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The Official Warwick Club (Part 5)

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#861
The neck is very sensitive to environmental changes. It seems to be moving (just a little bit) all the time.

Being that it is 'Swamp cooler season' here in AZ. I figured there would be some movement in the necks of all my basses, and indeed there was.

However, I only had to adjust my Tacoma, jazz bass and musicman once.

I have had to adjust the Warwick several times.

I have never seen anything like this in all my years.

Just to reiterate, I took the strings off my bass for about 30 minutes.
when I put them back on and tuned the bass, they were laying on the fingerboard buzzing all over. I gave the basses a few hours and the neck did not come back up. I had to loosen the truss rod to get some relief back into the neck.

The next day there was even more relief in the neck, so back the other way I went.

I haven't even bothered to put the truss rod access cover back in place as I would wear it out taking it on and off.

I think I should be able to change my strings all at once without the neck going out of whack. I don't have this problem with any of my other basses.

I'm not sure what to do.
 
#862
Means2nEnd said:
Oh the woes of those dang Warwick necks. I know how you feel about the neck. The first thing I would ask is it a bolt on or neck through? What’s the year? I have owned many German and a couple Rockbasses all of which I moved. The German Wicks although I have sold about three or four of the ten or so I own I have experienced a few neck (Truss rod issues).

I am a huge fan of Warwick they are my go to basses for almost everything but I have had a frozen truss rod on a new Corvette Jazzman back in 05 and it was replaced in warrantee from Danna. I had a $$ that the truss rod actually snapped and I had to buy another neck. I own a 94 NT thumb fretless that I had to have sent to Gary Brawer in San Fran to fix my neck and the (removable at the time) truss rod was installed backwards (front to back) and the fingerboard was completely re shaped in his PLEK machine but is now perfect. I have had my share of issues with their necks and like you a couple other basses in years have had a few issues I have on a whole had the most problems with Warwick necks. Despite what anyone will tell you Ovankol although dense and having killer tonal qualities is not the strongest wood. I used to have this older guy who lived near me and since moved away who hand built hollow body jazz guitars and was a very respected and knowledgeable builder used to work on all my basses. The last time he worked on one of my basses he said he would no longer do any work to my Warwicks and I asked him why. I went over to his shop and he had my neck from the Jazzman that was frozen and with the truss rod inside the neck we did a comparison on flexibility of necks he had in his shop from all 5 string neck basses. He had a quarter sawn maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard from a G&L and a Fender maple neck with rosewood a mahogany neck with a maple fingerboard and my Warwick ovangkol with wenge fingerboard and we laid them between to tables and put weight on them. The Warwick by far sagged the most with the same weight. He asked if ovangkol was a foreign word for rubber.

Now all this aside I love my Warwicks and have had the best track record with all their NT models and some are like pieces of iron and never move. I make sure I take into consideration if when changing strings that if I change brands or gauges it will cause changes in the amount of relief due to pounds of tension and that does affect the neck for sure. I believe most Wick necks have steel rods up to the 12th fret from the body end in so that’s always completely flat it’s the 12th to the 1st that I have issues with time to time. I think ovangkol is flexible and is a good wood I love the tone and most of my Wicks with it are stable and I have had terrible issues with maple necks too wood is subjective and is different with each tree and with each bass. I do take string tension off the neck when adjusting the truss rod of any bass. The truss rod is intended to hold a neck in place but it’s not intended to be able to bend the neck back with all the tension on. Good luck I have no real solution just that I have been in that movie as well. It’s worth it to me to find the good ones as their as you know good and bad basses from any builder. Although my Zon Sonus has a neck that never ever moves…but it isn’t wood.
Click to expand...

I just purchased this bass new. It is a 2010 Streamer LX SE with a redwood top, ovankal neck and ebony fretboard. I have had it about a month or so.

Oddly enough, I traded my Zon sonus custom for it. I adjusted the neck on that bass once and it didn't move for 3 years.

I have not changed the strings on this bass yet. I took them off (twice) for waxing.
 
#863
Same thing with my Thumb B.O. 6-string Wide neck.
Less than 5% of humidity difference and the neck will move.
So it's quite a challenge to have a perfect action.
But, when the action is right on,:eek: it sounds awesome, so much growl.
 
#864
A few things I have come to know about my Warwicks are that first like I said before I have had much better luck with the NT basses for some reason not sure why but that’s how it is. Another thing is that one or two of the bolt on necks I have owned I had to just deal with the fact that there is a little more relief with some than I like between the 7th and 1st frets they get almost a small bow between those frets and never above the 12th this is due to the steel rods I believe is in the newer necks.


You are in AZ which is very dry? It might take some time for the neck to acclimate to your conditions. Maybe the fact that the neck is only oiled and no finish and is still letting moisture go that’s just one theory. Or another sad truth is you may have a week neck like I have experienced in the past.

I own a custom J Dran 5 string bolt on Warrior and the neck is thin and has killer action. It is maple with a wide Purpleheart center and two maple sides but it bends easily but plays softly and it is stable. So even necks that can be slightly bent forward or back with some pressure can still provide enough stability to keep in tune and keep the right amount of relief once adjusted a couple times. I’m in PA and we have hot humid summers and dry cold winters and like the changing of the seasons I have to go through the better part of my collection and make adjustments different times of the year to most of my necks. It’s just part of life.

If over a couple months if it still is not staying in a good playable acceptable point and the truss rod is close to being maxed you might have to contact the New York custom shop for service. Tyler is the main guy and he is great and you can get him on the phone (212-777-6990) he is super busy but you can request to speak to him directly and he will give you good advice. The US main broker or main distributer of Warwick is US Music Corp...

http://www.usmusiccorp.com/

Seems to keep changing, it was Hanser for a brief time now USMC. You might have to go through them if you bought NOS and it can be done under warrantee. If not I am sorry to tell you Warwick will not just sell you a replacement neck. I bought a Corvette $$ and the truss rod snapped and I had to go through my local Warwick dealer and he had to send it back to Germany and then I waited 2 months for the replacement. It was like $300 or so to get replaced. Warwick will not have two necks floating around with the same serial number that’s why you must send in the bad neck. This was my experience I hope your results are much less complicated. No repair is worth it if the neck keeps moving but it should I imagine settle at some point maybe in a good place maybe not. Joe Zon says if you press the B or E string down between the first fret and the highest you should have about a credit card thickness of space between the string and the 9th or 10th fret. This is about how much relief you want for best tone and playability but this too is subjective of course. Good luck and let us know what happens please.
 
#865
Here it is! The pickup was edited and moved, but still. It rocks!

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#870
So I'm wondering how exactly to refer to my Warwick. :bassist:

The problem is, it doesn't have any labeling on it. The truss rod cover just says Warwick, I think. I should probably wait till I get home, and maybe even upload a few photos. But here goes. It has the corvette? body style, and one large MM? pup. I think it's called FNA, but that has confused a few people on TB here. THey seem to think it's a $2000+ instrument. I paid like $1050 back in 2000 for it, new. I think FNA Jazzman is the more expensive one, right? Maybe i'm being lazy not figuring it out for myself, but I figured who better to ask than the Warwick Club! :D


Edit: If you care to look, I downloaded a few pics from my phone back in post #761. I definitely have to take some sexy shots and post them here.
 
#874
ok just did a check, with the action the way it is on mine, I would say med-low everything has clearence except the E-string which is 1.05 guage it touches. With a 1.00 and maybe lower action it might be possible but I can't say for sure, i really dont want to change my setup to find out for sure. Hope this helps.
 
#875
Perfect! thanks! :bassist: if it doesnt fit, maybe a small washer to lift it up a little.

I've been thinking more, maybe a pickgaurd is in order as well, a la Warwick Fortresses Flashback pickguard. I love the retro almost Rickenbacker look. Ricks look so cool, Waricks sound so cool, winning combination? I could have a WaRickenbacker $$.
 
#876
mc_muench said:
Perfect! thanks! :bassist: if it doesnt fit, maybe a small washer to lift it up a little.

I've been thinking more, I dont know what a design might look like but maybe a pickgaurd is in order as well. I love the look of Warwick Fortresses that had pickgaurds. Maybe something like a Rickenbacker pickguard, I could have a WaRickenbacker $$
Click to expand...

The pickguard option could be cool, also hadnt thought about using a washer, that would work as well.
 
#877
Means2nEnd said:
Holy crap MC that’s awesome. I was just watching some Marcus Miller on YouTube the other day and was thinking the same thing and thought I would be so cool because I was going to be the first to do it on a Warwick. I like it man the only thing I pictured differently was I was actually thinking of making one from wood. I’m not interested in its tone shaping abilities just the hand rest thing for some different techniques. You know the sound of wood and all I was going to try and shape one out of wenge or something. I like it!!
Click to expand...

Pup cover bought off Evilbay, wait for real life photos...so since I'm the first to do it, you can call me King Cool :cool:
 
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