It all started when Don Warren built his first lefty guitar.
I understand that there would be an up charge based on what has to happen in the shop to set up for machining the lefty components etc, but for me I am not comfortable with making it as pricey as I’ve seen. Thus, I charge no more to build a left handed guitar than a right handed one. – Don Warren
Arlen Roth "Lefty" for Pancho
His first lefty was an Arlen Roth Signature Tele, which I featured in my first installment of Gear Porn. This guitar immediately became one of my top three favorite guitars.
During the whole process, lots of conversations went back and forth. I had lots of questions and there was a lot to learn from this master guitar builder. What follows are a summary of some of those conversations and answers and insights into the process of building a great guitar.
Arlen Roth Signature by Don Warren
Can you tell our readers a little about your background?
Don Warren
I am a guitarist and instructor with a passion for creating music and tones that inspire the soul to reach for more. Sound corny? Well I believe we are here to create and express ourselves to our fullest potential and as a guitarist, I know how much it means to me to be able to find a tone that stirs me inside and makes me want to reach for styles and levels of playing I’ve not approached before.
What prompted you to build your first guitar?
What model did you build first?
I owned quite a variety of guitars and found myself entering the seemingly never ending cycle of acquiring gear in search of some elusive tone. Chasing the dragon as it were. New guitar…hmmmm now the amp isn’t quite what I want…maybe a new pedal or an EQ? Hmmmm, now the new amp sounds good but the guitar is thin. How about new pickups and maybe swap out the bridge…etc. Sound familiar? A room full of guitars and amps and I can’t feel inspired by the tones at hand?
I started taking every guitar apart. I remember buying one of the first PRS guitars and dismantling it to find out what was inside. I did this with many guitars and found what I liked and didn’t like and made notes. This began a 5 year long obsession to understand facts about tone. I say facts because I do not like buying into the whole hype thing that includes talk of magical pickups, rare woods etc. There are basic fundamental building blocks that gave the most popular vintage guitars their tones and it is not all about old wood and magic this and that.
Upon working with various people in the metals industry I found out what has been changed in how metal is fabricated including copper stock. Hmmmm, if this is not equal to the old stuff, then how can I expect to have the true vintage tone? Thus began testing on old Strats and the like. One friend did a burn test on a 1963 Strat bridge to extract the exact ratios of metals in the bridge. This was an eye opener. I haven’t looked back. I apply this thought process to the whole guitar one piece at a time. What I have come up with, is a means of producing pickups and bridges with the help of a variety of folks that allow me to provide some critical elements necessary to make the guitars what they are.
Lindy Fralin, John Mann, Bill Callaham and others were amazing in the learning process and I can’t say enough about them. That being said, I need to warn the reader that the dragon chase needs to stop. There is no dragon. There is no one magical answer.
Want proof? Try this. I bought some very expensive namesake guitars from a well know custom shop and decided to change one component at a time when I found the best of the best for my needs. They all contributed, but not one of them made the big difference. In fact…all combined, I still was not happy. This is when I decided to make my own guitar from scratch and try my components on that. All my closest friends thought I was nuts. Not one person believed I was going to achieve 30 plus tones and go toe to toe with a Les Paul, a Strat and pull off acoustic tones and then go so much further.
Classic II - The first Warren Guitar
5 years into it, I completed my first guitar and invited the nay-sayers for a listen. I played……there was silence in the room.,then laughter, then a lot of hugs. I know what I’ve got here and I am also aware of what I don’t have and that is a name brand.
That is sad. Sad that countless near perfect reviews from real players and a great review in Vintage Guitar still could not convince the masses. Sound files and videos that are proof positive and still people want to see a name. I have offers to sell out and if I did, people would flock to get them and find that once again the dragon chase would be on, as there is no way any company can afford to use my parts and work at such a low profit.
Tiger Eye Classic II
If your readers knew how much most $3000.00 guitars cost to build they would be furious beyond description. I will say this. For what the guitar stores need to take them in at to make a profit, I would have to lose money just to get them one. My tremolo alone costs as much as some makers spend to sell a $600.00 guitar. Why? It is made here with quality control and metals that most folks have long forgotten and it is not cost effective. I used to live in the profit and margin world and if I’ve learned anything from my 44 years on this rock, it is that money does not make the world go around.
That is a sad perception and I won’t raise my sons to think that way and so I won’t expect someone to own one of my guitars and be subject to that mentality. I make a guitar of the highest possible quality I can that produces the widest variety of tones available today. This is not a boast. It is a simple reality. I am not famous and I will make guitars for people that are serious about having one instrument that feels like their best friend through whom they can speak and express themselves.
When my first prototype was done, it was what would become my Classic II (a three single coil guitar) I had been asked to do a session for someone and they needed a Texas blues vibe. I did it with that guitar and got a lot of compliments in the studio for the tone. Immediately after that track, I cut a track for a guy breaking into professional wrestling who needed a drop D heavy riff. I used the same guitar with 3 single coils on it and when I hit the first chord, the engineer sprang back in his chair and mouthed “What the Fuck!!” After the session, he told me that I needed to make guitars and I told him I just did it for me. He asked for one and then it all got started.
How many have you built to date?
Do any well known guitarists play your instruments?
Dan Toler
At this point, I only make as many as I am comfortably able to do all by myself, taking my time and most importantly, being somewhat selective in that I want to make them for players whom I connect with and that in my opinion “get it.” Many, players have evolved to the point where they recognize that most of what we read in the magazines is hype. I want to take the moment to applaud Jason Lollar for his ad in Vintage Guitar that straight out tells you that there is no magic. There is someone with the nads to call it what it is.
I get calls from a lot of folks, but I love the time I spend with other things in my life and I am not as patient as I once was in having to convince people that I won’t alter anything on my guitar that may affect the tones I spent so long to achieve. I had more than a handful of famous artists we all know and love ask me to make a guitar and then proceed to ask for changes that would compromise the tones it makes and on top of that want it for free. I don’t do things for endorsements.
Arlen Roth
When I met Arlen Roth he showed me a room full of guitars. Many folks tried to replicate his prized “53” Tele and when I told him I would give him those tones as well as all my others, he smiled. 6 Months later he was in love and he plays them because he loves them. I make the same exact guitar for each customer that I would put in his hands. I made guitars for a few famous folks who love them but have endorsements that pay them well and so you will here them on albums but never see them in their hands. Such is the way of it.
What’s the typical turnaround time from deposit to delivery?
I tell people 4 to 6 months because I build it and take the time to live with it and play it as if it were my own. If I don’t like it, I will change necks, bodies, and work it until it has that tone I love. I tap the wood and listen for specific tones. Call me nuts but when I tap the upper bout of my Classic II I know if it will give me my Stevie Ray Texas Flood and Lenny tone. If it doesn’t it makes a great addition to the wood stove. I can sometimes get it done quicker but in the long run a smart player will realize that they will never remember caring that it took longer if it sounds amazing. They would remember getting it rushed to them and wanting to sell it if it didn’t sound right.
What do you feel most distinguishes your guitars from other independent luthiers?
Well, I think one thing is that I don’t use as many commercially available components as other makers. My specific pickups, tremolo and wiring are not found on other guitars. . The pickups are a design from Lindy and I and they work perfectly in my setup. The wiring is very complex with no circuit boards at all. It is a carefully thought out construction that allows a lot of combinations that really provide an amazing variety of inspirational tones. I can nail that woman tone that is so loved. When I play ‘Still Got the Blues’ on a single coil guitar, people are amazed at it and I just use a Blues Junior and a stomp box. My online video demo was a $400.00 Crate amp and I still got a lot of great tones from it.
How did your association with Lindy Fralin come about?
I talked to the owners of a lot of pickup makers from big to small. Lindy’s name came up a lot. I called him and found that I really liked him as a person and his integrity. He is a great guy and I have an old recording from my answering machine where he was working on a pickup for me and he is playing riffs through an old Princeton and demonstrating the tones. It is great. He is that kind of guy and works to make it just perfect. I can’t say enough about him and what he has done to contribute to my tones. It isn’t easy having the variety I do and make it so each pickup responds accordingly and provide the dead on vintage tones I require.
In your opinion, what’s the single most crucial factor in the quest for tonal excellence?
I can’t answer that easily. I would say using history as a guide. Where did the greatest tones we all cherish coming from? What were the links in the chain for each one? What can be done to obtain those tones with what is available today and if it isn’t available today how can you the maker get what you need to make it happen? If you allow any compromise or permit one weak link, you have sacrificed the integrity of the chain. It’s as simple as that.
Nitro Cellulouse
When I contracted you to build my lefty Arlen Roth Signature I was pretty sure I wanted the nitro cellulose finish since it was being hyped as the best top coat that would allow the ‘true vintage’ tones to emerge as it aged.Your explanation about nitro was enough to change my mind and go with your custom polyester option.
Would you please share your insights about nitro cellulose with our readers?
I can only speak to what I’ve known to be true on my guitars and what I’ve been told by some of the top finish people in the country as well as those using nitro. A number of tests have been done to determine if there was indeed any frequency responses that varied from one finish to the next regarding Poly finishes and nitro. This is what was determined. Given equal amounts of both finishes after curing, there was virtually no detectable difference in tone, resonance or sustain.
That being said….not everyone applies a poly finish as thin as a nitro finish so in the real world you may very well hear a small difference in that the nitro will be a bit warmer.
What happens is this. Nitro is solvent based. When the solvent evaporates, it leaves only the hard finish which is fairly thin. This evaporation takes more time than on a poly finish which is chemical based and cures much quicker. The end result is that a thicker finish is usually left behind on a poly finish unless time is taken to sand between coats of sealer and wet sanding is done to bring the poly finish down to a thin layer.
Once that is done, we are back to equal parts and an apples to apples comparison can be made. But let’s face it. Guitar players (and I’ve been guilty of this for years) love to believe in the magic, the voodoo and all that stuff. However, at the end of the day it comes down to wood and wire period. Now that being said, unless the best wood and wire (metals etc) are used to achieve a particular tone, a finish is not going to matter very much. For me, I use components that are made up of the same ratio of metals that were used in the early vintage guitars. Yes it costs much more, but tone is worth it to me, not hype.
As informative as forums can be, too many guys are spreading the hype and making judgments based on too many variables to make accurate assessments. A guy might be playing a Callaham Strat through a Peavey Windsor and a digitech multi effects unit and say how the guitar sounds thin and be thinking about swapping pickups.
For me…if you want dead on vintage tone of a certain variety, it is best to have all the elements that went into creating that sound in the first place present on the guitar. This way, no matter what you plug into, you don’t have to worry that the guitar is maybe the weaker link.
I always come back to the fact that for me to make a guitar costs so much more than it does most makers in that my tremolo alone is more than three times the price to make than for one I can buy commercially.
Still it amazes me that a guy can watch my demo video, fall in love with the tones I am getting out of a cheap Crate amp and then ask me to swap out all kinds of parts because he read somewhere that this and that and the other thing. It makes me question if we have forgotten to listen with our ears and not be in our heads all the time. I mean we certainly know guys that are constantly changing gear in search of the Holy Grail tone right? Why do you think that is? As long as you chase the dragon, you are chasing myth and myth is the bread and butter of the guitar industry these days and it is making a lot of money for people all too willing to keep the dragon alive.
Listen…I know a lot of people are not going to like my straight forward honest assessment of the industry, but I don’t need to do this for a living so I have no vested interest in coaxing people to buy my guitars. I make whatever amount I am comfortable making and am selective about those I want to build for because I want to make sure that whoever gets on of my guitars really gets it. But in the end I invite you to listen to my demos with a cheap amp and an old crappy video camera and tell me if maybe I’m onto something here.
Do you construct every part of your guitars?
I leave the back of the neck to CNC machining for the simple reason that I am human and I do not want anyone to play one of my guitars and feel that it is somehow different than another one they may pick up. I took so much time in getting the first one perfect that I don’t want to take a chance that I might not replicate it every time so that is important to me. Just like the myth of the nitro finish and so many others, there are folks that somehow believe that it is different if it is cut by hand or machine. Wood being cut to a shape is wood being cut to a shape - period. That fact remains an absolute whether cut by hand, machine or magical gnomes (hey…you never know)
In a nutshell, I am a guy who will never buy into statements like “perception is reality” Reality is reality and I will not try to get people to buy into anything. I will always invite people to own something. Own the facts, do the research and use an open mind to decide what is real and what is hype. I don’t let the almighty dollar rule my world. I make guitars when I like to and for whom I like making them and don’t have time to live an illusion. Life’s too short. It all comes down to true vintage tone for me and the variety of tones I’ve managed to squeeze out of my guitars.
Don's First Lefty
How much different was it for you to build your first lefty in terms of time and re-thinking as well as sourcing/building lefty components?
My first lefty was a trip. It is so odd trying to do the setup and be satisfied with everything when you can’t play left handed. It drove me nuts but I got into it and it turned out fine. I had a bridge made custom for my first one being that I had all righty bridges here. Just handling the guitar was so odd but eye opening as well. I’m glad I had the experience though and really think that lefty players are taken advantage of. I understand that there would be an up charge based on what has to happen in the shop to set up for machining the lefty components etc, but for me I am not comfortable with making it as pricey as I’ve seen. Thus, I charge no more to build a left handed guitar than a right handed one.
Do you have any plans or desire to build acoustic guitars ever?
No. I am more an electric guy. I do enjoy acoustic guitars very much and am very impressed with a local maker in Argyle, New York. A gentleman named Michael Collins. www.collinsguitars.com He makes some wonderful stuff.
Do you have any new models on the workbench to add to your regular product lineup? If so, would you care to show your hand?
I have two. Both are in the final stages and are based on my Classic II and Special format but have original shapes and a few other nice features to add comfort for the player. They will be shown soon.
What part of the building process do you most enjoy?
I enjoy the setups. I find that the most relaxing and rewarding. Of course, hearing the comments back from a new customer is my most favorite part because I know how much the guitar is going to mean to them the more they play it.
The Ultimate Setup – recently you’ve placed ads in Vintage Guitar magazine and elsewhere promoting what you’ve labeled as ‘The Ultimate Setup’ for anyone with any of their guitars.
www.TheUltimateSetup.com
Yes. I will perform every task you would expect to have done if you were a top touring pro and your guitar had to be at its peak night after night. But I go beyond that too. I have a unique and very effective method of doing not only frets for accuracy, but the intonation and you can tell the difference. Sorry…I won’t show my hand on how I achieve those two aspects as I do. I urge your readers to check out the site and read the details of what makes this truly the ultimate setup.
Do you ever do refinish work for player’s axes?
No…I don’t but there are some great folks out there that do it. Pat Wilkins comes to mind right off. He is in California. Pat does a great job and is a pleasure to deal with.
What’s your opinion of the recent craze of some manufacturers to give new guitars a ‘relic’ treatment that gives the guitar an aged, well cared for appearance and well worn feel?
Well…you know….it really comes down to what makes a player feel inspired to play and for a lot of folks, the look of an old beat up guitar evokes a certain image and if that makes them pick it up and play more then more power to them. I don’t do it myself but have picked up a few and thought…”hmmm, I can see why this would appeal to some folks.” But…. When I play it, I am seldom in love with the feel of the ones I’ve tried. It really has to feel like an old baseball glove on the hand for me. This is what I try to achieve when I make my guitars or do an ultimate setup.
What thoughts or comments would you like to leave our readers?
I am glad you asked. Honestly…for you the guitarist, you must see the constant barrage of claims and hype surrounding so much of what we all chase….TONE. It really is time that guitarists take a look at something here. This is one of the newest instruments on the planet and yet it seems in many ways as if it reached its peak within a few short years. I say that because so much time is spent chasing vintage tone of the early guitars. Now people want it to look old too right?
I believe a guitarist needs to think about the tones they have heard and have fallen in love with. Next, they need to think about what instruments and amps etc. gave the player that tone in the first place. Now with that much known, it would seem clear what to buy right? The problem is in the fact that so much of what made those guitars what they were has changed. The metals in the bridge, the pole pieces, the copper windings, the lead wires etc.
I see some makers come close to putting some of these elements together but then fall short in other vital areas and it is due to the use of commercially available components used to make the guitars. I go through a lot of trouble and expense to have made the components I demand and the materials used to make them. It is vital to vintage tone. I also employ some of the finer modern elements in function to get better and wider ranges of performance out of the guitar. An example of that is in the way the tremolo uses vintage metals but is able to let you dive bomb and come back in tune. And of course the fact that you can navigate 30 plus tones with the guitar with good old fashioned ingenuity and a bit of creative wiring.
I mean…just think about the obsession people had with true bypass pedals and cables that are directional and have gold this and that and keep your tone in tact. Man…. Did anyone ever stop to look at the cables on Van Halen’s board in the day and the mix match of cables and boxes on many guitar heroes’ rigs? These tones we are chasing were all made in part by each component in the chain and it all contributes. Sure. Ultimately, having your guitar completely unaffected might sound like a good idea but only if the basics of the guitar are fantastic in the first place right? This all seems like simple common sense to me and that is what seems so hard to show people. They say they want to go in one direction but continue to drive in quite another direction at the same time. So…that is my two cents worth. I hope that helps some readers come to a more clear decision in their search for tone.
Thank you very much Don for helping to enlighten those of us in search of ‘Holy Grail Tone’. It would be more accurate to say it in plural - an entire palette of the best vintage tones a player could ever hope to discover in one well made piece of ‘tonal freedom’ in a guitar. . As your credo is “Experience Tonal Freedom” I can testify that you’ve succeeded well beyond what I had expected. I also can’t thank you enough for being such a delight to get to know and work with since this was your first lefty guitar you’ve built. I hope our readers take your words to heart and contact you to find out for themselves what a true master craftsman and tone meister you can legitimately lay claim to. I’m very much looking forward to seeing and playing your two newest models. I understand your website will soon be revamped to show us all you now have to offer. My Warren Arlen Roth Signature Tele will be one axe that I plan on ‘taking with me’ when my time on Earth is over.
If you want to ‘Experience Tonal Freedom’, get in touch with Don.
- www.WarrenGuitars.com
- www.TheUltimateSetup.com
- Email: don@warrenguitars.com
- Phone: 518-237-TONE(8663)
