my new 89 thumb (which electronic?)

herb vibes

herb vibes

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yo guys

just bought a secondhand 89 thumb in a local basscenter 5 days ago. nice piece of wood been only used in a studio. no scratches and everything original parts on it.

price in EUR: about 1400.-
good price? sold my my fender custom jazzbass and a thumb bolt on for this bass! it still hurts a little bit.... :wink:

but this is my dreambass i always wanna to have. waiting 3years for a good deal especially for a handcrafted one. love those older warwicks much more!

anyway the only thing i would like to know is: which electronic did warwick placed in their basses at 1989? my thumb got emg j-pu's with a (?) 2-way electronic. but one thing is for sure it sounds bombastic :D

here some pics;
https://imageshack.us


peace and good vibes
herbie
 
Dang, that is a beauty, but I have no idea what kind of electronics are in it.

Mr. Rabble should be able to tell you though.
 
Hi Herbie !

If it still hurts, you should think about why it does hurt. You still doubt !
1400 Euro is not a bargain and the Thumb BO is such a fanatastic instrument I understand your feeling.

I recently bought a '94 Thumb NT 4 for 1250 Euros (with-rotten-hardcase). Yours has the nice headstock and the brass bridge that is (sadly) no more available (I started a topic to know if people would have ineterest in buying this kind of bridge as option but had no succes !).
These features are -susbjectively- worth 150 Euros if you really want exactly this instrument, the one you dreamt about for years... I think I would have done the same in your case.

But, I would like to add that now, after many years of playing different Warwick basses, I truly believe the "newer" basses are better constructed and feel overall more solid.

Now if I had no Warwick bass, based on my experience, I would like to have one (at least)... and it would be a "newer" Thumb NT 5 with "older" woods and neck construction. But from what I already own I would'nt sell anything !

And now the most important thing, what do you think about your sound and the overall feeling of the bass ?
 
... I think your bass has the old 2 way MEC Eq, the one Mr Rabble doesn't like !
 
Your bass should have the MEC 2-way Electronics, which was standard.
The strange thing is that it doesn't have the dot inlays... :?:
What is the serial number?
 
G'day Herb,I've seen you on myspace before mate,I think we're friends there.That's a lovely Thumb,I adore the carved headstock,I wish they were still like that.
Very cool indeed. 8)
 
This must have been one of the last with the carved headstock and the introduction of no dots, unusual.

I have to disagree with Thumbfreak and I think the price that you paid is a good price. Thumb basses of this vintage and in that condition are holding there value against other basses in the Warwick range.

I am with you on the older bass appreciation front, I would sooner have a pre '92 Warwick bass to anything post that date. I have owned a couple basses from the mid 90's and I've tried many of the newer basses and they are as solid as the old ones without a doubt but IMHO they do not have the attention to detail and finishing of the older basses. I will concede that the new basses are consistent as I have seen older basses that vary in thickness and contouring but this is the charm of the older bass added to which I believe the choice and range of pups used in the early basses makes it far more interesting.

re. your EMG's.

Your electronics are all correct for the period and 'again' I may have to disagree with some fellow contributors and I think that the 2 band EQ is preferable to the later 3 band :twisted: just my opinion! There are debates on forums that the old EMG pups have a different tone to the new ones. I refrained from saying better... I did say different but in many eyes the older ones are superior!

Great bass, stop having doubts and enjoy your new toy :lol:
 
hey peoples!

thanks for the informations :o
well it still hurts because the thumb bolt on was my first warwick. but in the end i even had problem with it because of the 2 way mec electronic. very noisy in the high tunes. i preferd then my passive corvette the last 3 months.
anyway the corvette i have is anyway a very delicious bass. the best passive bass i ever played. more infos afterwards...

back to the thumb:
all in all i'm more than happy with it! i enjoy every moment i play it or even look at itXD really great bass and no probs with the 2-way electronics like on the bolt on.
and i think that the older warwicks would last long enough! their anyway almost all secondhand so you'll get em cheaper and you got a piece of history in your hands :roll:
dot inlays? i thought they were made on the really old thumbs about 85-87? anyway i'm happy that my one don't have any because i don't like dot-inlays on warwicks. maybe some custom-inlays would be nice but ermmm...no :roll:
serial number is: A 1683 89
https://imageshack.us
damn happy with the bass. seen it on thursday 6.00pm, played a half a hour on it, had a sleepless night and bought it at friday 10.00amX)

yap seems that i have only strange warwicks: because i do have a corvette (did'nt want to sell this baby for the thumb!!!) from 95 with the same carved wenge headstock...
https://imageshack.us
but also here i'm very happy with this bass :o

greets from tha weirdoX)

p.s.: the fender was a nice bass too :wink:
 
herb vibes said:
...dot inlays? i thought they were made on the really old thumbs about 85-87? anyway i'm happy that my one don't have any because i don't like dot-inlays on warwicks.
Click to expand...

They were a standard option until 1991, when they become an extra.
Likely the original owner, like you, didn't like them and asked for a dot-less Thumb!

By the way, mine is A 1663 89, almost twins! :wink:
 
Hello,

This is a picture of the pramp that was on board of my 86 Thumb. Its an EMG, (the pickups too). For 86 model it is "historical" correct, dont know if it was still there in 89.
By today standards, its not a very good preamp, drains a lot of current and has a bad S/N
 

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Bombi said:
...Its an EMG, (the pickups too). For 86 model it is "historical" correct, dont know if it was still there in 89.
By today standards, its not a very good preamp, drains a lot of current and has a bad S/N
Click to expand...

Usually Warwick basses already had the MEC 2-way circuit, even in the eighties.
Your is probably an earl customization
 
Are you sure ? most of the early Thumbs that I've seen (86, 87) where equiped with EMG, few were equiped with Bartolinis but none with MEC.

Even in the Tony Bacon guitar book, the 89 Thumb that is pictured is equiped with EMG.

I believed that Warwick did not start with the MEC brand in the early years, they arrived later, dont know exactly when. What do you think ?
 
MEC Pickups were introduced 1990; so every older Thumb has EMGs as standard with BEC I (2-way) electronics.
 
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