Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I can’t justify buying yet another bass guitar. Considering my apparent fixation for the tone, shape and small size of 5-string Warwick Corvettes, I know that, regardless of my efforts, I would simply end up buying one more Corvette – perhaps in a different colour or with slightly upgraded pickups. I decided instead to re-vamp one of the Corvettes already in my possession, namely the one I play most often: my 5-string Corvette Pro in natural oil finish, with ash body, ovangkol neck, and a wenge fretboard. It’s a beautiful model, but my OCD has always been slightly bothered by the excessive number of different colours – the chrome hardware, the black pickups, the dark brown fingerboard, the gold-coloured frets – all to a certain extent competing with, rather than complementing, the gorgeous natural body. The way forward was to replace the chrome hardware with identical black hardware. The entire collection of original Warwick tuners, knobs and bridge is very affordable in terms of cost, and available from the ever-reliable Thomann online store, as well as from Warwick Distribution. My Corvette’s original look Admittedly, I didn’t make things easier for my OCD by adding yet another colour variation to the palette – that personalised knob in brushed aluminium from Sever/Tonetech. I found a better home for it and its companion on my RB Corvette 4, below. Back to the Corvette Pro – this was its original headstock. The only thing I won’t be able to replace is the bolt-on hardware on the back of the body. Everything else goes. Continues in the next post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 (edited) Removal of the strings and the hardware revealed the need for some TLC on the fingerboard and a bit of cleaning on the headstock. While installing the bottom part of the Warwick bridge I hit the first glitch of this job: the screws provided with the new bridge were smaller than those I took off with the older one. Since their colours don’t match, I couldn’t re-use the old ones. I had to insert some wood shavings in the holes, allowing the new, thinner screws to bite properly. All was soon well. The base plate for the second section of the bridge went in without trouble. The saddle plate could now be installed on top of it. I made sure to take off the springs from the saddles for the low B and E strings – experience has taught me that’s the only way to be able push the saddles all the way back to obtain the correct intonation on the D’Addario Chrome strings I was going to re-install at the end. However, I somehow failed to notice that the saddles have grooves of different sizes for different-sized strings, and that the replacement bridge had the saddles laid out in the wrong order: a right-handed bridge. I discovered and corrected the problem later. Continues in the next post! Edited May 2, 2018 by Silvia Bluejay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Time to look at the headstock. It was fine, only in need of a clean. I inserted the new, black tuners, screwed them in lightly at the back and hand-tightened them at the front of the headstock. Then I installed the single knobs. They are retained on the spindle by a grub screw operated via an allen key. I made sure to place the dot so it marks the centre (balanced) setting on the pickup blend, and indicates full volume on the volume knob. Continues in the next post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 The new hardware was now all in place. The fingerboard, however, looked a bit dry. I gave the frets and the Warwick Just-a-Nut a good clean, and then oiled the fingerboard. It was now time to turn the bridge from righty to lefty by swapping the saddles, making sure that their angled grooves still faced the correct side of the bridge. The bridge had clearly been spray-painted and dried in the factory with the saddles already in place. Continues in the next post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 18 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said: The only thing I won’t be able to replace is the bolt-on hardware on the back of the body. Everything else goes. Why can't you replace the neck screws and bushing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 And here is the finished article, minus the new black strap buttons (see further down for those). All screws and components tightened properly, strings reinstalled. Complete with strap buttons! Not the security lock type, which I'm not keen on - just normal buttons. Now I have black hardware, black pickups, and an almost-black fingerboard (after oiling); the only mismatch is between the silver-coloured strings and the gold-coloured frets. I can either get myself a set of black D’Addario tapewounds, or indeed decide that that would be overkill, and learn to live with this look instead! I like my Corvette much better now than when it had chrome hardware. What do you guys think? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Just now, bartelby said: Why can't you replace the neck screws and bushing? Rather than 'can't', I guess you should read 'won't bother to'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Can you get black frets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Stop triggering my OCD, Jack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said: Rather than 'can't', I guess you should read 'won't bother to'... Ah. ok. Your bass looks much smarter. Years back I replaced all the chrome bits for gold on my Warwick Corvette Proline 4 string. Recently I've been thinking about replacing the gold for black. Edited May 2, 2018 by bartelby 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I agree with the need for matching hardware...my OCD would drive me mental with too many colours - remember "sometimes less is more". Have you considered a colour change on the body to further reduce the palette of colours? Not sure if the four and five string truss rod covers are the same but I have one here if you need one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 (edited) Thanks Mick - I've got all my (black!) truss rod covers in a tidy bag - I'm not replacing them on any of my basses until the season has finished turning... which may take a while (sigh). Edit to answer your other question: no, i like the natural look, it's the chrome hardware I was bored with. Edited May 2, 2018 by Silvia Bluejay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 4 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: Can you get black frets? I looked for black frets when I had the Psilos built - lots of discussion on Talkbass about them but nobody seems to manufacture them. I asked about quenching some steel ones in oil - "black metal" - apparently changes the way the metal performs, not recommended. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyerseve Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Nice work on the hardware change. My OCD wouldnt allow this though as I would have to change the tedur JAN III for a brass one as they sound a lot better IME. One thing to check though - your intonation. Ive setup a dozen or so different warwicks and never ended up with saddles that close to the tail piece (ie the E and B saddles) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 (edited) Warwicks with rounds don't need the springs taken out. Warwicks with D'Addario Chromes do! The low B is too thick to go through the holes in the old-style bridge, and just able to settle down properly in the new two piece bridge. The E isn't quite as bad, but still a pain to intonate if the spring is still in place in the saddle. My other preferred make of strings, Thomastik, have an even thicker low B, although the E is slightly better. I don't do rounds at all. Edited May 2, 2018 by Silvia Bluejay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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