Hi –♣potential first-time Warwick owner has a question!

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SimonH

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Hi – I'm a couple of days away from pulling the trigger on a Corvette $$ - tried one in a shop, loved it, made my current crop of basses (Ibanez Roadsters and Roadstars, a parts Precision (which I love), various other bits and pieces).

Only think is, the seller is 600 miles away and I can't try the bass. I'm paying what he asks so that's not in question: I just wondered if anyone can tell me if it's a legitimate Warwick? The serial is D-124268-06, which checks out.

$(KGrHqRHJBIFEUG7N)T9BRJlo+mh(w~~48_80.JPG$(KGrHqR,!hoFERZlKGlGBRJlp!W1eQ~~48_80.JPG$T2eC16ZHJF0E9nmFSs4-BRJlp!IdwQ~~48_80.JPG$T2eC16F,!yME9s5qE+mLBRJlo+v5tQ~~48_80.JPG

Does this look legit to you Warwick experts out there?

Apologies for my first post being a question. Hopefully there'll be more Warwickness from me!

Simon H
 
Everything looks good to me - you have an Ash version, which has a gloss finish, which is an uncommon option that's quite pricey.

If anything, I'd ask if it's a factory finish - it probably is, but maybe make sure.
 
Cool - thanks for getting back so soon. He said he cleans it regularly with Auto Glym Ultra Deep Shine car polish!!!! I wondered if that gave it the colour! It IS a sweet-looking thing.
 
Looks great. That nut is not standard Warwick equipment. Not a dealbreaker by any means.

As a $$ Corvette owner, I can promise that you will love that bass.
 
Great! I am SO excited! Yeah I wondered about the nut. I wonder why it's not standard? This is a 2006, so it would have had a JANII?
 
Well, the JANII tends to break at the ends. Some people replace with another JANII, some replace with a JANIII (composite or brass), some people replace with bone, or solid brass.. and still some people go with what looks like a plain plastic nut like on the one in the above picture. It's very easy to remove if you should wish to, and replace with a real Warwick nut.
 
Hello there,

According to the Serial Number:

Serial No.: D-124268-06
Article Code: 1484380000BZASHOWW
produced: 08/04/2006
Info:
Corvette $$, 4-string
Natural Oil finish
Swamp Ash body
Ovangkol neck
Black hardware

Everything looks fine except for the finish, that should be "natural oil", and the bass in the pics looks more like "high polish antique tobacco" to me. It is obvious that the owner, or someone else, changed the original finish. And the nut, that has been discussed before.

Cheers.
 
Being modified shouldn't be a problem. Looks well done. Maybe just ask the seller for 5 or 6 close up photos of the finish just to check its well done across the whole bass...
 
Yeah, I was getting to that conclusion too. I wondered if the car polish the seller says he's using has a magical ingredient that changes natural finish to antique tobacco. Either way, it's a good looker... in the pics. And if the nut end snapped it seems possible the owner would choose to fit something cheap than fork out £90 or whatever for a JANIII!
 
And the finish looks even a little bit sunburst to me. No car polish does that to a NOF bass, he bass was probably refinished. It looks like a nice job, and IMHO it is an upgrade to the original NOF. If the price is right, just buy it. I would check it before though, it seems like the seller might not be 100% honest with you, as he didn't mentioned the refinish job.
 
Interesting - maybe I'm silly but I thought that a factory sunburst finish on a Corvette $$ seemed a little unrealistic, but hey.

The non-original nut and non-factory (IMO upgraded) finish would be good bartering points - if it's a great deal, go for it!
 
I've emailed the seller to ask if he knows what the finish is, who did it, why, and what happened to the nut. My feeling is he won't know and probably bought the bass as is. I feel a bit bad because I had arranged for a friend to collect the thing this week and he bailed at the last minute. Trying again next week. I'll post up here the chap's replies.
 
Best of luck, looks the real deal apart from the finish and I'm with Flo in there being a sunburst to the edges (kinda like it though). As a fellow $$ owner I can't recommend it enough!
 
Hi - current owner has no knowledge of the changes to the Corvette... he says he bought it like that from a shop.
 
Well, the Corvette has arrived and it's exactly as it looked in the pics. The finish is fantastic and looks entirely factory - if it's a refinish it's done by a professional. Can't fault it. New strings, lowered action, closed up the strong spacing, off we go. What a sound, lots of versatility, just got to get used to the fattish neck profile now. But it feels quality.

First gig in a couple of days. Can't wait!
 
Congrats Simon!!!

:)
If you have a gig soon, and don't have too much time to experiment with the settings, I dare to make you some suggestions to be safe.
Don't use more than two coils together. So I would use it either with the bridge pickup only for a Music Man style sound, or with both pickups as single coils ( middle position switch) for a J type sound. Don't boost the lows, as the bass has naturally a lot of them.
This is a very versatile beast, but because of that it can be easily turned into a mud factory :)
Cheers,
Flo
 
Funnily enough I've been mucking about and you're right - the tone controls are extreme and only need a tweak, and both single coils together sound sweet.

One thing - there's no problem with the neck, but if I was being fussy I would say it's possible to feel a ridge –♣very, very, very slightly –♣on the back, running the length of the neck.
 
That is not a problem. A lot of the wengé necked wicks I owned had this. You can feel the woodgrain thus the difference between the wengé and zebrano strips. I actually love this about the basses.

On stage, under the hot stage lights my laquered (fender & rickenbacker) necks can become very slippery where the Warwick remains comfortably playable. Imho it is not just 'the sound of wood' but also 'the feel of wood'.

Great looking vette btw!
 
Okay, so first gig with the $$. Love the neck, love the balance of the guitar, but one of the pickups came loose and ended up choking the strings. And the input jack has a short and keeps tripping out the active channel. And it sounded all honky, farty, quacking upper mids. And the balance between strings was lousy too so the bottom E rattled teeth but anything played on the top G was inaudible.

It sounds utterly amazing when no-one else is playing – especially slap-tastic - but as soon as you add the band it sort of disappears. As opposed to my Precision which sounds ordinary on its own but really stands out with the band... and the volume, and tone, from each string is perfectly balanced. I just plug it in with all EQ on the Markbass flat, and it sounds great. Anything I touch after that just makes it better. I think it's idiot-proof.

As for the Corvette, it's going to take some time to mess about and find out what cuts through and what just sounds bad. Tonight was the definitely the bad setting. Florin is absolutely on the money - it's easy to get a pile of mud from it. Need to fix that input jack too!

But it looks and feels so nice to play, and it sounds so cool on its own, it's worth persevering! That and the fact it cost a decent chunk of wedge!
 
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