Suspicious Warwick Fortress on Ebay

Here's a fishy one I found on E-Bay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=3774076275&rd=1

The things that make it fishy:

2003 model, the Fortresses were discontinued as a German model years earlier. However it could be a custom job.

It's a painted Warwick. Never ever seen one. They claim that it was because of an imperfection in the wood. If it were an imperfection, then couldn't they have gotten a different body since it was a custom job. For the most part, I find that Warwick (and Germans in general), stand behind the quality of their product. Also the Fortress was made of flame maple. Why take a gorgeous piece of flame maple and paint over it?

Passive electronics - I know that the Fortress came in a passive version. But so do Rockbasses. If it were passive then the cost would be less anyway.

Ovankol Neck - The fortresses had wenge necks. But this could be a custom job so who knows. My Fortress Flashback has an ovankol neck because it was a custom job made from left over parts, but my Fortress One and Fortress MM have wenge necks.

I'm thinking that it's a Rockbass with a Warwick neck. I know that the bridge is a German one, but if it were added later painting it would cover up the old holes of the one piece rockbass bridge.

The price is outrageous anyway, so I don't think anyone would bid on it. Unless someone is really desperate to buy a Fortress. But they can be had for much cheaper anyway. And for that price, I'd rather have flamed maple than paint anyway.

I'm thinking about e-mailing the serial number to Warwick to verify.

 

I never thought of it as a factory reject. If so, then the price is really high. I'm also not sure if the papers will indicate much other than the stock specs.

Anyway, I emailed Warwick and hopefully they can ID it. They were able to ID my Fortress Flashback to the year and color.