Anyone ever taken a Warwick apart? I need to do this for a refinish

silddx

silddx

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Are there any tricky areas? I only need to take everything off the body, but the control cavity surround looks tricky to remove. Is it glued?

Any other things to watch out for? I'm ok with soldering irons and have some experience with Fender type basses but Warwicks look a little trickier.

Mine's a new Corvette STD Ash FL.

Thanks in advance.
 
i refinished my fortress and there were no problems at all. i let the control cavity where it was. don't be scared!
 
herb vibes said:
i refinished my fortress and there were no problems at all. i let the control cavity where it was. don't be scared!
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Excellent! How did you mask the edges of your control cavity?

Also, mine is a honey violin stain ash body. What I'm planning to do is to give it a bit of a rub down and do a Mary Kay type white finish with the grain showing through.

Any issues with wax residues when finishing? Should I clear coat it first? I was even thinking of rubbing white paint into the grain for the first coats - stupid idea?
 
silddx said:
Excellent! How did you mask the edges of your control cavity?

Also, mine is a honey violin stain ash body. What I'm planning to do is to give it a bit of a rub down and do a Mary Kay type white finish with the grain showing through.

Any issues with wax residues when finishing? Should I clear coat it first? I was even thinking of rubbing white paint into the grain for the first coats - stupid idea?
Click to expand...

Be aware that stain may go a deeper into the wood than you think! In which case you do seriously have to wonder if it isn't worth trying to find a bass that is already in the finish you like, sell your bass and buy that one. ;)

re. the wax residue - if yours is a HV stain finish then it shouldn't have been waxed, so you'll be safe in that respect.
 
Thanks WH. Appreciated.

Problem was I couldn't find a white active vette standard ash fretless anywhere.

I gave the body a quick wax when I got it. I think a light sand should probably sort that. May go for a clear coat first, then a couple of white coats the more clear coat.

Thanks again to you both.
 
silddx said:
Excellent! How did you mask the edges of your control cavity?
Click to expand...
i didn't... you can see the old finish but it's not even 1mm around the cavity. i didn't care because nobody looks at your bass from behind and nothing happened to the cavity too...

i had honey violin too (and sorry guys but i hate this colour) but on maple since it's a fortress and not ash like your vette. it worked out fine:
https://imageshack.us

https://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc02771.jpg
 
Great stuff! Thanks for the pics.

I actually do want to remove the cavity surround because I want a very high standard of finish. I don't care if no-one sees the back, I will, and it will bug me! Sorry, I can be a bit of a perfectionist with things like this.

Thanks again.
 





Before worrying about the survival of
the control cavity surround, you need
to know if it's worth worrying about.

IOW, it might be so cheap to replace
that you just rip it out [if it's glued or
otherwise won't drop out] and replace
it with a new one. Kinda like changing
a gasket ... scrape it off and replace it.

If it were my ax, I'd rip it out and not
replace it. I'd just fit a screw-on cover
[prolly from another common brand of
bass]. The Wick cover is so faulty that
even the official user's manual admits
to the problem ... so, away with it !

​



 
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I think the control cover surround is held in place with small screws.That's the way all of my warwicks are.It's easy to break the bass down.Just remember the neck screws are two different lengths.The end grain will be the hardest place to get all the old color off.
 
james brunnning said:
I think the control cover surround is held in place with small screws.That's the way all of my warwicks are.It's easy to break the bass down.Just remember the neck screws are two different lengths.The end grain will be the hardest place to get all the old color off.
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That's great, thank you for that. I just got home and looked and there are small screws holding it in. Never noticed them before!

Luckily it's only a stain so I'll sand it back a bit and hopefully it will lighten up a little. Can't decide what paint. Nitro sounds like a pain with the drying time and I've only got a space of about five days to complete it before the bass will see action. Polyurethane seems to look like the best paint for the job.
 
Hey man,

The frame is held with screws, like James said. Id did this many times, not a big deal.
Be sure you have a cup or something, and put all the screws there.
Buy some paper tape, and use small pieces, and mark the wires you unsolder, to know how to put them back. You have to unsolder the wires coming from the pickups, and the ones linked to the jack. And the ground coming from the bridge.
Good luck :-)
 
You're a star Florin, thank you very much :)

Florin said:
Hey man,

The frame is held with screws, like James said. Id did this many times, not a big deal.
Be sure you have a cup or something, and put all the screws there.
Buy some paper tape, and use small pieces, and mark the wires you unsolder, to know how to put them back. You have to unsolder the wires coming from the pickups, and the ones linked to the jack. And the ground coming from the bridge.
Good luck :-)
Click to expand...
 
Herbie — I love that Fortress bass!

The Fortress was one of my favorite basses, wish I hadn't sold it!
 
silddx, make sure you document the whole process with pictures and post them here !

i would like to see how the honey violin turns out to be a mary kate...

nice idea by the way
 

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Thank you Florin.

It's a pain in the rear to do, but the reward is in the polishing and watching that beautiful, rich glossy shine develop!
 
do you have pictures of the reassembled bass ?

i just thought, you could have made the grain pop by using black dye on the swamp ash, then wipe the body with thinner and sand a little bit. that way, the dark parts of the grain become black and the bright parts stay bright.
and then spray the white color, that way the grain would shine through more.
did you think about that ?
 
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