Should I buy this bass? (Thumb content)

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So, the plot thickens :)

The seller (who is reputable dealer, BTW, not a private seller) tells me that the bass is indeed an original lined fretless, made that way from the factory, and that he has seen others like this. I truly believe him to be honest (but he could still be wrong without realizing it, of course). Could it be correct? I have the serial no if anyone (Flo?) could check it.

He also confirms that the neck and truss rod are free from problems, so it is looking good :D
 
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at first it looks exactly the way as my defretted thumb. second early 90s fretless wicks were common with ebony and reddish fretlines. i'd say aftermarket fretless, i coudn't imagine that warwick had left a fretboard in this condition. my 2 cents...
 
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go and check the bass, if the edge isn't rounder/softer as a fretted example, then it is for sure not factory made:)
 
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I'm 98% sure it's after market fretless. As said before, don't worry about bends, you won't do those on a fretless. Price is good, 850 is just a lucky shot and 1100 is imo a (very) good deal. Please remember these cost over 4k new.
 

Hardy

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People, listen, please! I did not mention that eyvindwa should offer 850,- EUR! "A bit too high" did not mean "pay the price I paid"! Maybe I am too concentrated on two facts: 1. eyvindwa wants to buy a bass far from home, 2. especially if it is sold by dealer: why did he just not clean the gear? "Qualitätsersatzmerkmal" means something like "substitutional signs for quality". If you want to sell a car, no matter if it is a BMW or a Fiat, you wash it. If not, you don't care. The dealer told that this bass is original lined?

Check the gear, but do not listen to that guy, just to the bass. Honestly, I would be careful. Chances are like trains: the next will come (Kostolany). Or drop the price to include any risks.

O.K., I'm ready for the tar and the feathers...
 

Augie

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AFAIK the only wicks to come out of the factory fretless without ebony boards are the new snakewood ones (and Sklar's aluminium triumph if you count that). Definitely not original condition, the little cracks you see around the fretlines are due to splinters of wood geting pulled out as the frets are removed, just cutting the lines for markers doesnt do that. The dealer probably wants to sell it as all original or doesnt know.
 
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I am 136.09% sure that it has been defretted. The seller is naive, very inexperienced, or bought it this way and was sold a bill of goods.
 
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I asked Warwick through their serial number request email, and got a response from HPW. You guys are right, it has been defretted. Good to have cleared all doubt :)
 

Nachobassman

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Now, stick that email into the seller´s face. 8:
 

Florin

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We never did fretless bass with wenge as standard! It doesn't make sense for us to do this!
 
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I asked Warwick through their serial number request email, and got a response from HPW. You guys are right, it has been defretted. Good to have cleared all doubt :)

Yeah, especially since the ends on the old fret markers are pretty rough, that would NOT have come from the factory that way. I had a luthier in town defret a Streamer Pro-M for me years ago, and it looked a lot better than this one. He also spent a couple of days, slowly heating the frets and then carefully pulling them out. There's a lot of work involved in a good defret.

Give it a thorough look over and play it, and then make the call. It looks like a good one, but we can only speculate. Plus, with the issue of the defret (as in, the seller saying it's OEM), I would call into question the neck and truss rod until you can look it over yourself.
 
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