New to Warwick Basses. ?'s

bassplayer22

bassplayer22

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Hey guys,

Althought I am not new to bass playing (10+ years), I am new to Warwick basses and have a few questions. I ordered my first Thumb 5 BO (Lefty) a few days ago and should have it by early next week. I am as more excited than a kid!!! I know the manual says to do this and that for maintenance, etc, but I wanted to hear it from the owners of these wonderful basses. Give me your opinions of what you think is best. Ok, here are the Q's.

1. What wax are you guys using?

2. What strings should I avoid? I usually use DR's for fretted and Ernie Ball's for fretless.

3. Are there any "fitted" cases for the Thumb basses? Keep in mind, I am a lefty.

4. Because of the wood, do you prefer to leave your bass in the case or on the stand.

5. For maximum growl, how do you have the EQ on your bass setup? I.e. pickup selection, bass, treble, etc... My bass rig is an Ampeg SVT 810E with the Ampeg SVT-5 Pro.

6. Are there any other tips or advice for me as a new Warwick player? Things to do? Anything to avoid doing?

:D

Thanks a bunch guys!

Tim
 
bassplayer22 said:
Hey guys,

Althought I am not new to bass playing (10+ years), I am new to Warwick basses and have a few questions. I ordered my first Thumb 5 BO (Lefty) a few days ago and should have it by early next week. I am as more excited than a kid!!! I know the manual says to do this and that for maintenance, etc, but I wanted to hear it from the owners of these wonderful basses. Give me your opinions of what you think is best. Ok, here are the Q's.

1. What wax are you guys using?

2. What strings should I avoid? I usually use DR's for fretted and Ernie Ball's for fretless.

3. Are there any "fitted" cases for the Thumb basses? Keep in mind, I am a lefty.

4. Because of the wood, do you prefer to leave your bass in the case or on the stand.

5. For maximum growl, how do you have the EQ on your bass setup? I.e. pickup selection, bass, treble, etc... My bass rig is an Ampeg SVT 810E with the Ampeg SVT-5 Pro.

6. Are there any other tips or advice for me as a new Warwick player? Things to do? Anything to avoid doing?

:D

Thanks a bunch guys!

Tim
Click to expand...
Hello Tim, welcome to the forum. :-)

1- Most of us are using Warwick Beeswax. Others are using different furniture wax too... that contains beeswax, carnauba oil, etc.
And others have refinished/ oiled their basses, and they don't need to wax them really....

2. None, you can use any strings you like. Some say that Stainless Steel strings are eating the frettboard faster, but I've never noticed that... After 10 years you use a little steelwool, and the FB is like new again.

3. Warwick cases shoul fit very well. Anyway, it will fit in almost any case, since the thumb has a very small body. I don't know about special fitted cases for thumb...

4. If it is your room, with steady humidity and temperature it doesn't really matter. I keep it on the stand.

5. "Glowl" has different meanings for each of us...
Pickups- I'd say with both together is maximum growl, it gets warmer as panned to the neck. It will growl like hell anyway you use it. Less growl is with the Pan full to the neck or bridge.
EQ... The thumb sounds great without any settings... You can find your own sweet spots, but try not to do dramatic settings.

6.
Wax it more often in the few months. 2 times / week. Wax it in the evening and polish it in the morning.
- Be careful with the nut, the screws are not that solid.
- Learn to make your own setup, check the "Tips and tricks" section. The factory setup is great, but I raise a little bit the lower strings, and lower the G side a little. Also check the action after a while, and redo it properly if needed. Don't forget to set the pickups and the intonation after...
- Have fun, and post pics with your bass, and a happy face :-)
 
Florin, thanks for the reply!

I am very excited to say the least. One of the major downsides of being a lefty is getting to play the bass before you buy it. Most of the basses I have ordered have all been custom, but I bought the Warwick strictly off of reputation. I spent hours doing research for the last 8 months and am very happy with my decision. I just didn't want to wait 1-2 years for a custom bass, not with the reputation that Warwick has. I have never heard anything bad about Warwick, other then they weigh a lot, but that's not a big deal to me.

The growl that I was reffering to was that signature tone that Warwick's are known for.

Thanks for the tips! I will post a pick as soon as I can.

Tim
 
Hey hey,

welcome to the forum man. Trust me, when you get your bass, just plug it in everything set flat, and bam !!! The growl is there already, you don't need to look for it man. :twisted:
My personal opinion about the pickups on the 5 stringer Thumbs, is that they work as a pair. I don't find it useful to pan the pickups to the bridge or neck. Sure, you will hear a difference, but I don't find it interesting..... Another advise: there is the notorious stain one gets right behind the pickup (thumb rest stain). I always wax that part additionally. It's just a tiny spot, so it takes very little time to wax and buff it. But it will give that spot some extra protection. :wink:

Cheers man. :D
 
Welcome to the forum,

Follow the advise above and you will be a very happy person.

Enjoy your new Thumb!

Gary
 
By the way, DR strings sound great on Thumbs. I use Fat Beams on my BO4, and Long Necks on the NT5.
 
On the strings to avoid...Rotosounds. I am waiting for EMPs (since my dealer in the US has them 2 for 1 and I have been waiting for them for months literally) to come in but I love Black labels too.

the wax either Warwick beeswax or many people use the Feed-N Wax from Howards. It adds a little of shine which the Beeswax from Warwick does not add. Depends it you like the Thumb to shine or not since the FeedN Wax also has lemon and orange oils to clean as it waxes the thing also it is very innexpensive. you can get it at Home Depot or Ace Hardware.

on the cases the gig bag they come are great for them or I just got a Rockcase flightcase for my Thumb and it loves its new house.

tips on waxing...some people do it several times/week over the first weeks and eventualy I think we go down to once every week or once every 2 weeks depending on how much you touch and play the bass.

Kudos on the new Thumb.

Welcome to the Wic Addicts. please post pics when you get it.
 
I have got to try that Feed n Wax, it looks like a great product. Thus far I've had fun with the Warwick wax, but would like to see a bit more of a sheen/ shine to it. I don't think you can wax the bass too often. Light coats. You might find you wax it all the time.

As for strings. Whatever you like mate.

Settings: controls are made for playing with.
 
Thanks for all of your responses and tips, I really appreciate it. I am looking forwarding to getting that slip in the mail!

:P

Tim
 
Strings are all subjective I think. I tried a bunch over the past 6 years with my Warwicks (granted, no thumbs). The DR Lo-Riders died on me relatively quickly and Ernie Ball were pretty good. I now stick to Rotosound Swing 66's. It's trial and error though. You'll get a lot of different sounds while you're trying to figure out which you like. Enjoy your Thumb !
 
The Thumb BO is a bloody awesome bass!

Good advice above... I'd just add that I tend to keep the two pickups balanced. Keep the EQ flat to start, then subtle tweaks to find your particular sonic nirvana!

I use Warwick EMP strings on mine, and just don't worry about strings chewing up the fretless board.. doesn't seem to be much of a probalem!
 
trujo777 said:
...many people use the Feed-N Wax from Howards. It adds a little of shine which the Beeswax from Warwick does not add. Depends it you like the Thumb to shine or not since the FeedN Wax also has lemon and orange oils to clean as it waxes the thing also it is very innexpensive. you can get it at Home Depot or Ace Hardware.
Click to expand...

Wow! +1 on the Howard's Feed-N-Wax! I just used some on my Thumb NT and the shine/glow is incredibly impressive - really brings out the Bubinga Pommele pattern and the 3-D effect of the wood! Sa-weeet! 8)
 
The power of carnauba. I haven't found any yet, but haven't had a chance to check out Home Despot or ACE, I'm hoping Home Depot has it, ACE is so frackin' expensive here.
 
Doog said:
The power of carnauba. I haven't found any yet, but haven't had a chance to check out Home Despot or ACE, I'm hoping Home Depot has it, ACE is so frackin' expensive here.
Click to expand...

I got mine at ACE Hardware for a decent price - more wax and cheaper than Warwick Beeswax. But when I checked homedepot.com, they don't have any entry for it. :(
 
maddrakkett said:
I got mine at ACE Hardware for a decent price - more wax and cheaper than Warwick Beeswax. But when I checked homedepot.com, they don't have any entry for it. :(
Click to expand...

I will have to check ACE, there's one not too far away, I also checked Home Depot's site and found no entry. The arched body on the Dolphin seems to leave the graintight on the back, and really open on the front. The Warwick wax leaves a great look on the back, but a bit dull on the front. I'm thinking the carnauba in the Howard's will do the trick. Great to hear that it does a good job mate!
 
StealingYerMail said:
How much did you guys pay for your Feed-n-Wax? I'm going to try and get to an ACE tomorrow.
Click to expand...

It was like $8 and some change for a 16oz bottle.
 
So I picked up some Howard's Feed n Wax and my dad tried it on a cupboard. After following the instructions, the wood still has a very greasy texture. Is this normal for Horward's? I've never really waxed anything besides a snowboard, let alone my Warwick, so I'm just curious.
 
My Thumb NT doesn't feel greasy to me after using the Howards, and after a week since using the Howards, it still looks incredible!

When I used to wax with the Warwick beeswax, it looked "dry" and somewhat dull after wiping away the excess, almost like nothing changed, but the Howards leaves it looking "wet" and rich without any greasy feeling.

I applied the Howards on a rag to the top (front) of the bass and spread it around with my fingers, making sure to get it in every last nook and cranny of the wood. I let it sit for 20 minutes, then wiped it off with a clean polish cloth (I used a Warwick brand cloth). Repeated with the back and neck. On a BO bass, I would probably skip the neck, since natural oils from my hand keep the wood conditioned.

I then got brave and tried it on my fingerboard. Normally I only use lemon oil on fingerboards, but my Thumb NT is a 2000, bought used off eBay, and the fingerboard always looked dull and almost like it had bleached patches that the lemon oil had no effect on. When I applied the Howards and wiped it dry, I could not believe how much the wenge came to life! It was a lot darker and "healthier" looking - no more bleached-out areas. The Howards seems to clean and wax at the same time (my polish cloth turned quite black after wiping dry :shock: ).

I'm sold on the stuff already after a week of seeing gorgeous results!
 
maddrakkett said:
Doog said:
The power of carnauba. I haven't found any yet, but haven't had a chance to check out Home Despot or ACE, I'm hoping Home Depot has it, ACE is so frackin' expensive here.
Click to expand...

I got mine at ACE Hardware for a decent price - more wax and cheaper than Warwick Beeswax. But when I checked homedepot.com, they don't have any entry for it. :(
Click to expand...

The feed N wax is way chea[perr that Warwic wax. if you want to experiment try one time and if not satisfied you can always use lemon oil, let it dry and then go with the Warwick wax.

BEWARE:

You won't be able to turn back because of that nice glow it adds and also how it makes the grain pop out.

I also checked the website at Home Depot and could not find it. but as in many other stores the internet store is not always the same as the walk in store.

I think I paid like 5 or 6 dollars for mine several months ago and in the same way a s the warwick wax....a little goes a long way. Also the bottle is huge ( it has more that 1 pt of this product in there (is really a lot).
 
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