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Bass purchase that went wrong :(


Grangur
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I just had the pleasure of meeting with Gareth when buying his Thumb. (A Warwick. He's not yet into selling limbs, no matter how samll).

It was a nice easy transaction. The bass was just as desribed. fairly priced and a good cuppa provided when we got there.

Many thanks Gareth



PS: Since this I'm now a bit P@@@@d off as he sold it as Bubinga - it's not, it's ovankol!!

Edited by Grangur
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  • 2 months later...

He has just copied the current spec, I try to comment on these mistakes when I see them but I must have missed this one. All standard BO thumbs built at that time had Ovangkol body and necks, little bit of research before buying always a good idea! Did he provide photos?

Edit: Checking again, he has acknowledged the Ovankgol neck, so perhaps it was just a mistake? How has he responded to this?

Edited by Kev
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[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1440859533' post='2854390']
He has just copied the current spec, I try to comment on these mistakes when I see them but I must have missed this one. All standard BO thumbs built at that time had Ovangkol body and necks, little bit of research before buying always a good idea! Did he provide photos?

Edit: Checking again, he has acknowledged the Ovankgol neck, so perhaps it was just a mistake? How has he responded to this?
[/quote]
He's not responded at all.

The pictures he posted are still there at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h3a7ku03nmcbzgj/AAAPfynKzQOchG66O1eJu7Fxa?dl=0

There's no shot of the serial number. Yet I agree, there's nothing to have stopped me asking before driving 200 miles to buy it.

I agree, my fault. I should have taken a laptop or tablet and checked out the serial number BEFORE buying if for me it was such a big deal, which it was.

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[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1440926296' post='2854716']I agree, my fault. I should have taken a laptop or tablet and checked out the serial number BEFORE buying if for me it was such a big deal, which it was.
[/quote]

His lack of response is slightly disappointing, but not everyone spends as much time on here as we do! ;)

Maybe, in retrospect, the thread title should be edited? It comes across that the guy is a crook...

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But you went and tried out the bass?

I've done some research on the two woods and they are remarkably similar, in fact they are related and wholesale suppliers price both the same. Ovangkol is slightly lighter, yellowish in colour and seems to have more grain whereas Bubinga is more reddish in colour. Post research when I look at the drop box pictures I thought the bass represented Bubinga more than Ovangkol. What I'm saying is that this might not be an unreasonable mistake to make, especially if the seller was told the same when they bought it. How many of us are really up on our African hardwoods and often the same wood has different names, for example Ovangkol is also known as Shedua. I got most my info from http://www.wood-database.com/ if anyone else wants to have a look.

I also have to ask what do you think the seller would gain from this deception?

While I understand you are aggrieved, I think the title of the thread could be revised. You say yourself that the bass was fairly priced and he was decent enough to give you a brew. It's not like you got the bass home to discover it was a fake.

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Word for word, the Warwick site allows you to input the serial number and in this case I got:

Serial number:
L-096648-02Serial number:
L-096648-02

Article number:
1225080000BZOVAOWW

produced:
2002-12-04

Description:
Thumb BO, 5-string
Natural Oil finish
Ovangkol body
Ovangkol neck
Black hardware

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Don't worry about it guys. I'll deal with it; either get over it or sell. If it turned out to be a dodgy copy or broken neck etc, it'd be a bigger deal. At least I have a bass to play or sell honorably. Regrettably others have been known to get caught with a far worse situation than mine.

So, don't worry, let's drop it.

Many thanks.

Rich

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[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1441024237' post='2855384']
I suppose the lesson is when buying a s/h Warwick to check the data-base first. I don't know much about Warwicks, but do they price differently for Ovangkol and Bubinga?
[/quote]

As a general rule of thumb (see what I did there?), a Bubinga thumb BO is rarer and more desirable than an Ovankgol BO, primarily due to how many more Ovangkol models there are about, but also due to bubinga being the wood used on the full blown NT Thumb and being a more expensive option as I recall. If you look at the current lineup, you will see the cheaper Thumb BO models (teambuilt, are they called now?) are ovankol whereas the top end 'master built' models are bubinga.

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[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1441041196' post='2855589']
but also due to bubinga being the wood used on the full blown NT Thumb and being a more expensive option as I recall.
[/quote]

Interesting, as mentioned I found both woods the same price from suppliers.
I thought Ovangkol had the more interesting grain and is lighter, so for my humble needs it would be the choice between the two. Having said that the woods bear such a variety of colour and grain that IMO it would be pretty easy to think that one was the other.

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I also had a read online to see what the differences are between the two body woods; some people seem to prefer the ovangkol whilst others prefer the bubinga for the influence on tone (and we all know how much of a dispute there is on the influence of tone woods). Ovangkol seems to be the lighter in weight where people have had chance to compare the two side by side and thus preferable for some. To the OP; were you given chance to plug it in and play it and if so did you like the tone?

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  • 6 months later...

Really sorry to hear this, my first time back on basschat now I'm in the market for new gear.

Genuinely sorry for this terrible mistake, which is exactly what it was, I stood to gain nothing by lieing about the wood type. Worst thing is I clearly remember lookup the serial number myself before posting on here and there it is...clear as day, switch websites to copy full spec, copy and paste error at the highest level.

I know it's not much consolation for your disappointment, especially after so much time has passed, but I truly am sorry.

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[quote name='DirtyVertebrae' timestamp='1459211272' post='3014519']
Really sorry to hear this, my first time back on basschat now I'm in the market for new gear.

Genuinely sorry for this terrible mistake, which is exactly what it was, I stood to gain nothing by lieing about the wood type. Worst thing is I clearly remember lookup the serial number myself before posting on here and there it is...clear as day, switch websites to copy full spec, copy and paste error at the highest level.

I know it's not much consolation for your disappointment, especially after so much time has passed, but I truly am sorry.
[/quote]

Time heals and I don't hold grudges. Apology accepted. It is what it is. I've still got the bass. It gets played from time to time.

Thanks Gareth for posting

Edited by Grangur
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