The earliest Warwick ever or an idea for a scam?

[warwickhunt]

If you translate the blurb (babelfish or similar) the guy goes to great lengths to authenticate this bass with excerpts of communication from Warwick (Manchester!!!). I'm not saying that this isn't a Warwick but how easy would it be to get a body/neck/pups etc from warmouth/allparts and knock up a bass; list it on eBay as an original/prototype/pre-production bass by Spector/Sadowsky/Fodera/..... (insert famous manufacturer here), then big it up with quotes from said manufacturer. I'm sure some numpty will bite and pay silly money.

That said, this may well be/probably is an early Warwick but the potential to scam is so easy!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEU-EINGESTELLT-Warwick-TV-bass-1-Warwick-bass_W0QQitemZ180148082951QQihZ008QQcategoryZ87490QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEU-EINGESTELLT-Warw...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

Item number 180148082951

Edited August 12, 2007 by warwickhunt

[Alun]

Hmm, not sure if it's real or not, but if it is they certainly changed their plans before going into production!

To me it looks more like a Yamaha of some form, the body looks a bit like a BB-series model and the headstock is very similar to the Nathan East models

Cheers,
Alun

[douggy]

there is a warwick office in manchester . if thats any help but it looks like a yamaha bb refinished to me .

nice tho

[Bassassin]

Interesting. The [url="http://www.warwickbass.com.au/history/historywarwick25.htm"]Australian Warwick site[/url] mentions the "TV" model as being shown at Warwick's debut at the Frankfurt music show - but I can't find any other mention of it apart from that, and this Ebay listing.

The bass is pretty anodyne-looking and if genuine, doesn't really hint at the kind of work the company would become known for. Having said that, according to the Australian site, the range at the time comprised this, plus a Steinberger-influenced headless design & a Jazz - which doesn't suggest they started with a particularly individualistic approach.

I do find it odd that there's no real record of their early instruments.

Jon.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Bassassin' post='44554' date='Aug 12 2007, 07:35 PM']Interesting. The [url="http://www.warwickbass.com.au/history/historywarwick25.htm"]Australian Warwick site[/url] mentions the "TV" model as being shown at Warwick's debut at the Frankfurt music show - but I can't find any other mention of it apart from that, and this Ebay listing.

The bass is pretty anodyne-looking and if genuine, doesn't really hint at the kind of work the company would become known for. Having said that, according to the Australian site, the range at the time comprised this, plus a Steinberger-influenced headless design & a Jazz - which doesn't suggest they started with a particularly individualistic approach.

I do find it odd that there's no real record of their early instruments.

Jon.[/quote]

I've seen the Nobby Meidel 'Steinberger' basses for sale a number of times on eBay, they come up with uncanny regularity considering they were a limited run! Not ever seen this model or any Jazz style before. As I stated originally, the bass on eBay is so different to Warwick's production basses that it could well be genuine, after all if you were going to try and scam daft eBay punters you'd probably try to sell something a bit more akin to a regular Warwick!

I just think the headstock looks too much like the aforementioned Yamaha range (though it would predate the BB range, wouldn't it?) to be a true Warwick and why no decal/identification on the bass itself?

I still reckon it could be genuine but either way I'd not touch it cos it looks like an ugly version of the Yamaha and at that price who wants an ugly bass that may or may not be genuine.

[Tait]

Well, the sellers German I suppose...