Question about Warwick production

[Pedro]

OK I'm sure this has been covered multiple times but I'm way too lazy to use the 'search', so here's 2 questions about Warwick production.

1) How long does it actually take to make a bass - lets use SS1 as an example - from scratch? I know that warwick rest their planks of wood for x amount of time, so I'm talking about from when the wood first hits the milling machine (or whatever it is) to when it leaves the factory.

2) Does 1 person build an entire bass, or do different Warwick factory workers do different things - does someone just do the fretboards, someone else the body etc.

Cheers guys!!

 

[MaxOnBass]

well, the second question's answer is most certainly a few of people

 

[Pedro]

well, the second question's answer is most certainly a few of people

Thought that would probably be the case, it would be cool to go to work and build a SS1 from plank of wood to finished though - that would be job satisfaction!!!

 

[Ian]

One thing: when you order a bass from the Custom shop, they say you "3 months"... But the bass needs something like 10 days or less to be completed, they just start working on it a few days before the deadline.

 

[Florin]

The bass is made by more builders, each one of them is specialized in what he does.

 

[Alexandre]

One thing: when you order a bass from the Custom shop, they say you "3 months"... But the bass needs something like 10 days or less to be completed, they just start working on it a few days before the deadline.

Erm... Not entirely true...

It really depends on several factors. The first being what is your instruments, its options and its finish. As you all may be aware of, we're a factory. That means several things : many people work on the instrument, and we build in serie. Not large batches, but as we use CNC machines, we rarely route only one body alone... Let's say you want a Vampyre for instance : to keep the costs down, we'll try to put it on the next Vampyre batch, because you need to change the jig on the machine, set-up the machine, maybe bring small changes/improvements to the program. Maybe this batch is today, in two weeks, two months or was yesterday, then it'll play a role on your delivery time. The dates for these batches are planned, but it can change all the time according to the orders... Then, you ordered it with custom wood... Maybe the wood is still waiting to be cut... Or maybe you want special electronic and pickup positioning, which I'll have to program. Then you want LED that we need to make ready before, and then the lacquering department need time for your high gloss finish. And that is just for your order, because in the meantime, normal standard production is here, distributor somewhere wants his special edition, and a bunch of bass players are waiting for their CS instrument, too...

So just to say, a lot of things are involved in the process of building your dream bass, that you might not see or know about

We know that waiting time will always seem to be too long when you wait for your precious new bass... but we try to keep it as fast as possible


By the way, do not forget to check the newsletter and its archives, lots of info about how we work at the factory

 

[BassPlyr Randy]

Check out RIC ... I've heard of almost 1 year wait times ... so 2 months for a custom bass ain't really that bad.

 

[Pedro]

Randy!!!! Where you been man?!!

 

[lasteffect]

Check out RIC ... I've heard of almost 1 year wait times ... so 2 months for a custom bass ain't really that bad.

I've heard the same thing about Wal, but RIC is a much bigger company than Wal and yet... I bet RIC gets a bigger demand in instruments, too.