warwickhunt

No comms! After 5 days I asked for a tracking number 'no response'. After 7 days I started eBay input 'no response'. 1 day before eBay would take action, I get the message that he was confused as someone had collected it!

You've all pretty much gone through my thought processes and conclusions! I was the winning bidder and even I don't have the seller's address... how the hell did a random person know he had the cab, that it was paid for and where to collect from? Oddly there was an earlier correspondence from him to say it had been returned to him as damaged in transit by the courier but he has later refuted that and said it was a mistake and a different item. I would like to hope that ebay has a system whereby I will get a full refund as there is no evidence that this item has been delivered or collected by me! I also firmly believe that he is miffed that it only made £199 and he is just reneging on the deal and this is his 'get out'! However, I'll also be watching his future ebay sales with interest to see if it pops back up.

Cab was for sale in Clitheroe... just saying.

Bought/Won said cab on ebay over a week ago (cheap enough at £199 starting bid with no other bidders), paid for it (+ £30 shipping) immediately. Long story short; the cab hasn't been delivered to me because the seller has had someone knock on their door, claimed they had won the auction and were there to collect the cab. Seller duly handed it over and is now puzzled/shocked that I am subsequently querying where/when my cab is to be delivered! The cab is patently now stolen property, so if anyone sees one popping up for sale any time soon please message me with the details as I'd be very interested to see who is selling it! All thoughts/comments welcome.

Are there none used local to you? I have one you could try but I'm the wrong end of the country!

SOLD... someone obviously saw your post!

Well... that takes a bit of weight off it!

Surely it is an 'observation' of the state of affairs and not anyone revelling in gains/loses... in fact can you revel when there are gains being made by those who decide to sell?

A quick look back through sales ads on BC and you'd find that a couple of years ago, £1k for a Ray would be expensive (£800 was an average price)! I recall seeing a few go on eBay for £700ish... folks are nearly asking that for none USA models now.

Oddly enough, I'm in the market for a 'posh' used bass but I'll be damned if I can find one at anything but top dollar prices! Contacted someone re a bass (of which type I am familiar) and the guy wanted about 60% more than I sold an identical instrument 2 years ago! I might have said that was a one off but it isn't. Prices of the range of instruments I'm looking for (doesn't have to say 'W' on the headstock) don't appear to be anything other than MORE expensive. Saying that, it isn't to say anyone will be paying these asking prices, maybe folks down on their luck/not gigging, need more money hence higher asking prices!

I agree that is what they should have done. However, when a manager steps in and says 'No!' it isn't just a fickle assistant wanting to slope off for a cuppa. TBH at the time I was a mature guy and they'd have known that I wasn't just goofing about or not knowing what I was doing around an instrument. Their loss at the end of the day.

I can imagine something like the East preamp would be a different tonal slant altogether as it can tone shape/filter in a very different way to a standard 2-3 band preamp; LukeFRC fitted an East pre to a SSI and by all accounts it was a game changer. Strings on basses IMHO is a massively overlooked aspect of tone. We all have our own preferences for gauge and material (for some people, down to the string core shape). At it's most basic level, a set of new strings can make a bass come alive with harmonics and feel (especially if you try a gauge you've maybe not had) but I suspect that some string types are better suited to certain basses than others. Whether it is the string (density/material/structure or whatever) reacting with the pup (type/material/proximity) or the string reacting to the bass (wood material/construction/etc) I don't know but some basses I've had sounded pants with certain strings yet chuck a different type/gauge/brand on and it changes and I'm not saying putting new strings on will improve a bass but it is a given that it will sound different. I have a Streamer that has had the same set of round wound strings on for 4-5 (is it 6 now) and I've tried putting new strings on and it sounds lifeless with new strings (D'Addario and/or Rotosound lately). Not lacking in top end but the whole spectrum of sound is lacking YET they are the same gauge (if I measure with gauge) and material as replacement strings... annoyingly, I've no idea what these strings are as they came from another bass and at the time I was experimenting with lots of other string types (but all nickel 45-105). Conversely, I've taken these (old) strings and put them on another Streamer and they don't make much difference to that bass which itself DOES take well to the new strings. All anecdotal and unscientific but strings on basses is the next 'Heft/Class D/Speaker diameter/fingerboard material'!

I've tried them and don't like them but that's not too say they are a bad cab or not to someone else's taste... each to their own and vive la difference.

'W' neck profiles have changed through time and across the range but tbh I'd not have a clue if that applied to the 6 string basses... I'd assume not as their mass must be dictated to a greater degree than say a 4 string. Likewise I doubt 6 string basses have the 'broad neck' option.

I'd have thought a 6 string Thumb before 91 would have been a custom order... in the 80's period of Warwicks even a 5 string was a rare bird! Warwick started in 82 though the Thumb (4) didn't arrive till 85 iirc. You do get mid/late 80's 5 string Thumbs but 6 strings weren't 'fashionable' back then so I doubt there was a demand for them to produce for stock. Lots of the 80's basses had an element of hands on work, which became less so as production techniques changed. Into the 90's and 00's you had a lot higher number production, so 5/6 string basses would be regular production.

If you register on the Warwick Forum you'll find various threads to Thumb history. The 6 string is a whole other beast to other Thumb basses as they weren't around when you are talking about the skinny neck period in W history (when many of the truss rod issues were happening). Oddly I can't recall the Thumbs ever having these issues with truss rods which could be due to the multi-laminate construction and certainly 6 string necks would be solid. Pups - Early days (pre W 6 string bass) you could get virtually any pup you wanted just by asking the dealer that stocked Warwicks; Bartolini, EMG, Seymour Duncan, even Alembic; at this point no MEC. In fact the early basses had way more EMG pups than Bartolini or any of the other brands, Alembic being the least common. Warwick then bought MEC in the late 80's and produced their own pups to drop into Warwicks but you could still order your Warwick with other pups if you paid the premium. Differences between the different brands get discussed regularly and everyone has their own take on favourite. I personally reckon there's very little in it between most of the brands (Bartolini maybe have a different characteristic) and I once did a blind test between EMGs and MECs in the same bass and me and another guy could not have said which was which. I've owned 4 string Warwicks with all of the flavours (except Alembic) and I find that there is more tonal difference in changing string brands than there is in pups.

This wasn't a back street guitar shop, it was a 'National' UK company. The bass was unplayable and all I wanted to do (and explained in great detail) was to drop the bridge screws to make it playable. "Buy the bass THEN you can do what you want" was the thrust of the sales pitch.

No sales pitch as I've sold mine but if you can find a HK Bassbase 600 (used prices £225 - £350), you'd have a hell of an impressive old school amp but with features that would put many modern heads to shame. 600w @ 4 ohms (but will go down to 2 ohms / 1050w), switchable channel with own EQ, Notch Filter and if you fit the module they are midi adapted.

^^^ This.

Speakon is the better connector but it is as much about the cable.

I have a theory... My theory stems from an experience in the store of a big music chain. I picked up a bass I was interested in and the action was unplayable, I asked the assistant if I could have an allen keys to drop the saddles. That wasn't happening, manager stepped in etc; nope you are not adjusting the bass till you've paid for it. I had a discussion about all of the ins/outs and that if I broke it adjusting it after I'd bought it, then it was coming back to them any way. I left sans bass. In that discussion it was pointed out that they had a technician who (after I bought the bass) could, 'for a fee' set the bass up. Call me cynical but do basses go out set up like dogs so that guys in shops can make a bit extra?

Dave Wilson. Good enough for me... and Sobell Guitars.

I think the modified Squier/cheapie might be the way forward then.