Warling Guitars

Parts Guitar “Patient Zero” - 2007

This is the last remaining instrument of the six built prior to my attendance at Luthierie School in 2008. It is my OG parts guitar, and the first guitar of this general body shape that I ever built. It was built during a time when I was playing in a country band, and needed something with T-style pickups (which it originally had). The “mudflap girl” was a suggestion of a friend that I decided to use for my semi-hollow cutout. From other details, one can see that I knew nothing of pattern router bits. All cavities on this guitar were cut freehand[!!!] with a plunge router following pencil lines. Upon returning from Luthierie school in summer of 2008, I relocated the bridge and body-through holes in order to properly intonate the strings. The neck came from Warmoth, and allowed for this guitar to always function at top playability. It is my play-at-home-and-beat-up guitar, and it has the feel and tonal quality of a Fender Telecaster. At one time, I replaced its Epiphone pickups with a superior set of Seymour Duncans, and it lost its distinctive sonic character, so to this day, it sports the Epiphone pickups, and sounds fantastic!

“Copper Blue Jeans,” is what I call this one. This is another parts series guitar where I designed a unique shape out of affordable materials to create a funky one-of-a-kind guitar. This is the second “copper-side” guitar I’ve made, after the first one generated quick interest. Two humbuckers give it the beefy tone of a Les Paul, with the ability to cut through the mud when the bridge pickup is selected. 25.5” scale, body-through construction, bone nut. Volume, Tone, 3-way Selector.

Parts Guitar #7 “The Wildcat” - 2021

This is a parts guitar I built for my bandmate in Tigerbite, Josh. Although I used to be against building “industry standard” shapes, I’ve been bending my own rule for the past few years. Josh had long mentioned that his dream guitar was a blue Fender Mustang. Earlier this year, we started acquiring parts to put it together. I had a few stipulations about the build that he was open to, and this is the magnificent guitar that came together!

Specs:

This guitar has a Mahogany body with belly and arm “comfort carves.” The neck is Maple with a Rosewood fretboard. Four bolt stainless steel screws hold the neck firmly to the body. Pearl 3-ply pickgaurd and electronic cover. The neck pickup has Alnico 2 magnets, wound to 8.7k, with a push-pull coil-splitter on the master volume control. The bridge pickup has Alnico 5 magnets, wound to 15.6k, with push-pull coil-splitter on the master tone knob. 3-way pickup selector switch. 25.5 inch scale length, body-through construction, and a bone nut. Kluson body-through bridge, Kluson-style tuners, nickel string ferrules. Trademark “Sonic Blue” finish from StewMac.

“Tiger ONe” - 2020

Here is a parts guitar I built for my bandmate in Tigerbite, Aric. Aric plays a lot of interesting leads, and has some pretty cool pedals that he puts this guitar through. Because he already had a guitar with Humbuckers, and another with Single Coil pickups, I recommended my favorite guitar pickup, the P-90. I wouldn’t usually use my original body shape for a “parts guitar,” Aric seems to prefer it, and we play frequently, so it’s been a good way to showcase my original guitar shape.

Specs:

One-piece, fourteen-inch Mahogany body (usually my bass guitar size), with a belly comfort carve. Sourced Maple neck with a Maple fretboard. Black hardware. Bolt-on neck. Matched set of P-90s with a 3-way selector switch, master volume, master tone. 25.5 inch scale length, body-through construction, with a bone nut. Celluloid tortoise 3-ply pickgaurd.

“Cocobolo Violo” - 2009/2013

I initially built this guitar along with an intended neck. Unfortunately, my neck template shifted while I was routing it to shape, causing the fretboard width to be severely impinged near the headstock end. Upon this occurrence, I completely halted the build, considering it a wash. A few years later while working at the Fretted Frog, I decided to continue work on the body. I had recently dismantled my very first six string as the “f-hole” had broken, and it looked terrible. I repurposed the neck from that early guitar for this body, and they’ve since made a beautiful pairing.

Specs:

The body of this is four pieces of Maple (I know, I know… it was an early guitar), topped with a beautiful piece of book-matched Cocobolo. The neck came from a music shop in my hometown, and initially belonged to a Squier. The headstock was reconfigured to be a 3x3 configuration, and faced with book-matched Cocobolo (leftover from the body). Ebony acoustic-style bridge with pins, and a bone saddle. The pickups came from an Epiphone Explorer, but will be swapped out soon. 25.5 inch scale length with a bone nut. This guitar is now my second oldest, and will remain with me!

Parts Guitar #2 - 2018

A “partshawk” with a single humbucker. 25.5” scale length, bone nut, tunematic bridge/tailpiece. Maple “cutting-board” style body. Maple neck. Single humbucker - removed from Epiphone mini-Les Paul. Screaming Sweetie!

Parts Guitar #3 - 2019

My first Lefty - a lefty “partshawk.” Created the body of this guitar with discarded strips of Mahogany. Hot P-90 in the bridge position, with a split-able Humbucker in the neck position. An incredible sounding parts guitar!

Parts Guitar #4 - 2019

This “partshawk” was an experiment. It was a fun experiment, and I used a lot of raw materials to make a pretty awesome left handed guitar! Matched P-90's, volume/tone/3-way switch. Tele style setup with P-90’s. Interesting and unique Left handed guitar!