Chiliwailer

Yeah yeah, it’s 7am and right now I have nothing better to do... 🤣 So as we thought, the SD pup was around back then.

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Just found this from a 2006 catalogue on Wayback website. Edit - thanks @LukeFRC for spotting my mistake

I’m not sure pal. i always thought (after the LP pups) they came in 2 options - Bart pup & Bart preamp or SD pup & Aguilar preamp. But then I saw a FU4 owners manual saying ‘SD pup & Bartolini preamp as standard, many combinations available, see website’. Do you still have the print out of the 2008 catalogue I gave you? EDIT - see my post below

Having used Cobalts in the past, and experienced their uniqueness - I say take the chance, they are cool strings. You can always sell them on here if you don’t like them or change your mind, I’ve sold tons of used flats on this site ( sold some today ). Just be sure to give Cobalts time to play in, as they can feel sticky for a short while.

The Chromes feel like flats, but have some great top end and a powerful punch, more so than LaBella, which do the vintage thing very nicely. I’d say the Cobalts are great if you want more of a rounds overall vibe, or the Chromes if you want flats that can rock out.

Or check out Ernie Bass Cobalt flats, they are great too - and more like rounds than other flats

Honestly not just saying it - but I have some 2 hour old D’Addario Chromes in the for sale section, 40-95 so light & great tension, just a bit more than the LTF, but not tight tension. They pretty much fit what you’re after. Might be good to read up on Chromes if new to you.

The holes in the pocket and ‘r friend’ are both common. Pickup looks fine, as do solder joints from what I can see. IME the serial sticker on the guard usually does match the headstock, but it’s not uncommon to have them swapped out, or for Fender to have a ‘Friday afternoon’ midweek 😜

With risk of sounding really arrogant - I trained in an excellent guitar workshop at the age of 15, and they taught me a method which uses the string to define the relief and that’s all I’ve ever used since. It’s simple, but experience sure helps do it right, and with necks that have a unique bend shape. Therefore, I’m clueless when it comes to measuring as I’ve never bothered to do it - or needEd it. But many pros over the years have asked for either looser than usual or tighter than usual - there’s no real risk in sensibly tightening it, of course only if you feel confident. And you may need some knowledge if the shape of the bend is unusual I.e. at the point it starts to bend at either or one end) But a Warwick bass that old is likely to need attention to the frets too. Best of luck - if the neck isn’t warped/twisted then it’s hopefully ‘easily‘ fixed.

The Earvana guys do a nut with screws (for intonation though), and it does look a bit weird. But really - why glue then anyway? There’s enough pressure from string tension 🙄 Anyway, at least we all don’t have Floyd Rose nuts....

I’ve not been so lucky, my recent Martin, Gibson & Music Man all needed a file. Well annoying.

You might regret saying that if you file too far down on a bone nut 🤣

If I’ve read this right (skip read), then if the nut and saddle won’t go low enough, then the truss is hopefully just too loose. I’ve never found measuring the truss with a tool helpful, as the ‘shape’ of the curve can be different on some necks - e.g. it can look ok near the body and be way loose on the frets nearer the nut. Hopefully it’s just the rod, and/or in need of a good fret level.

Ah, the little grey cells n’est-ce pas?

Like the experimental Ripleys in Alien 4

Mentioning this just in case you or anyone else have back, neck or shoulder issues... quite a few light weight basses have a neck heaviness that is very uncomfortable for people with certain issues. I’ve had 7.5lb Fender Custom Shop Precisions & short scales that exacerbated pain issues. But a perfectly balanced 8lb Bass didn’t anywhere near as much.

Take this with a pinch of salt, it’s very subjective... I worked in Denmark St in the 90s and 00s, sometimes an instrument would come in and you’d have to use a gut feeling to price it (something Dave Wilkinson at Andy’s was great at). For me when managing shops, this is a bass I would have put ‘on the wall’ for £550- 600 and then see what happens (adjusting for inflation), though to me personally it would be worth less. And that’s what it all comes down to... who wants it and what they’d pay for it.

Precisions - you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave...

Is that the one Andy had? If so, it used to belong to my mate and is an absolute beast - loved it.