=The Warwick Thumb Club=

herb vibes said:
hi hardy,

congrats for having the tightest b-string and a beautiful bass at the same! musik produktiv is here in switzerland more of a shop that wants sell intruments as much, cheap and fast as they can. for the employees there are some cool cats but i've been never a big fan of how they maintain their instruments.
do yourself a favour and take a half or a full hour time in setting up this beauty. she'll be like new believe me and everything will be fine.

cheers,
herbie
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I have a set of Elixirs at hand in some way (135ers). I'm not sure about these strings. Installed on my SSI they show really "brilliant" results. A set of these strings installed on my Streamer bolt on does not work proper. "Bottom" and "flesh" are present, also the bass offers a good growl. But no hights! I have to try the D'Addario Prosteels or something comparable. So now I will check how that set of Elixirs from the bolt on will do it's job on the Thumb. Just too new and too expensive to throw them away. This will be an opportunity to test a lower setting. O.K., some coffee and off to my "bassment"!
 
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Hmm, strange problem... the E-String of the set of Elixirs did not fit into the bridge! I took it off from the Streamer bolt on! How can that be? The bolt on was built in 1995, the Thumb in 1996. Why is there a smaller gap/space for the strings at the Thumbs bridge? A hammer solved the problem, I "flatened" the string a little at the ballend.

Next thing: I can't lower the strings any more. The bridge is at its lowest point, the scews at the downside already touch the wood, the small saddles also can't be positioned any lower. I will straighten the neck a bit, this will bring one mm.

@LoerEnd: what hight have your strings at the 12th and the 24th fret? Thanx in advance!
 
Hardy said:
@LoerEnd: what hight have your strings at the 12th and the 24th fret? Thanx in advance!
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Hey Hardy, I'm unfortunately not much into measuring string action too accurately. Also don't have measurement tools so not sure if I can help. All I can say is that it is probably beyond the "two business cards high" mark, but it is very comfortable for me.
 
Nääääck problem! I know this question is answered in this forum a thousand times: is the truss rod of a 1996´ Thumb removable or not? It seems that it does not work. I can tighten it and loosen it - no movement from the neck...
 
Hardy said:
Nääääck problem! I know this question is answered in this forum a thousand times: is the truss rod of a 1996´ Thumb removable or not? It seems that it does not work. I can tighten it and loosen it - no movement from the neck...
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Hello partner in adversity
I have some good news, and some bad.
Good first: Your rod should be removable, check this out:



Bad news: The Warwick web shop doesn´t have these rods in stock, and they won´t answer to my question "when can you deliver?"
 
Hardy said:
Nääääck problem! I know this question is answered in this forum a thousand times: is the truss rod of a 1996´ Thumb removable or not? It seems that it does not work. I can tighten it and loosen it - no movement from the neck...
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Hi Hardy, if the neck has no volute, then the trussrod is removable. In 1996 trussrod were removable anyway. Try to take it out, and post a pic with the tr you have inside...

Leif, there are no unanswered emails at Warwick, only emails lost in the spam folder... I asked and I will answer to you soon.
Cheers,
Flo
 
Florin said:
Hi Hardy, if the neck has no volute, then the trussrod is removable. In 1996 trussrod were removable anyway. Try to take it out, and post a pic with the tr you have inside...

Leif, there are no unanswered emails at Warwick, only emails lost in the spam folder... I asked and I will answer to you soon.
Cheers,
Flo
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O.K., it is removable. I can pull it out... 3 or 4 cm, then it stops. I tried it 20 times, but I do not want to damage the hexagon of the truss rod. What now?
 
needs to be totally relaxed to be pulled out - or maybe the spacer moved and is blocking a little.
can you make a pic?
 
Just wanted to share this old post from 2008 I was re-reading. How fantastic this meeting must have been?
Demeter and Dragosh with their monster 6ers.

The super intense GAS these pics immediately triggered, even if I have and worship my 5er.

So awesome...

Mr.Demeter said:
Dragosh and his '96 thumb + me and my '08 thumb



Dragosh and my '08 + me and Dragosh's '96 :lol:



check out the grain on the '96


I was struggling with the weight, frickin' heavy beauties


the bathroom shot ;)


aside from the obvious neck and fretboard wood differences we found several others.
First off - the body on the older thumb is smaller, more rounded, the upper horn is flatter and the back is slightly thinner. The headstock is also smaller on the '96 and the neck is bulkier, thicker.
The '96 thumb is heavier , which is kinda weird 'cuz I would've guessed that it would be lighter because of the smaller body - but the extra weight probably comes from the wenge neck and maybe the 18 V electronics.

Anyways, unfortunately we didn't have time to do an in-depth sound comparison - but we both conluded that both are amazing instruments.

Thumbs rule ;)
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Yes they do!!!
 
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Yes, I remember! At this time I shared this forum. Now I own a Thumb NT 5 by my self. Pretty heavy... and I do not find the cutting sound the Thumb is known for. My Thumb sounds more like a fretless(?). There are some new Elixirs equipped. And I damaged the neck by triing to resolve the too much bow. Now its on its way to a luthier. Untill now we are no friends. Still I hope for the best!
 
Hardy said:
... and I do not find the cutting sound the Thumb is known for. My Thumb sounds more like a fretless(?)... And I damaged the neck by triing to resolve the too much bow. Now its on its way to a luthier. Untill now we are no friends. Still I hope for the best!
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Weird.
Hope you will get it well repaired.
 
Bass sounds awesome. Like all Thumbs, but I can't be objective here.

On another note...what the hell happened to Andy's "Wasaaaaappenin'..."?
His newfangled "I'm Product Specialist and Clinician Andy Irvine" sounds like somebody kicked his ass for being too casual. I liked his old style.

In his original NT5 review era () he really struggled with words, but Andy, where've you gone???
 
LoerEnd said:
Bass sounds awesome. Like all Thumbs, but I can't be objective here.

On another note...what the hell happened to Andy's "Wasaaaaappenin'..."?
His newfangled "I'm Product Specialist and Clinician Andy Irvine" sounds like somebody kicked his ass for being too casual. I liked his old style.

In his original NT5 review era () he really struggled with words, but Andy, where've you gone???
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They took the cheesiness away and instead put in scripted, forced material. Somewhere in the middle should have been the mark to shoot for
 
Agree, in part, I didn´t find the "hellooo everybody" cheesy. ;) Maybe too "casual". Something in between should have been better suited. I mean, it´s ok to show your products in a professional way, but i think a little sense of humour is ok, he´s not selling dead insurances. :)
 
LoerEnd said:
Bass sounds awesome. Like all Thumbs, but I can't be objective here.

On another note...what the hell happened to Andy's "Wasaaaaappenin'..."?
His newfangled "I'm Product Specialist and Clinician Andy Irvine" sounds like somebody kicked his ass for being too casual. I liked his old style.

In his original NT5 review era () he really struggled with words, but Andy, where've you gone???
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I agree. I preferred the old Andy. Not quite sure about the polite product specialist and clinician :-D
 
boston asphalt2 said:
They took the cheesiness away and instead put in scripted, forced material. Somewhere in the middle should have been the mark to shoot for
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Yep. Bits of old Andyness mixed with a more pro stance on features, rather than the infomercial salesman.
I miss him.
 
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