with a wonderful stringyness to their attack and decay. The highs are round and full and never shrill. No matter where you play on the neck they sound great. Every position is a sweet spot. Output from pickup to pickup is consistent and even. There is no volume jump when switching pickup configurations. Each of the five standard pickup settings are simply beautiful. I have never played a Fender (even Custom Shop designs), G&L, Carvin, Tom Anderson, or Brian Moore strat that even comes close to sounding this good (and I have played more guitars than one man ought to be allowed to play). Then you get to experience whole new dimensions of sonic bliss when you engage the other tonal weapons contained under the hood. You can run all three pickups at once as well as neck and bridge pickups only when you use the pull function on the volume pot. Then to make things really interesting you can use the parallel/series function on the second tone pot. Put the bridge and middle pickup in series and you have a fabulous humbucker tone. Or try the neck and middle pickup in series. But don't forget to try the neck and bridge pickup in series also, or all three at once. Now sweeten the mix and play with the mid control on the other tone pot (the middle one). Increase it and you get a full, thick tone in humbucker mode or try the same in a parallel configuration and be equally inpressed. Still further, roll back the tone control to get a "woman tone" that will rival anything out there and put most other guitars to shame. And did I mention that these pots are sooooo smooth and responsive. Even the slightest movement makes a difference and yet I could not find a bad or displeasing sound with any setting. Every setting is completely usable. Now roll back the mid control. The sound suddenly becomes almost "acoustic" in its presentation...wow! What more can I say? This thing is simply amazing. It feels completely broken in, has Vintage Tone with capital letters, can out perform any of my other guitars, even those with humbuckers,coil taps and phase switches, and is breathtakingly beautiful.
By the way, I have used this guitar with a varied array of amplifiers and it sounds great through each of them. These include: 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1972 Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1993 Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30 and mated with matching EV 200 loaded Theile Design cab, Mesa Blue Angel head mated with Mesa 3/4 backed Celestion Vintage 30 loaded cab, Spirit Studio Pro with Weber 10 inch Alnico speaker, Carvin Vintage 50 head mated with Carvin 4-10 cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 10's, Carvin XV 112 combo with Mesa Custom 90 speaker. Run clean or distorted the guitar sound great.

In terms of setup I spoke with Don at length about how I like a strat to play and feel. I requested a slightly higher than average string height and settled on using 9 1/2 guage strings. If I later decide to go to 10's he will recut the nut for them. When he delivered it to my home the setup was perfect.
Pickup adjustment? Now this is important. Don spends a huge amount of time when performing a setup with pickup heigth and angle. He recommends that the customer NOT play with the pickup settings since much of the beauty of his guitars is determined by their proper settings. After playing this one I concur. No adjustment necessary...you get what you pay for...perfection.
The finsih is stellar. The quilted maple top is gorgeous. The neck pocket is air tight. The neck angle to the body is perfect. And the neck relief is slight... quite straight. All screws are properly seated. There are no rough edges anywhere. The neck plays like butter. Intonation is dead on. The top of the body is cut at an angle where your playing hand rests against it which alleviates any discomfort in the forearm area of you strumming hand. The rear is also carved in the upper curve to rest comfortablly against your stomach and/or rib cage.
All electonics are dead quiet when you move them -- no pops, scratches or dropouts. And did I mention that they are soooo smooth?
The nut is nicely filed at the edges so that no roughness is ever detected, even if you purposefully move you hand across it.

I cannot forsee this guitar ever not performing flawlessly. Don uses only the VERY BEST components in his construction. If treated with respect this thing should never fail. His hardware is top notch, his strap buttons are slightly oversized ensuring a good hold of your strap, and the finish seems road ready. Would I ever use this guitar on a gig without a backup? Certainly! If I brought a backup guitar with me to a gig it would be another Warren Classic II or a Warren Special. Once going Warren, there is no turning back.

Don has been more than helpful and you will never meet a more friendly or personable guy. Other than his wife and children his customers are his main concern. He will always take time to speak to you about your questions and concerns. Give him a call and see. His number is (518) 233-0888 or check out his web page at www.warrenguitars.com or email him at dwarren@capital.net. You will be happy that you did.

I have been playing for over 25 years and play a variety of styles: blues, light jazz, rock, and several acoustic styles. I've already listed the amps that I use in the above section so I'll just list the other guitars in my arsenal: 1963 Gibson SG standard, 1968 Fender Musicmaster II, Hamer Studio Flametop with Seymour Duncan JB and 59 pickups, Hamer Special with P-90's, Hamer Special with DiMarzio DP-154's, mid-eighties Carvin DC-200 Koa with set neck and fixed bridge, 1994 Carvin DC-200 Koa with Floyd Rose tremelo, Carvin "The Bolt" with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups (Blues, Standard, and Heavy Blues), Carvin Mahogany LB 40 bass with active electronics, Kramer bass, Guild D-40 NT, Martin HD-28, Larrivee D-09, Everett P with soft cutaway. Needless to say ---- I love music, I love guitars. If I had to be limited to only one electric and one acoustic then I would choose the Warren and the Everett without any hesitation.
There is nothing that is missing on the Warren that, in retrospect, I wish I had ordered. It is perfect.
If lost or stolen I would order another one in an instant.
I love the broken-in feel of this guitar. It is like an extention of the player. It never fights you when you try to coax a sound from it, but simply delivers spectacular tone. And although it has many possible pickup configurations you are never confused about what setting you are using. Everything is very intuitive and easily accessed. It is possible to generate so many shades of tonal colors and with such finesse that playing is both a means of expression and a means of exploration. Subtle changes and minute refinement of your tone are only a slight hand movement away.
This guitar has no equal. As I've said before, I've tried the Fender Custom Shop stuff, the Tom Anderson line, the G&L line, the Brian Moore line (for strat-type guitars) and this thing blows them all away. I am always on the lookout for better and finer instruments and often stop in music stores when I travel. I have yet to find a better guitar at any price.