Warwick Rockbass

[Peter Popovic]

Hi everyone. I’ve just got this Rockbass. Pretty much new in to Warwick basses, been playing Pbasses and Jbasses mostly so I don’t know much about Warwick basses. Can someone tell me more about her please? Or in general about those models (one piece bridge, 2005?...). Thanks.

[Geek99]

Yes, you bought one that’s been made back-to-front

[Peter Popovic]

I know😂😂😂

[Silvia Bluejay]

Take no notice of right-handed players, Peter - they are not part of our élite! 

I've got a Rockbass Corvette from 2007 and a Rockbass Fortress (5 string) from 2005. Excellent basses, good construction, lovely thin necks with adjustable nuts (best invention since sliced bread). At the time they were also incredible value for money (I bought both new from Thomann).

They both have the following couple of design issues, though:

1. The holes in the Warwick single-piece bridge are too narrow for some types of string; for instance, you can *just* fit in a flatwound E string, and you would struggle to fit most makes of low B if you had a fiver too. This problem was addressed later by Warwick by creating the two-piece bridge, but they're not interchangeable.

2. Watch out for the jack socket becoming loose with use (Warwick basses are apparently notorious for this). Tighten it up as soon as possible or the movement may dislodge or de-solder the wires from the pots/preamp.

Other than that, they're great - enjoy your Corvette!

[Peter Popovic]

Thanks Silvia for the information. Appreciate that. Anyway...my Rockbass has a pretty chunky neck I would say. To be honest, thinking to reshape the neck to my liking. The strange thing is: I do like Pbass necks, even chunky ones😂 maybe I was expecting fast slim neck as on modern basses. 
Forgot to mention. On mine there’s no adjustable nut...not sure if it’s even original one.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Peter Popovic

[Silvia Bluejay]

Oh, that's weird, on both counts. My Corvette has what I would call a normally thin neck, as in, identical in thickness to that of other small-bodied 4-stringers such as my Bass Collection, for instance. The Fortress has a thin, comfortable neck, but my newer Warwicks (Corvette Pro 5 fretted and fretless) have an even thinner, shallower neck. It doesn't make a lot of difference when I'm playing, I must say.

The non-adjustable nut you have is almost certainly a replacement. All Warwicks have what they call their special "just-a-nut"; the cheapo models have it in plastic, the expensive ones in brass. I hate having to do without one on my non-Warwick basses.

 

[Matt P]

I had a very similar (although right handed and a 5er) rockbass a while ago, it had the one piece bridge and a regular (non adjustable) nut, I was under the impression that the earlier rockbasses had regular nuts and also lacked the easy access truss rod hatch, I think these features were added on the later ones ro bring them closer to the spec of the German ones. 

I may be wrong though! 

Matt 

[Silvia Bluejay]

Actually I think you're right, Matt. There were a lot of ongoing changes in the older Rockbass line, and the aim was, as you say, to bring it to line with the German models, so Peter's bass may well be an all-original, transitional one.

[lemmywinks]

You can buy cheap adjustable nuts for about £3 on AliExpress if you don't fancy throwing £20 at a Warwick one.

[Peter Popovic]

Thanks guys. Already ordered a new nut for her🙂 and another thing. I’ve check neck on her and surprisingly it’s thinnest neck of all my basses😂 so I reckon it’s C shape neck and that’s why I’ve been thinking it’s thick one. So maybe I’ll reshape it to modern D or V. Also guys. Can you recommend where I can check serial number? And if so...should I type in the whole number?with or without space between letters, numbers?(It’s starting with SN then space...etc). Thanks.

[Silvia Bluejay]

A quick search threw up THIS SITE.

[Peter Popovic]

Tried. Doesn’t work for me. Don't know why🤷‍♂️. But thanks anyway.

[Silvia Bluejay]

The connection to that site is, apparently, not secure - as in, it's probably an http as opposed to https - but my Firefox reads it with no problems, and the site doesn't trigger any anti-malware or anti-virus alarms, so it's safe to force your browser to display it, if possible.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Anyway, one piece of info can be copied here:

Quote

What does the serial number on my Warwick bass mean?

A typical serial number would be: "C-012684-06". The first letter indicates the month of manufacture (e.g. C = March). The six digits in the middle are a continuous internal number. The last two digits indicate the year of manufacture (e.g. 06 = 2006).

 

[Silvia Bluejay]

You've got RB (= Rockbass), SN (= Serial Number), a bunch of digits, and 05 at the end, which as you already knew means 2005.

I can't read the whole serial number from your photo. If you post it or PM it to me, I'll enter it into the website and see what it says.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Oh, and you've got a K at the start of the number, which is October. October 2005.

[Peter Popovic]

Thx. Pm’d you🙂