Got the notorious Warwick TWIST model neck

[pb9717]

This arrived today from Japan. 05’ Streamer LX fretless. My gut tells me this ain't gonna be repairable. G side looks like a ski slope, just planing down to heartbreak. The headstock is also twisted counter clockwise. Was funny, I saw the dipping headstock before I saw the fretboard a-divin’ south on the treble side. Requested a refund/return for the eBay seller in Japan. I’m sure that’ll go smoothly. Nothin to be concerned about there. I remember when I had gotten a damaged bass once before that I bought internationally, Roger Sadowsky told me..” Don’t ever buy a bass sight unseen that you can’t afford to return”.

 

[tindrum]

Man!!! I cannot believe that seller thought that would fly. That’s pretty severe. Hopefully all goes well with the return. Had an almost identical eBay experience last year with an early 90s Stingray. Neck was twisted like a mofo. Had no problem getting a refund.

 

[Ethix4]

My experience dealing with ebay Japan sellers has been pretty similar. Undisclosed , almost unrepairable issues that don't warrant the cost. It also seems their idea of instrument condition is vastly different from ours as well. What they consider good or excellent *in my experience* I would hardly consider fair or good

 

[Dasgre0g]

Sweet jesus

 

[bass nitro]

Unrepairable,just send it back and get your money!

 

[dubmaster]

I had an ‘05 corvette fna jazzman that developed the same kind of twist. So frustrating. Had to get rid of it and still miss the tone.

 

[burgerdj]

Hey, at least it is a bolt-on! You might give Warwick a shout…they do make replacement necks, but you’d need to send them yours first. Good luck - that’s hard to look at.

 

[poochiecheeks]

its a "feature"
both the warwicks I owned had it like that

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Ugghh. Somebody like Warpedneck.com might be able to fix it if the return goes south, hopefully it all works out. No way the seller didn't know about that prior to sale, and that didn't happen in transit.

 

[anezthes]

Really sorry to hear that. Hopefully, you can get a refund.

That’s some suspicious construction, though. The grain at the end of the headstock is… not ideal.

What year is it?

 

[urkel3000]

I'm a big fan of bassguitarsdirect.com for getting gear strain from Japan, he would never do you dirty like that!

 

[scottycameron]

My experience dealing with ebay Japan sellers has been pretty similar. Undisclosed , almost unrepairable issues that don't warrant the cost. It also seems their idea of instrument condition is vastly different from ours as well. What they consider good or excellent *in my experience* I would hardly consider fair or good

To be fair, I've has the exact opposite in my Japan buying experience.

my "good condition" 1980 SB-1000 turned out to be almost like new.

 

[Ethix4]

To be fair, I've has the exact opposite in my Japan buying experience.

my "good condition" 1980 SB-1000 turned out to be almost like new.

I'm strictly speaking for ebay atleast , the personal music shops I've bought from there were great.

 

[ole Jason]

eBay is a crapshoot from Japan because you're usually buying from "some guy" who just goes to the store who actually has the bass and buys it. Those sellers often don't really know anything about the instruments. You can save a ton of money by figuring out which store actually has the guitar and buy direct from them.

 

[BeeBatty]

That’s some suspicious construction, though. The grain at the end of the headstock is… not ideal.

Cool observation. May I ask why you say that?

I don't know much about wood and it would be nice to be able to look at a top of a headstock and be able to say "That wood grain is not ideal." and find a better bass in the store.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The grain on the left side of the neck is horizontal, closer to vertical on the right, not a common or recommended grain orientation. The two sides of the neck would respond differently to tension and humidity, which may be why it twisted. If true, that was a dog right out of the factory. Most builders favor grain closer to vertical, and “bookmatched” so the two sides are mirror image, in theory tending to cancel out movement. Plenty of flat sawn Fenders that didn’t twist like that though, so could just be poorly dried.

 

[koshey]

Hey man I've survived a neck twist on one of my thumbs. What is the neck wood? a good luthier could give it a try with heating treatment.

 

[BeeBatty]

The grain on the left side of the neck is horizontal, closer to vertical on the right, not a common or recommended grain orientation. The two sides of the neck would respond differently to tension and humidity, which may be why it twisted. If true, that was a dog right out of the factory. Most builders favor grain closer to vertical, and “bookmatched” so the two sides are mirror image, in theory tending to cancel out movement. Plenty of flat sawn Fenders that didn’t twist like that though, so could just be poorly dried.

Thank you for that explanation!

 

[Reedt2000]

No body paged @Bruce Johnson yet? Or linked to his scary neck repairs threads?

Anything can be fixed. Bruce has charged very reasonable prices to address neck horrors on very expensive basses. This one being an LX it falls in the "might be worth it" category (IMHO), depending on if you can get a refund (if you can, do it immediately), and how much you've got into it.

Likely needs the current fretboard routed off and replaced, straightening the neck wood in the process. But I'm no expert, will let guys like Bruce or @Freekmagnet chime in with their much better educated opinions

 

[JIO]

To be fair, I've has the exact opposite in my Japan buying experience.

my "good condition" 1980 SB-1000 turned out to be almost like new.

I've also had good experience buying from Japan