warwickhunt

[quote name='buzzardian' timestamp='1503080681' post='3355622'] you might simply take outthe rod and turn it around [/quote] Sounds like a plan and a good idea! Before you do though have you established which way the rod is working? Plug a tuner in and see what happens when you go each way. In the event that you are convex rather than concave when maxed then it might well be worth a try, especially if the rod just drops out.

My 5th Anniversary is the same as yours that it is pretty flat with virtually no tension on the rod... in fact I think I nipped it up just to stop it roaming about! Mind the fact you can take a problem rod out in seconds (easier than changing a battery) is a God send and despite this issue there aren't as many issues with rods as folks might imagine.

I just thought I'd post this for Basschatters who might have similar issues to myself. Essentially it 'might' help if anyone has a vintage NT Warwick with a removable truss rod (pre 96... ish) and can't take enough relief out of the neck. I recently purchased a Warwick Infinette (91) with a known neck issue. I took the bass on in the full knowledge that the truss rod was maxxed out and yet there was still an unacceptable amount of relief (approx 3-4 mm with 1st and 24th fret depressed). In my mind I had two extremes of fix; a new truss rod or major repair work involving removal of the fingerboard and the neck straightening/resculpting. My first job was to check the truss rod worked so I loosened off the truss rod. A quick note on this: do NOT assume all vintage Warwick basses will act 'righty-tighty / lefty-loosty', I've owned 2 previous Infinettes and they both acted counter intuitively, as did a 91 Streamer. This particular truss rod seemed to work fine... oddly the truss rod acted in the correct manner (righty-tighty) which made me think it had already been tinkered with in the past or the truss rod replaced. With no tension applied to the truss rod I could slide the rod out and checked that it flexxed... both ways. Oddly I'd never needed to adjust that much relief on my previous Infinettes and I wasn't even aware that it had the 2 way rod it, I assumed it was 1 way (you learn something new)! With the rod removed (no strings on bass), there was relief in the neck akin to what you'd expect if there was string tension on the neck, obviously this would be exacerbated when I applied string tension. I then set about putting the rod in and tensioning to sort the relief. It tensioned absolutely fine and started to take out the relief. All up to tension, tuned etc and the rod reached its max with still too much relief in the neck. I then took a calculated risk and tried to apply that last 1/8th of a turn that might correct the relief... CRACK' the rod snapped. I guessed it might happen but it was something I had to try. Out with the truss rod and new one needed to be sourced. Research showed that there are 3 rods available for older (pre 96) NT basses. A - 82-86 One way iron B - 87-90 One way alloy C - 91-96 Two way alloy Please note that there is a blurring of the dates/use of truss rods in any of the basses so potentially you could have either/or on the crossover years. However if your bass has a volute behind the nut it is pretty certain to be non-removable. I decided to go for the iron 1 way rod as further research and questioning had shown that other owners had fitted these early rods to slightly later basses so I knew that it should fit (if not I had a spare rod for a different bass) and I felt the iron might be better up to the job, time would tell. A consideration for some might be truss rod weight; the iron one is double the alloy one but luckily the Infinette was of the kind of weight that I could live with that. Rod ordered from Warwick (approx 30 euro inc delivery) and duly inserted into the bass. Repeat the above process and... we were back to the maxxed out with the bass 'just' having too much relief for my absolute best set-up but better than it was. I should say two bassists tried the bass at this point and both said it was fine for them and probably better set up than there own basses. I decided that if I fitted lighter strings than the current 45 - 105 I could probably achieve what I wanted without major surgery. I found an old set of 40 - 100 and this had the bass playing nicely. I still planned to get a set of 35 - 95 off a friend and thereby I could take a bit of tension off the rod to give me a bit more adjustment. I also toyed with tuning it DGCF but that would involve a whole heap of mid-gig nerves while I figured that out! At this point I was wondering exactly how much effect lower tension, lighter strings might have on the neck. I gently pulled back on the headstock while holding the body with my right forearm so that I could flex the neck back to see how much I needed to bring it back to get nirvana. That's when I heard a little audible 'clunk' and the neck was perfectly flat! I released the headstock and 'clunk' it went back to previous; I repeated this several times. What I think is happening is that the truss rod has a mm or two of forwards/backwards movement in the truss rod/neck slot. On reflection, in order for the truss rod to be removable there 'probably' needs to be a fraction more play than you'd get in other truss rod slots. On a bass that is absolutely flat when out of tension, that initial play can be eaten up easily in the truss rod take up but on the odd bass that needs maximum truss rod ability then that initial 1-2mm of take up could make the difference. My next step is to see a friend who has a machine shop and to see if it is possible to fabricate a very slim 'shim' of metal (diameter as yet undetermined) that will sit under the truss rod. I could use wood but I'd be concerned that if there is any issue inserting/removing it, then the wood's tensile strength (compared to metal), might mean it would break off in the truss rod slot! Sorry if this is long winded but it might help others in the future. Oh and as a footnote; I'm presently gigging this bass (40 -100's fitted) and it plays and sounds great... there is a happy ending!

[quote name='anzoid' timestamp='1500295058' post='3336704'] Plugging the serial number on the bass into Warwick's magic number thing comes up with: [b]Serial number:[/b] L-111907-04 [b]produced:[/b] 2005-03-14 [/quote] ...and Warwick get it wrong yet again! It is easy to date a Warwick the initial letter is the month (excluding 'i') hence L = 11 = Nov and the last two digits are the year so this is 2004.

Boschma shallow cases are light and VERY good.

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] Maruszyzk cordura gigbags are decent quality and their leather straps are equally good. I'd guess they buy these things in rather than manufacture their own though. [/font][/color]

I'm interested in the OPs decision making process for getting to his shortlist of cabs: VK 2x10 & BF 2x12 Is it weight and cost? I only ask as you could equally add some 1x15 cabs into the mix from other manufacturers. The tone of the cab isn't strictly linked to the speaker diameter so you have a much broader range of options. Why exclude TKS, Berg, etc in favour of BF VK... simply interested in your process for shortlisting?

Loving the Foos... entertainment. Oh and not shabby song writers, musicians and a 'team'.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1497176811' post='3316265'] Sound is interesting, very middy with quite a tonal sweep across the strings owing to the mirrored P config. [/quote] I've found myself dialling this to the neck 80-100%, can't think of the last time it was anywhere near centre detent and I've never used it favouring the bridge pup.

[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1497116985' post='3315992'] You know we gig up there an awful lot, we're at the Willow Tree on July 1 if you wanna pop in and say 'hi'. [size=1]And let me profile your Thunderfunk on the Kemper.[/size] [/quote] Unfortunately gigging at a private party that night. I'll see if we can meet up sometime; typical that I've been gigging twice a week every week for months and I've presently only one gig this month (17th @ Blackhall Navy Club... wherever that is)!

[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1496939817' post='3314880'] Just how 'north of the Tyne' are you? I'd love to have a go on a Thunderfunk............. [/quote] Blyth!

I have #8! I'd be interested to hear your views after you've gigged it.

Another for Thunderfunk 550 or 750.

Parcelforce = no insurance if damaged... my fingers are tightly crossed for you sir! :/

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1492454001' post='3280413'] I missed out on a beauty of a Zon bass in the BC classifieds, listed & sold within 2 hours.... [/quote] You and me both!