Where's the love for Warwick?

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  • bassborabassbora Frets: 132

    Yes its true there is not much Warwick love around these days. Funny how things are fashionable one day and out the next. But I thought I would chip in on the Warwick love.  I regularly gig 3 Warwicks and have been doing since the mid 90's.  I bought an '89 Thumb NT 5 string around '97 and it has been my main bass ever since.  I loved it so much I had to get a 6 string version of the same vintage but fretless. Both have a very flat and fast neck (the old profile that changed later).  Fantastic instruments and even some people think they are a one tone pony I could not disagree more.  It responds so well with any change in both your right and left hand technique (specially right hand) and can give an amazing range of tone.

    I bought a 5 string FNA Jazzman to be my main gigging bass just in case anything would happen to my 5 string Thumb. Great bass but it does not feel on par with the Thumbs

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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    Hopefully like most fashions they will be popular again, to be fair it happend with Gibson and Fender, just a shame Warwick took a lot of the models to Korea, its not that i'm a snob,  i'm not a fan of any instruments made in the east, I know they're very good, but they're built there for a reason which is money, and I would much rather buy from the originators of a design not a subsiduary.
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  • JeremiahJeremiah Frets: 629
    Haven't they stopped making them in Korea now? AFAIK it's either Germany for the high end models or China for everything else.
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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    @Jeremiah that's a shame!
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  • strtdvstrtdv Frets: 2355
    You might be right, Thomann was blowing out the Pro series (the Korean ones) a month ago.

    Bass guitars fall in and out of fashion much more than electric guitars, so it means you can pick up some real quality kit for very cheap.

    The older Warwicks (pre ~2007 or 2009 I think) have chunky necks, the newer ones have slim necks, and the much older ones (~1991ish) have very slim necks. The new ones have a custom shop "broadneck" option which gives you 20mm string spacing vs the standard 17-18mm, this used to be a factory option but sadly now will cost you a small fortune.

    I picked up my 2004 Thumb 5 Bolt On (German made and hardly a mark on it) for £500. It was over £2200 new, and the new Thumb 5 Bolt Ons (which have bubinga rather than ovangkol for the body) are near £2500.

    I like chunky neck profiles as I tuck my thumb behind the neck anyway, but it is a little on the heavy side (10lbs)
    Build quality and sound is unbelievable though

    I find the low output pickups quite odd though, a P Bass has more output than a Thumb, but perhaps thats why they sound so "woody".


    Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    edited December 2014
    mrchi said:
    ... I would much rather buy from the originators of a design not a subsiduary.
    Best not buy a Warwick Streamer then. ;)

    Anyway, here's the most recent photo I have of my bass collection, although I've sold the $$ since this was taken.
    image
    (Er, no I can't remember why the mandobird snuck in there; maybe because it has basically 4-strings, tuned EADG, albeit backwards? :) )
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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    @mart holy fucksocks!! now thats a collection and a half!!!! I respect you love for Warwick mine will never leave me!
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  • Warwick basses just don't fit the fatter gentleman.  Sadly that would be me, so there are 'issues' around that.
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    mrchi said:
    @mart holy fucksocks!! now thats a collection and a half!!!! I respect you love for Warwick mine will never leave me!
    Lol! It looks a bit over the top given how little I play, but my son has effectively taken possession of the red P and the White corvette, so the only one I could sell is the Nobby. And then I'd be down to one solid, one hollow, and one acoustic, which is probably perfect for me.
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  • xmrchixmrchi Frets: 2810
    Na keep em all!
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  • GassageGassage Frets: 30824
    edited December 2014
    I love the Castle but otherwise it's a bit of a dump.

    Leamington is nicer

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • BucketBucket Frets: 7751
    I'd love a 5-string Thumb NT.

    I am aware this will cost me a small fortune should I ever do it. Regardless of the low resale, they still cost a bomb secondhand.
    - "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
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  • strtdvstrtdv Frets: 2355
    A second hand 5 string thumb neck through should be under £1400, probably nearer £1200, so compared with the new ones costing about £3.5k still a bargain
    Robot Lords of Tokyo, SMILE TASTE KITTENS!
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  • My Thumb NT 4 string is my main gigging bass.  Sits really well in the mix and sounds great

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  • Secret_SamSecret_Sam Frets: 262
    edited July 2023
    This thread reappeared while I was looking for reviews of the Gnome amps.

    Necrophilia here we come.

    I bought a Streamer LX 5 about twenty years ago.  I'm still grateful every time I play it. Stunning range of tones, and its factory set up is still perfect.  It is powerful and balanced everywhere on the fretboard, and so articulate it's almost like it's reading your mind.

    I can't imagine how you could improve on it. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71950
    I've got a Corvette $$ Pro Series in gloss black with an ebony board, which apparently is a custom-only combination.

    But it's for sale. I love the sounds, but I don't love the body shape - I'm constantly having to pull it slightly to the right because it just won't quite sit in the right place on the strap despite that phallic upper horn - and I *hate* the neck profile above about the 7th fret. It's nice at the nut end, but quickly becomes much too chunky. I thought I could get used to it, but then every time I went back to my Rickenbacker it was such a relief that in the end I decided the Warwick is not for me. It's for sale in a shop in Glasgow if anyone wants it...

    About thirty years ago I had a Dolphin too - I quite liked the shape and the neck on that, but the electronics were absolutely dire, the treble control was basically just a hiss generator when it was turned up and it sounded crap with it turned down as well.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    I have a German-made Corvette Standard. I find it hangs fine on a strap but I may be taller than other users and I wear the instrument fairly high up.

    None of my Warwick basses has its original pickups. The Corvette sports Seymour Duncan Active EQ "switch" pickups. The Streamer five string arrived with SD Phase series narrow soapbar pickups. After numerous experiments, the Streamer Pro M received the active MEC JJ pickup that it ought to have had from the beginning. (MEC Dynamic Correction passive, noise-cancelling pickups are utter shite.)
    Be seeing you.
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I wanted to love Warwicks as they look so cool to me. Tried a bunch years ago and it just wasn't happening. It's a shame as I REALLY liked two models - The Stuart Zender one and the P-nut bass, both shown below.






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