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Warwick Stuart Zender Signature?


Guest Marcoelwray
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Guest Marcoelwray

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone on the forum own this wonderful bass? I do not know much about it, I didn't even see one in real life once... I saw videos and stuffs about it, but I just was wondering myself, what's the price? How rare it is? Do someone on the forum has more info about it?

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Guest Marcoelwray
20 minutes ago, Cato said:

I'm pretty sure someone on here had one of his actual basses, I can't remember who it was though or whether it was a signature model or one of his other Warwicks.

@vmaxblues maybe?

Anyway I looked on YouTube, I didn't find a lot of videos expet for one romanian review (I think it's romanian), some videos of Andy Irvine of course and obviously Mr Zender himself.

I also saw one on reverb for the "nice" amount of around 6000€ , sold of course... It looks like a very rare beast.

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I don't think there's many around.
They came out about the same time Warwick's prices went UP, when they radically changed their custom shop set up, and as a result, unlike most of the other models, there's no real second hand market of ones that were bought for a lot less. I'd be surprised if there's more than 20 of these basses in circulation.

You never see him playing it these days either, it's a shame though as it's a really sexy beast. To be honest though, I'll always associate Mr Zender with his classic Warwick Streamer Stage I 4 string from his early days with Jamiroquai >>

Eude

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Guest Marcoelwray

@eude as everybody (included me), Zender is associated with the SS1. But his signature model is technically a SS1 with another shape because, according to him, the playability on high notes wasn't good enough...

Speaking of Zender I listen to som Incognito songs, that's quite funky!

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19 hours ago, Cato said:

I'm pretty sure someone on here had one of his actual basses, I can't remember who it was though or whether it was a signature model or one of his other Warwicks.

Scott Wheeler - not sure of his username on here though.

I never really got the signature... but the Streamers - particularly the all white 5er with LEDs... now that's a looker. I think the other ones of note, were the iroquai rug finish one... and the godzilla chrome one with green LEDs.

I think I remember reading that he wanted his signature to be a cross between the streamer and a Rick - which is what he was playing at around the same time with Mark Ronson.

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17 minutes ago, Marcoelwray said:

@eude as everybody (included me), Zender is associated with the SS1. But his signature model is technically a SS1 with another shape because, according to him, the playability on high notes wasn't good enough...

Speaking of Zender I listen to som Incognito songs, that's quite funky!

Not Incognitos best bass player, but good all the same. 

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Guest Marcoelwray
2 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

Not Incognitos best bass player, but good all the same. 

Yep, I was speaking in Incognito but not especially Zender...

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Do you mean the iroquai design?

Or the later Zender signature?

 

‭Not sure I like the sig that much personally, Warwick seem to do these short lived sig models which are quickly discontinued. 

I can see the slight Rickenbacker similarity loosely in the shape, from a Streamer/Infinity looking body. Is it standard streamer pickups and preamp?

No idea of the value? Probably £2k ish new? Used - who knows, Warwick’s second hand values are all over.

54239C53-7B5D-47E5-A98E-E501237F60C3.jpeg

Edited by Dazed
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6 minutes ago, Dazed said:

No idea of the value? Probably £2k ish new?

Miles off buddy, try €6799! 
https://shop.warwick.de/en/Instruments/Electric+Basses/Warwick+Masterbuilt/Stuart+Zender+Signature/Warwick+Masterbuilt+Stuart+Zender+Signature,+4-String+-+Nirvana+Black+Transparent+Satin

The Warwick custom shop prices went through the roof a few years ago, at least compared to what they used to be, still a lot less than Fodera or Alembic I guess.

Eude

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Guest Marcoelwray

I really like the shape. I was talking about the one you pictured @Dazed

It reminds me too the Infinity because of the "fretboard ends at the cutaways"

I checked the specs, and for the Signature series, it looks really close to a SS1.

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49 minutes ago, eude said:

Miles off buddy, try €6799! 
https://shop.warwick.de/en/Instruments/Electric+Basses/Warwick+Masterbuilt/Stuart+Zender+Signature/Warwick+Masterbuilt+Stuart+Zender+Signature,+4-String+-+Nirvana+Black+Transparent+Satin

The Warwick custom shop prices went through the roof a few years ago, at least compared to what they used to be, still a lot less than Fodera or Alembic I guess.

Eude

It's a bit odd that they specify 'Only available as a right handed four string'.

For that kind of money I'm assuming that the instrument is almost entirely hand crafted starting out from the blocks of wood. I don't see why making a left hander would present any kind of problem in the manufacturing process.

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2 minutes ago, Cato said:

It's a bit odd that they specify 'Only available as a right handed four string'.

For that kind of money I'm assuming that the instrument is almost entirely hand crafted starting out from the blocks of wood. I don't see why making a left hander would present any kind of problem in the manufacturing process.

If it was entirely hand made, a left hander would not be a problem, Warwick now make all the high end stuff with extremely sophisticated CNC equipment, the absolute best of the best. There's obviously a lot of hand assembly and finishing too, but the basic shapes I expect are dictated by the CNC programming. Having said all that, they do seem to be willing to make anything these days, which would result in new CNC programming required, so it's odd that they're limiting the SZ signature off the bat...

Eude

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I don't know about the albums but I saw them live a couple of times in the early 90s and he was swapping between 4 and 5 string Warwicks.

He might have used a different bass at some point during the sets but if he did it could only have been for a couple of songs.

 

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Guest Marcoelwray
12 minutes ago, Drax said:

Bought a new Streamer in 94 - was a huge fan of Zender then.  

Heard recently he recorded most of Emergency.. on a P bass. Is this nonsense, can anyone verify ? 

I don't know about this album but if I recall correctly, I saw once a video interview of him saying that he uses a P also. Seem quite sensed to me as some records in studio requires sometimes a more "mixable" sound....

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11 hours ago, Drax said:

Bought a new Streamer in 94 - was a huge fan of Zender then.  

Heard recently he recorded most of Emergency.. on a P bass. Is this nonsense, can anyone verify ? 

I recall seeing an interview a while back where he stated he recorded the whole album with his SS1. I think that's borne out by listening to the album as on the whole it sounds like a SS1 and not really P-bass-like (although he did use one live and for the odd track on the first two albums).

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12 hours ago, Drax said:

Bought a new Streamer in 94 - was a huge fan of Zender then.  

Heard recently he recorded most of Emergency.. on a P bass. Is this nonsense, can anyone verify ? 

The basslines on that record were not recorded with a P.  Or, at least if they were, edited beyond recognition.

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1 hour ago, 40hz said:

I recall seeing an interview a while back where he stated he recorded the whole album with his SS1. I think that's borne out by listening to the album as on the whole it sounds like a SS1 and not really P-bass-like (although he did use one live and for the odd track on the first two albums).

You're right, I read in an interview that SS1 was the first good bass he had and the only one he had during the early days with JK and for all the recording sessions for the first album.

Personally, I think that bass sounds marvelous on the album and it's a big part of the overall sound. I think the P Bass thing came once he left the band. Every single bit of footage before then seems to be a Warwick bass.

Eude

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