=The Warwick Thumb Club=

Thumb overdose
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Long time lurker here. First time poster. here’s my 2004 Thumb BO custom medium scale. I picked this up about 6 months ago on a pretty sweet deal ($1400). Never seen a 32” scale Thumb before. I googled it fairly extensively and have yet to find another like it. When I searched the serial on Warwick’s site nothing came up. I was intrigued so I sent them an email with a bunch of pics and the SN and this is the response I got:

“Thanks for reaching out! So, sometimes our Custom Basses don’t end up in the serial number codex,

But that’s definitely a Warwick bass.


It’s a Custom Shop Thumb BO Medium Scale (32”) that was build by a commission from someone.

With the exception of the scale length, you can use these specs for reference:

en/Home.html


Your bass was built in May of 2004 in Markneichurchen, Germany.”


So yeah, that was a nice surprise. It is a lot of fun to play. For lack of a better word, it’s very fast! It was very well cared for as far as the body and neck go. Definitely kept up on their waxing. whoever Had it definitely played the heck out of it. The pickups and preamp were pretty worn out. I ended up Replacing them with Barts (Original split coil in neck, Classic bass “Bright” in bridge) plus a Bart 2 band Pre. It sounds amazing! Anyway. Proud to be a member of the Thumb club. It’s a bass I’ve wanted for decades.




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Hey guys! i m new here, i want to buy a thumb nt 5 from 2012, the bass have a ovangkol neck . It plays like butter but i m afraid about any twist in the future . So ovangkol is a great wood ? Or i need to wait until i will find a wenge neck ?
And 2012 was a great year for warwicks?
 
Costa said:
Hey guys! i m new here, i want to buy a thumb nt 5 from 2012, the bass have a ovangkol neck . It plays like butter but i m afraid about any twist in the future . So ovangkol is a great wood ? Or i need to wait until i will find a wenge neck ?
And 2012 was a great year for warwicks?
Click to expand...

2012 is a normal year, I haven't heard many flaws from those guitars.Haven't heard about Warwicks twisting that wasn't due to avoidable circumstances on the owners part, but if you are worried about it already before purchasing, maybe it's not the best purchase to begin with?
 
Costa said:
Hey guys! i m new here, i want to buy a thumb nt 5 from 2012, the bass have a ovangkol neck . It plays like butter but i m afraid about any twist in the future . So ovangkol is a great wood ? Or i need to wait until i will find a wenge neck ?
And 2012 was a great year for warwicks?
Click to expand...
I have 2 'wicks with ovankol necks, one from 2002 and one from 2009. No neck issues at all.
Like Gnermo said, most neck problems are related to bad maintenance, truss-rod misuse, etc., from the owner.
 
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studio_45 said:
Long time lurker here. First time poster. here’s my 2004 Thumb BO custom medium scale. I picked this up about 6 months ago on a pretty sweet deal ($1400). Never seen a 32” scale Thumb before. I googled it fairly extensively and have yet to find another like it. When I searched the serial on Warwick’s site nothing came up. I was intrigued so I sent them an email with a bunch of pics and the SN and this is the response I got:

“Thanks for reaching out! So, sometimes our Custom Basses don’t end up in the serial number codex,

But that’s definitely a Warwick bass.


It’s a Custom Shop Thumb BO Medium Scale (32”) that was build by a commission from someone.

With the exception of the scale length, you can use these specs for reference:

en/Home.html


Your bass was built in May of 2004 in Markneichurchen, Germany.”


So yeah, that was a nice surprise. It is a lot of fun to play. For lack of a better word, it’s very fast! It was very well cared for as far as the body and neck go. Definitely kept up on their waxing. whoever Had it definitely played the heck out of it. The pickups and preamp were pretty worn out. I ended up Replacing them with Barts (Original split coil in neck, Classic bass “Bright” in bridge) plus a Bart 2 band Pre. It sounds amazing! Anyway. Proud to be a member of the Thumb club. It’s a bass I’ve wanted for decades.




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Welcome aboard, that’s a very unique Thumb, indeed.
 
I have switched out the tuners on my Warwick Thumb basses with lightweight Gotoh machine heads, and I have been very happy with them. However, this was quite some years back, and now I have a new (to me) Thumb that I plan to do the same to. What are the best, and most importantly, lowest weight, drop in replacements for tuners for a Thumb these days?
 
eyvindwa said:
I have switched out the tuners on my Warwick Thumb basses with lightweight Gotoh machine heads, and I have been very happy with them. However, this was quite some years back, and now I have a new (to me) Thumb that I plan to do the same to. What are the best, and most importantly, lowest weight, drop in replacements for tuners for a Thumb these days?
Click to expand...
the Gotohs have got the same „diameter“ than the original Warwick tuners (14 mm). With Hipshot you may choose the right diameter. Same for Schaller. ☝️
 
After some "research" (i.e. googling :D) it seems to me that the good old Gotoh GB350 are still the lightest tuners on the market. I'm a bit surprised that no-one has made anything lighter in the last decade or so, but on the other hand, I have been very happy with these on my other Warwicks: GB350 - G-GOTOH
 
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