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Bizarre Warwick Dolphin, Interesting History

#41
Thegrandwazoo said:
It looks like only the tailpiece was recessed, and it looks to still be level, is it? If so, there shouldn't be any issue with playability, so why do anything to it at all? More break angle over the saddles is never a bad thing.
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Except when you have to cut grooves in to the finish of a unique/rare bass and mar its appearance in the process to do so....also the tail piece was not level, it sat at a very cockeyed angle, which you can see in the pics in the original post....

Wait, were you a previous owner of this bass? :D
 
#42
TFunkadelic said:
Except when you have to cut grooves in to the finish of a unique/rare bass and mar its appearance in the process to do so....also the tail piece was not level, it sat at a very cockeyed angle, which you can see in the pics in the original post....

Wait, were you a previous owner of this bass? :D
Click to expand...
If this dolphin was played by a lefty then sinking the B & E might have been an effort to increase tension and decrease floppy-ness. I agree this is not the bass to do body mods on, but it's no where near the worst I've seen (there are a couple thumbs and vettes floating around out there with real butcher jobs...)
 
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#43
TFunkadelic said:
Except when you have to cut grooves in to the finish of a unique/rare bass and mar its appearance in the process to do so....also the tail piece was not level, it sat at a very cockeyed angle, which you can see in the pics in the original post....

Wait, were you a previous owner of this bass? :D
Click to expand...
Compare the tailpiece to the bridge, I think the contour of the body sloping away is what makes it look like shite. I could be wrong, though. If it is indeed crooked, it'd probably be easiest to rout the tailpiece recess so that it was level and call it a day.

I'm not suggesting anyone do this to their Warwick, just that this one probably plays fine, and it's the one she's got for better or worse, so she may as well just play it.
 
#44
I'd go this far with a boire bodied Dolphin if it was really cheap.
I tried them somewhere around when a Dolphin appeared in on MTV.
The early Dolphins with Bart MM were their own sound not anything like the video, but interesting.

Level the rout, sink a chunk of brass to factory height, reset bridge.

Pop the wood plugs, have pickups to my taste dropped in, preamp it as appropriate.
 
#45
Thegrandwazoo said:
Compare the tailpiece to the bridge, I think the contour of the body sloping away is what makes it look like poopiee. I could be wrong, though. If it is indeed crooked, it'd probably be easiest to rout the tailpiece recess so that it was level and call it a day.

I'm not suggesting anyone do this to their Warwick, just that this one probably plays fine, and it's the one she's got for better or worse, so she may as well just play it.
Click to expand...

Again, if you read the original post and look closely at the pictures you will see the tailpiece cavity was routed out at some point after the bass left the factory. This is evident from the different layers of wood exposed. Also, you'll see in later posts we have corrected the problem by fitting a shim in the cavity. But thanks for your suggestions.
 
#46
TFunkadelic said:
Again, if you read the original post and look closely at the pictures you will see the tailpiece cavity was routed out at some point after the bass left the factory. This is evident from the different layers of wood exposed. Also, you'll see in later posts we have corrected the problem by fitting a shim in the cavity. But thanks for your suggestions.
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I thought I had read all of the post, I guess I missed the part about fixing it with a shim. How'd it turn out?
 
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#49
The last pic in this thread (about midway through page 2) shows the bridge sitting in its new position. She cut out a piece of wood in the shape of the cavity and sanded it to a taper that cancels the added depth created by the router. I wish I had taken more pictures of the process but I was busy working on another project at the same time.
 
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#50
TFunkadelic said:
The last pic in this thread (about midway through page 2) shows the bridge sitting in its new position. She cut out a piece of wood in the shape of the cavity and sanded it to a taper that cancels the added depth created by the router. I wish I had taken more pictures of the process but I was busy working on another project at the same time.
Click to expand...
Nice Warwick - I'm glad you fixed the bridge.
 
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#56
I had a Dolphin a long time ago - when I was into DMB of course - and aside from being heavy, it was a great bass. Best B string ever. Tough to play sitting down but it was just so different and cool looking. Sounded amazing. Glad it's all worked out and she is enjoying the bass. There aren't many basses I would want back from the last couple decades, but a Dolphin Pro 5 might be one.
 
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#57
Shot of my old '89 Dolphin. Bridge & tailpiece are counter sunk into the body. The bridge tailpiece is level but the curve of the body makes the E side sit up higher then the G side.

Dolphin Art.jpg
 
#60
Is this bass still in use? I was interested reading back trying to determine the provenance of this instrument, noting that I had commented on this thread previously.

I was just surprised that Sonny said it was his old bass and yet it's a right handed model, was all. I don't think I've ever seen him play an upside down Dolphin. I note that he does string with the E at the bottom like Jimmy Haslip, as if he has previously played right handed basses and that he did appear in a promo shot with a 5 string right-handed Corvette at one point.
 
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