warwickhunt

I take it back!

I didn't have you down as a Warwick player Clarky!

Ah! I was under the assumption you were talking a pair of stacked knobs as opposed to a newer active/deluxe model.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1336734966' post='1650143'] I tried out a us jazz the other week, brand new? I was under the impression they came stacked as standard now? [/quote] The standard/norm is still V/V/T. If it is a stacked pot it is either 60's reissue (they call it a 62 reissue but I have a feeling the VVT was generally in use by 62 and 'technically' the stacker should be earlier than that) or it has had the plate replaced.

I'll never part with my Bolins... or a couple of my Warwicks... or my PJ Sadowsky... probably not my Sterling(s)... other than that anything!

There are far too many variables to say whether single v laminate is 'best' (for starters what is 'best'; some might want a bass that rings for days yet others stick foam under the strings to stop sustain). I recently had a NT bass from a prominent UK manufacturer that was one piece neck and the flipping thing would go out of tune when you moved the bass from horizontal to vertical (it moved with the slightest pressure) yet I've got a 9 piece laminate Warwick neck that is as sold as a steel rod. I've also known basses where harmonics jump out or notes sustained and they could equally have been BO necked one piece necks as well as laminates. In fact I restung my Sadowsky and Warwick bass yesterday and I'd be hard pushed to say if either had an advantage... the Sado needed a tweak on the truss rod (1 piece maple) whereas the laminated Warwick needed no fettling and both basses went from heavy to medium gauge strings! I'm not sure if mention of glue is of any significance because even 1 piece necks (generally) have a fingerboard glued on or frets glued in and I'd have thought that the glue between neck laminates would be tighter and harder than the glue holding frets in. I've also read that sometimes a glued neck break is stronger than the wood itself so a thin smear of glue holding laminates shouldn't significantly impact on a bass; no more or less than a bridge fixing/material, neck screw tension, tuner materials, string mass, pup material/windings/height, amplifier, cabinet, cables, room acoustics... and so on.

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1336380304' post='1644566'] I saw a Warwick Thumb on the wall in a German club...but it had lost its headstock, so was probably dead before it got nailed. A sad sight. [/quote] Alternatively what you saw was a VERY rare item... The first Thumb basses were designed to be headless and there were a few made! However, if it was simply snapped off, then fair does.

I hope you did the decent think Michael... offered them a charitable donation and you'd take it and set it free!

You can 'almost' guarantee that if the shop haven't bothered labelling it, then it will be the cheapest NT model they do but they will be hoping that some poor sole will do the most basic of research and think that they are getting a bargain of a Euro (or similar) Spector. I recall a shop some years back punting out a NT Spector that had no model designation, just a price and the guys in the shop kept alluding to the fact that it was the 'top of the range' Spector and that 'Spectors are made in the USA, you know' etc. I listened in to some of this patter being directed to a young bassist (with his Father who was looking to get him a quality bass) before feeling the need to step in and ask what the bass was 'specifically'! The shop assistants went all coy and elusive and I pressed them about their previous comments and asked if they were saying that it was a USA NS2... the manager/head sales honch came across and said that they had taken it in part-ex and didn't know which model it was as the back of the headstock had been sanded (REALLY, a shop would take in a bass in part-ex and give a value in ignorance of what it was... ). I pointed out some of the obvious indicators that it was a Euro, such as the body wood sandwich with the walnut spacer (luckily it wasn't one of the earlier EURO Spectors with the solid maple wings that looks even more similar to the USA NS2) and they said they'd take my advice on board and research further. So here was a used Spector bass for £1200; cheap for a USA NS2 but bloody expensive for a Euro. I'm not saying that the shop were strictly doing anything illegal (or that they had sanded the headstock) but as a bystander to the conversations they were certainly trying to hint that this was a USA bass without actually saying those words.

I was another watcher (who didn't live in the seller's locality) of that bass and I was surprised that it had to get relisted as many times before it went.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1335993661' post='1639353'] If you put a car through a car auction are you allowed to bid up your own motor? you'd get fairly short change if you did. [/quote] Wrong! For a lot of years I bought cars at car auctions (for my own personal use) and on one occasion I sold a car at auction and I was told by the auction house (a major national) that if my car was put into their auction (it wasn't a young enough car to qualify for the allowance of a reserve) that I could bid my car up and if I was the highest bidder that I just needed to instruct the staff who take the deposits that it was my car and they would put the car through the next auction. Now if I was being told that I could do that, then your little back street garage must have been doing it for years. That is FACT! It certainly opened my eyes to the fact that bidding off the wall wasn't the worst practice at car auctions.

[quote name='dougal' timestamp='1335972933' post='1638865'] So I was in a guitar centre in Paramus New Jersey, and I spotted this in the 'used' section. Long story short I used to live in the US and had an 8x10 and head & pre & some other stuff to trade, so she came to me, if not for a song, then not feeling too bad. Passive Super J I know nothing about her, except she's canadian, came with an after-burners allen keys & non-original case (which is rubbish...) [/quote] Why do you do this to me Dougal? I've always fancied a Dingwall and that is my fave colour combo (shame you didn't find one with a P bass body style and JJ pups. will now have to PM you every 6 mths asking if you are in the mood to sell the Dingwall... the Sadowsky now stays with me for eternity though!

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1335963643' post='1638677'] That doesn't stop the shillers pushing your bid up . so you end up paying more because you have someone bidding whose only intention is to get more coinage out of you rather than a genuine bidder fighting it out. [/quote] +1

It's swings and roundabouts. I recently pulled my Parker Fly bass from ebay as I was offered a very good price for it by an ebayer; subsequently when I ended the listing he went cold and backed out of the deal. However, an Ibanez bass that I had listed same day I left to run, despite some interest but not great bidding it went for £150 more than I had offered it to somebody on here for! I have to confess that I will not show my hand on a bass that I am interested in until the last seconds... we all have our own ways of doing things but I prefer to pay as little as possible! I should qualify the above; if you/everyone bids early on a bass it can and does induce certain types of people to revise their bids up even though they have set a maximum (they psychologically have taken ownership of the bass and don't want anyone to get it). However if you don't reveal interest in a bass, the type of person mentioned previously, doesn't feel compelled to rethink their price as they remain confident that they will get ownership at the amount that they put in. It's all 'headology' in the world of auctions/buying/selling!

I'd challenge anyone in a blind test to tell the difference between a set of MEC's and a set of pukka EMGs when installed in a Warwick bass and that is regardless of whether it was a recording hosted on the net or (particularly) in a live setting. TBH 'if' there were any difference between them I'd bet you'd hear the same difference between an hours wear on your new strings! Don't get me wrong I'm not some fawning Warwick fan, I know they have there weaknesses like any bass (jack-socket... JAN II anyone? LOL) but the pups in the top end Warwicks are a matter of taste and one is not better than the other. Saying that, I've no idea what pups are in the OP's bass so it may be irrelevant!