New (to me) bass day

So I got my ebay-find Warwick RockBass Corvette fretless 5...
First thing, this sucker is LIGHT!!!! That's the first thing that caught me. Feels like it weighs 5 lbs.

Tt came with flats on it, and normally I hate flats but this bass actually sounded pretty good with them on.

Thing was, that the E had a weird secondary vibration to it, no matter where it was "fretted" on the fingerboard. Almost sounded like it was scratching on the fingerboard itself. You can hear the scratching through the amp and that string had a lower output.

Wondering "***", I changed the E to a round-wound that I had, just to see. Low and behold, it sounds fine now. No scratching and normal output. Must have been a dead string, but I never seen one like this...

SO I took all the strings off and gave it a good cleaning (don't really like other people's mojo in my stuff)

I have to say, I AM sort of impressed at the craftsmanship of this bass, considering it is "crafted" in Korea or Indo-China or wherever.

The Finish is really nice, and the control cavity blew me away. The battery, preamp and wiring harness all have their own niches cut into the wood, and they are all fitted very tightly and cleanly. NOT a bunch of spaghetti wiring thrown in there.


The neck is a 3-piece. There is evidence at the outer edges of the headstock and down at the heel that it was a 5-piece (at least) piece of wood, where on the edges there are 5 pieces. But the entire neck is 3-piece where it matters.The neck is on the beefy side, which I kind of like. It's extremely stable.

The preamp is not that bad, either. The Bass boost is quite significant. I've had "cheap" basses where the bass boost is almost non existent. This one will "clip" the preamp.

Doesn't necessarily have that Signature Warwick Growl, but it's close, especially with round-wounds.

The only thing that kind of bugs me is the 2.5" string spacing at the bridge. Although I can play it normally and I can slap & pop with it (I'm flexible) I think I'll get a 2.75" bridge of the same design off ebay. It'll make me feel better. A 2.75" bridge will fit the neck no-problem.

Now for the pics:

After I took the flats off & cleaned (check out the cool grains in that fingerboard!!!):




Cavity:


Strung up with rounds:

 

Do you know if the pickups are the same MEC's as in the real Wicks, or are they similar to say a "Duncan Designed" type of deal?

Another thing that I noticed about this bass is that the pickups are in the body in a VERY solid way. Usually, you can press down on a pickup and compress the springs or foam padding under it. But not these. They are IN THERE! They do raise & lower quite smoothly, too. That was a surprise within itself, especially since I'm used to "China" bass pickups not raising or lowering very much at all....

That's an ebony board? I thought it eas rosewood with some odd graininess going on. I didn't think they'd put anykind of ebony (or tiger stripe ebony at that) on a China bass...Pretty cool I suppose.

 

I'm not sure of the year, but it is definitely older. The S/N is RBA 009716-03
Could the last 2 digits mean 2003?
It's gotta be older since there is no Just-a-nut, just a standard fixed nut. When were these basses introduced?