goonieman Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 (edited) New bass day!!! (technically new bass week as I got it earlier and have been making tweaks) Has bubinga body, full wenge neck (no ovangkol). Mid-size chunky neck with volute. It is one of the 'transition' prolines. The 'actual' prolines have different features - gold hardware, etc. For a while it seems Warwick left the 'proline' truss rod cover before they introduced the Corvette Standard. So i'm almost done with all the tidying... removing old DNA, basic setup, checking frets... I found a slight ski-ramp from the 15th to 20th frets on the higher strings, and the general profile of the relief was more exaggerated around 1st to 7th frets... a bit weird. So I did a full fret level. Could not get the neck dead straight as there was a slight s-curve in the neck. Nothing major, only causing some slight extraneous buzzing on the 15-20th frets. I figured maybe because it did not have steel reinforced neck on upper register. There are some indicators that Warwick introduced this is 1996 - so who knows. Anyway, flattened the frets nicely, crowned and polished. New set of DR Fat Beams (loving them!), and setup with real low action with a steady even curve and symmetrical relief all along the neck. Got rid of the rubbish plastic EMG knobs, and did a wax job. It has no bass and treble, only an EMG Variable Mid Control, which is proving very versatile, but i'll probably revert back to b/t on a passive/active push/pull. The original owner failed to tell me this in the sale... c'est la vie. No sign of the original MEC preamp I'm thinking either Glockenklang or Tone Monster SEB2-A because they have presoldered push-pull pot. At the moment i'm in growl heaven. Basically a poor man's Thumb (?!)... this might be a keeper! Edited July 4, 2015 by goonieman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Very nice. I think ovangkol looks nicer as a body wood than a neck wood: But I have seen nice ovangkol necks on some warwick instruments. Have yet to try one. Not sure how it compares to bubinga when it's used for a body. The wenge neck on that corvette is gorgeous, both the laminate neck and the fretboard often look amazing when made of wenge like the stock selected by the purchaser at warwick whenever the wood was bought. The sweet piece of bubinga is a nice vivid contrast to the deep brown of the wenge. I imagine while it can't sound exactly like a thumb (doesn't have the angled rear pickup or the 2nd bridge pickup) - but it has an advantage over the thumb - a far more conventional neck pickup placement - allowing for fuller sounds. Part of the reason if I was to grab a custom warwick (money being no object) it'd be a $$, a corvette, or a Guy Pratt sig (the one with two sliding pickups). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goonieman Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 yeah, the Bubinga on this bass is even more 3D-like now I have given it another layer of wax. amazing how 'dead' it was originally. I bet it had not been waxed for years beforehand! The wood was thirsty for treatment. The fretboard soaked up the mineral oil too. I've just bought a glockenklang 2-band preamp from thomann to replace the VMC - so another update coming on how that sounds by comparison! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Congrats, thats a beautiful instrument. Warwick Pro series are great basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 very nice. I tried a tonemonster sbk-2 and was seriously underwhelmed, scratchy pots and a lower output than when it was passive, dunno if mine was a dodgy one but i wouldnt get another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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