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Does anyone know why Sweetwater does not stock Warwick Basses?

comatosedragon

comatosedragon

Oct 12, 2014
1,840
2,959
Rockingham VA {616}
#1
^ Title.

I guess it's do to licensing or marketing reasons, but I really don't fully understand the exact reason why.
I trust Sweetwater about 15x more than Musicians Friend. Not to mention you can pick the exact model and know the weight of the instrument before you buy it .....

Overall, SW is a more "upper-end" retailer than MF, so it would make more sense to me that SW carry high-end (IMHO) basses like Warwick.

Where I live geographically it is very very difficult for me to try out basses before buying them. In fact, I have only ever held ONE of my basses before buying it. The other 8 I bought based off pictures and reviews.

So maybe it's a blessing they don't sell them, because I would have already ordered two ....
 
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#4
comatosedragon said:
When I do get out (maybe once a year, but realistically less often) I actually prefer driving to Va Beach -- A few cool stores on Witchduck. For some reason, I hate driving through NoVa. And I definitely learned to just avoid those two stores in Richmond; what a joke.
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Uh, call them and ask what's in stock? Or "do you carry Warwick?" before visiting. Yes?
 
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#6
Stumbo said:
Uh, call them and ask what's in stock? Or "do you carry Warwick?" before visiting. Yes?
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While what you say is good, practical advice; I would hate to drive 3 1/2 hours each way just to find out that yes, they do carry Warwick. One Warwick Rockbass.

My life would be so much easier if Sweetwater just started carrying them. Why doesn't everyone just cater to me? ;)
 
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#9
I am not a number, I am a free man!

prisoner-tv-series.jpg
 
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#10
Probably a business decision for any number of reasons, you'd have to ask them.

Warwicks, to me, are very single-minded instruments, not a bad thing in itself. But their insistent use of the African dark woods gives them a certain sonic signature that's not for everyone, and if you do like that tone, then the weight imparted by those wood recipes will drive some guys off, and that's the Catch 22: It's hard to approach that tone without those woods, yet hard to get a lighter weight guitar using them.

Maybe Warwick will discover chambering . . . . .
 
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#14
While I am certainly guessing at the reason, I have been to Sweetwater on several occasions. One thing you quickly realize their success has come from their expertise in distribution. I suspect that maintaining a stock of Warwick would be too difficult for them to want to deal with it.

A local shop sells a lot of Warwick basses, but they rarely have more than one or two in stock (for comparison they typically have at least 10 American G&L basses in stock, so they typically carry a decent amount of inventory). An employee explained to me once that the lead times on Warwicks and difficulty in getting exact delivery dates meant they did not typically have stock. Instead they usually sell them via customer order with the customer waiting to get their instrument. The employees at this store are not your typical Guitar Center employees who make things up/have no idea what they are talking about (with apologies to the few good ones I have met), so I trust him when he said this. Assuming the employee is correct, then I could see Sweetwater not wanting to deal with Warwick. The product really does not fit their distribution model (mainly quick ship mail order) and is more suited to other shops. I only seem to find a decent stock of Warwick at larger stores and/or bass only specialty shops.

I know someone will counter me with "then how does Musicians Friend do it". Well.. Musicians Friend/Guitar Center/Music123/Woodwind & Brasswind group is a significantly larger operation (about 4 times the revenue of Sweetwater). Even with that in mind, Musicians Friend seems to have pretty limited stock of Warwick (excluding Rockbass in that statement). Some of them are even pre order.
 
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#16
ahbass2500 said:
I suspect that maintaining a stock of Warwick would be too difficult for them to want to deal with it.
An employee explained to me once that the lead times on Warwicks and difficulty in getting exact delivery dates meant they did not typically have stock. Instead they usually sell them via customer order with the customer waiting to get their instrument.
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Thank you!!
This makes 100% sense. :thumbsup:
 
#17
Distribution deals between retailer and manufacturer can be quite complex.

For example there could be a clause prohibiting the manufacturer from distributing to certain competitors in exchange that the retailer guaranteeing purchase of a certain quota of instruments every quarter. In business anything can be negotiated.
 
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#18
F4533174-9439-4B1B-A79C-3A2E1F8C93F6.jpeg
While on the topic of German basses I .. to my surprise ...found this at guitar Center.. It’s a Christof Kost passive 5 string that weighs 8 lbs. I’m really digging this bass and will bring it to an upcoming show to give it a good test. A small German builder. The bass is finely crafted and sounds amazing..
 

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#19
57pbass said:
View attachment 2861063 While on the topic of German basses I .. to my surprise ...found this at guitar Center.. It’s a passive 5 string that weighs 8 lbs. I’m really digging this bass and will bring it to an upcoming show to give it a good test. A small German builder. The bass is finely crafted and sounds amazing..
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Guitar center will let you borrow a bass?
 

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