Warren Classic

Perfect inlay work, and a satin finisg that isn't sprayed on. The fretboard is level, clean and dead on. I would rather handle dressing and polishing out to a jewel finish, as this is a personal adjustment. This is a 24 fret neck - truly sick of everyone's excuses for not having two octives on every guitar - a lameness we've cme to expect from the major corps, as well as flooring material dipped in plastic as a body = ash of any kind, for example...

Incredible! Bright, resonant and even. Yet you cannot just bolt this neck onto a piece of dead ash firewood, or some other lame stock that was adopted by larger companies - for no other reason than it was CHEAP in large quantities. Best on a combination of mahogany and maple, or with walnut (too rare, and too selct for the "furniture with frets" builders to consider, but huge on tone. Also, many pickups are more suited to the dead wood that many companies use, so this is a consideration as well. When looking at a new standard, one has to consider an openness to other technologies - different pickup designs more suited to the new materials. On a walnut body (semi-hollow), with a bridge that is worth more than 20 bucks, the clean settings were sweet and lush - and driven sounds were full of welcomed sustain, definition and all out awesome harmonic overtones!

I've been building guitars for over fifteen years, and playing for over 25 years. And this neck was incredible for setting impossible action - painted on strings that do not buzz - ZERO flat spots. And with the new ones having trussrods, it's even more flexable. I like that these come with a satin buff out, and one can keep it this way, or pollish it to the extreme. The finish is a deeper part of the over all structure, making it's life much more durrable. In my experience, I have a great respect for over-kill. My only complaint is that I would like to have propper materials to work in a patch with the finish, as I do not agree with the dimension of the neck heel on any pre-made neck. That hude block of material just beneath the upper registers is entirely out of line, but most makers are guilty of this...

Un-matched by anything on the market.

I've put five of these necks on guitars for clients, and for my own instrument. And while it is tough at times to get ahold of Steve Mosher, he's great to deal with. I received one of these damaged in transit once, and they paid for shipping it back and forth, as well as replacing my neck without question. The only reason I out a 9 on this, is the difficulty in getting in touch...

What an awesome product - (un-like warmouth, who opted to build all of their necks fender length - leaving an unsupported 2+ inch long shelf on the end at the neck heel when going for 24 frets - deciding FOR us that extra frets would need to be ran onto the body) - THIS neck is solid all the way down to the last fret, allowing design =s that are not pathetic when reaching for that second octive. Superb! Now I want them to build a neck-through-body version of this product! If you're still hung up on flooring materials dipped in finish, wood screws, the sound of plastic pickguards and weak pickups, cheap hardware and low quality standards - by all means, get something from the mass producers - THIS is above and beyond the classic and vintage mistakes that have been repeated for decades...

I like an articulate sound and lean towards single coils, but I do like some humbucker sounds especially classic Eddie Van Halen, which Don Warren claimed this humbucker sounded like...It doesn't. Single coil is okay, kinda dark. Humbucker I guess is okay if you like old Santana but definately not what he said it was and not at all what I was looking for.

I had acquired a warmoth swamp ash body which came with a wilkinson trem and tremsetter installed,a moses graphite neck, used Evans Elimintor pickup,and a pickguard. I sent it to Don Warren to put it together with my specs (action, etc.) and paid for the Maximize mod. It took a lot longer than he said( about 5 weeks)

When I finally got it the neck and action seemed great. I wasn't crazy about the Evans sound but that's on me, I sent him that to install. I kinda liked the single coil he installed.(2 pickup guitar by the way)
The trem looked okay until I put the arm in and did one single whammy. The bridge instantly dislodged. The tremseter was wrong. The pickguard didn't fit. The plastic was up in the middle of it as it was being forced together. That's why I even noticed the lack of shielding and the extra routing underneath as I was trying to put on a new pickguard. He did not fix this. So I couldn't use the bar. Everytime I'd bend a string ( mind you, not with the arm I can't use that, I mean with my left hand.) it creaked!! The tremsetter again. So it's was a creaking no trem guitar.

I wrote Don about this and he replied that he'd fix it free of charge and pay shipping both ways. He also gave me a deal on a Warren Humbucker to replace the Evans. So I shipped it, fronted the shipping, it came back with a working trem, and the new pickups and switching system. I don't like the humbucker.It didn't sound at all like he described to me. It wasn't intonated and the action was high. 3-4 months later after many e-mails, he still hasn't reimbursed the $34 for shipping.
I won't give a 1 because he fixed it, kind of.

Well this is the 2nd luthier I've dealt with trying to get this thing together. I don't like the neck( I like the graphite, not the shape, too wide). Both were flaky going through divorce and avoided contact. I must make it my mission to learn guitar repair as I've been burned too many times and no longer trust anyone to fix my gear. It might not be worth it to put anymore money and time into this.

As for Don Warren? I can't recomend him. I though with all the glowing reviews and an Arlen Roth endorsement it was cool. Boy was I wrong. Don't trust anything anyone endorses. Get references from people you know and trust.

He'd stay in contact until the money issue came up. One excuse he actually e-mailed me once about my guitar being late an him being incommunicata..."The Waling Pnemonia!" Luthiers a f**ckin' flakes!

Buyer Beware.

This is a Strat style guitar with 3 single coil pickups. I don't know what brand Don uses, but they are very chimey and "fat" sounding.Don is a custom builder. I ordered my guitar in January 05, and I took delivery of it in early Oct 05. It was well worth the wait. The neck is the traditional Strat scale legnth. 5 way selector, 1 volume, and 2 tone knobs. Trem, locking tuners. wide/fat neck profile, Jumbo frets. The guitar came with a very nice, plush hardshell case. I basically told Don to build me an incredible, toneful strat based on his main prototype. The body is made out of alder. Color is Oly white with a tortoise guard.

I own high end strats by Chapin, Suhr, Grosh, Fender, and GVCG. I play the guitar through a Top Hat Club Deluxe. I use a wider variety of effects. The Warren has a unique voice all it's own. There is some mojo in Don's pickups, because the wide array of tones this guitar yileds is extraordinary. It has large amounts of sustain, and resonates like crazy even when it's unplugged. I can get all of the traditional fender tones that I like, as well as some more modern tones, particularly with the bridge pickup. It has amazing depth and clarity. Turn the gain up on the amp, and It can sound like a humbucker...... But it's not harsh, or overly bright. The pickups are also very quiet at stage volumes. I can use this guitar to play anything from classic rock, to funk, to blues, to some "drop D "modern rock. The tone pots have a "push/pull" feature for the pickups, yileding even more cool sounds
The guitar is very well balanced. It is so resonant, that I can feel it vibrate against my body when I play.

The overall fit and finish is top notch. Don takes pride in his work, and it really shows! I've been gigging the guitar since Oct, and it is very stable. On some of my other strats, the tuners slip, the necks constantly need readjustment....Not with this baby! She's very low maintenance! A true players axe!

As I stated above, the guitar is rock solid, and stable. I would never use any piece of gear on a gig without backup, but so far, I've had no issues.

Don is a very easy going, knowledgeable guy. He responds promptly to phone calls/emails. He takes great pride in his guitars!!

I've been playing professionally since 95. I'm primarily a modern rock/blues player, although I'm currently playing lead guitar in a Funk band.I own amps by Bogner, Top Hat and Bruno. I own guitars by Thorn, Mcnaught, PRS, Chapin, Hamer, Suhr, Grosh, GVCG, and of course, Warren.

What I love about this guitar is the playability, and sustain. No other strat sustains this way!!! Whereas one guitar can't do it all, this one comes pretty close. I play in a funk band, and this has become my main "go to" guitar.