andy67 Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Please someone shed light on this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124995378299?hash=item1d1a4e1c7b:g:uTEAAOSwPJdhimDF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunion Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 (edited) One of the old Warwick’s, hasn’t got the angled tuners maybe post lawsuit when the agreement was made before they changed certain items Edited November 11, 2021 by Bunion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunion Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Ok so here’s what I found, Spector agreed to let Warwick use the NS body under license but Warwick never paid Spector for 7 years. he was in his own troubles at the time with Kramer and when he’s sorted that out took Warwick to court. so I guess this is one of those 7 year basses 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 The Wilkinson pickups are absolutely not original like the Zippo lighter-thumb rest or whatever it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Here is the full explanation : It was well documented that the first versions of the Streamer were near exact copies of the NS-Bass. The Spector NS-Bass was designed by Ned Steinberger for Stuart Spector in 1977, five years before Warwick was formed. In the May 2012 article titled "Meet Your Maker: Hans Peter Wilfer of Warwick", an interview with Warwick founder and CEO in Bass Player, the following history is given explaining Wilfer's decision to make copies of the highly sought-after Spector NS-Bass: "'We didn’t see any reason to build Fender copycats, which players could get easily and cheaply from Asia, so we decided to focus only on high-end, innovative instruments.' In the mid ’80s, the Spector NS was tracking well in the U.S., but these basses proved hard to come by in Europe. H.P. saw that problem as a potential solution for the direction of his company and took up the task of designing his own version of this popular, ergonomically friendly instrument. That venture resulted in Warwick’s first widely successful instrument: the Streamer Stage I."[2] At the annual Musikmesse Show (Frankfurt, Germany) in 1985, Stuart Spector became aware that a new German-based company was producing exact copies of his now famous NS-Bass. Spector, along with Ned Steinberger, confronted Hans Wilfer and he agreed to pay a licensing fee to both Spector Guitars and Ned Steinberger in return for being able to continue to produce the Streamer without legal action.[3] Shortly after this agreement was reached, Spector was sold to Kramer Guitars. The new owners had no interest in pursuing Warwick to enforce the licensing agreement and Warwick continued to make the Streamer without any consequence. In 1990, Kramer became insolvent and filed for bankruptcy. In the wake of their financial failure, Stuart Spector formed Stuart Spector Design, LTD. in 1992. In 1997 after a lengthy court battle, Stuart Spector was awarded the trademark and copyrights to Spector and threatened to sue Warwick to enforce the 1985 license agreement.[3] The pending litigation was eventually dropped because Warwick had changed the Streamer design and it was no longer an exact copy of the NS-Bass. In time, Warwick has evolved the design of the Streamer while Spector has sought to preserve the classic elements of the NS-Bass. Since 1984 very little has changed regarding the design, electronics and hardware of the Spector NS-Bass, whereas the Warwick Streamer has evolved into its own unique guitar and can no longer be considered a "copy" of the Spector,[according to whom?] although it still has some of the general shape of the original. This was from PJ Rubal's email, National Product Manager and Artist Relations for Spector. "The truth is that Ned designed the NS curved body shape for Spector in March 1977. This was Ned’s first musical instrument design, and an instant hit. Warwick came on to the scene in 1984 with their Streamer bass, a different version of the now very popular Spector NS. When approached by Spector, Warwick did agree to and did pay royalties (for a while) to Spector for their error. Stuart sold Spector to Kramer after that. Warwick stopped paying, Kramer chose not to pursue them."[4] 2. Taylor, Rod (9 May 2012). "Meet Your Maker: Hans-Peter Wilfer of Warwick". Bass Player. Retrieved 29 May 2018. 3. Spector, Stuart (June 1997). "Body Snatchers". Bass Player (June 1997): Letters to the Editor Pg. 2. 4. "Spector NS body shape and Warwick - What´s the bottom line?". 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2018. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted November 11, 2021 Author Share Posted November 11, 2021 (edited) Great info folks, cheers 👍I suspected Warwick of copying Spector but did not realise the depth of it. Edited November 11, 2021 by andy67 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Their MEC pickups were close copies of the EMGs they used to use - I had a 1985 thumb and the Original MEC preamp was such a good copy of the EMG they had even copied the silkscreening that said EMG! later they fell out with Schaller by copying their own hardwear made by someone else and not solid brass 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Bassman Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 2 hours ago, Hellzero said: The Wilkinson pickups are absolutely not original like the Zippo lighter-thumb rest or whatever it is. The nut looks a bit odd too.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 9 hours ago, Urban Bassman said: The nut looks a bit odd too.... Indeed, some awful plastic badly glued... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted November 12, 2021 Author Share Posted November 12, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Urban Bassman said: The nut looks a bit odd too.... I thought the same with the nut. I remember watching lots of gigs in Edinburgh in the mid 80s & 90s, Warwicks were being used by bass players in a lot of the bands I saw and I recall thinking they were awful expensive at approx £1200. Getting this info from you guys makes me think that is a lot of money for a copy during those decades. Edited November 12, 2021 by andy67 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 38 minutes ago, andy67 said: Getting this info from you guys makes me think that is a lot of money for a copy during those decades. Helllooooo... Sadowsky, Lakland ad infinitum! LOL 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted November 12, 2021 Author Share Posted November 12, 2021 33 minutes ago, warwickhunt said: Helllooooo... Sadowsky, Lakland ad infinitum! LOL Of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 Not sure if it applies to all early Warwicks, but the JD Thumb had a very shallow neck - I think that was a general early Warwick thing. In contrast, the Spector neck is quite chunky. I could never get on with a Spector neck, otherwise I'd have had one as they're very nice basses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 4 minutes ago, tauzero said: Not sure if it applies to all early Warwicks, but the JD Thumb had a very shallow neck - I think that was a general early Warwick thing. In contrast, the Spector neck is quite chunky. I could never get on with a Spector neck, otherwise I'd have had one as they're very nice basses. Ditto. I even felt like Spector bodies were like Streamers that had endured Lockdown and eaten too many pies! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 Warwick..... the Behringer of basses That's why he's universally nicknamed Hans Peter PILFER! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 21 minutes ago, cetera said: Warwick..... the Behringer of basses That's why he's universally nicknamed Hans Peter PILFER! ....and don't even start me on the Status/Warwick Buzzard feud 🙄 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 1 hour ago, cetera said: Warwick..... the Behringer of basses That's why he's universally nicknamed Hans Peter PILFER! Behringer products are hand-made in Germany? Who'd have thought it? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 The Behringer of basses would be Spector surely, them never having actually designed an original bass shape an' all? 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted November 12, 2021 Share Posted November 12, 2021 4 hours ago, lemmywinks said: The Behringer of basses would be Spector surely, them never having actually designed an original bass shape an' all? Except the Spector SB1, SD1, NS2000, NSX etc etc..... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 (edited) 34 minutes ago, cetera said: Except the Spector SB1, SD1, NS2000, NSX etc etc..... SB, SD and NS2000 are all wonkier takes on the original NS, just far uglier due to the lack of good design ethos. Even the NSX is a clumsy clone of another famous NS design isn't it? Again far uglier that the sleek, on point shape it's copying. They truly are the Behringer of bass when you think about it, not an original idea in 45 years. That's actually impressive in a weird kind of way, you would think they'd have come up with something half decent on their own purely by chance sooner or later. You know how a monkey sat at a typewriter could theoretically write the complete works of Shakespeare given an infinite amount of time? You reckon if you did the same with Stuart Spector he could eventually come up with a bass that didn't look like total a55? Edited November 13, 2021 by lemmywinks 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 6 hours ago, lemmywinks said: SB, SD and NS2000 are all wonkier takes on the original NS, just far uglier due to the lack of good design ethos. Even the NSX is a clumsy clone of another famous NS design isn't it? Again far uglier that the sleek, on point shape it's copying. They truly are the Behringer of bass when you think about it, not an original idea in 45 years. That's actually impressive in a weird kind of way, you would think they'd have come up with something half decent on their own purely by chance sooner or later. You know how a monkey sat at a typewriter could theoretically write the complete works of Shakespeare given an infinite amount of time? You reckon if you did the same with Stuart Spector he could eventually come up with a bass that didn't look like total a55? Wow - all this hate for Spector, you feeling ok? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted November 13, 2021 Author Share Posted November 13, 2021 (edited) Pat Badger and Kip Winger love their Spector basses and what a tone they get from them 👏 Edited November 13, 2021 by andy67 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 23 minutes ago, andy67 said: Pat Badger and Kip Winger love their Spector basses and what a tone they get from them 👏 They sound like characters in a childrens tv show! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 Why do Spector basses look like Warwicks, anyway? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 1 hour ago, LukeFRC said: Wow - all this hate for Spector, you feeling ok? Fine thanks, just like winding all the anti-Warwick guys up who have to spew their rubbish on these threads ad nauseum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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