Most warwicks have necks made out of pourus bubinga with an oil finish, that 'rough' feel is what is intended.
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Warwick Necks
- Thread starter NKUSigEp
- Start date
Most warwicks have necks made out of pourus bubinga with an oil finish, that 'rough' feel is what is intended.
I think that you're thinking wenge, not bubinga. I've not heard of any standard Warwick production models with bubinga necks. Wenge is simply a rough grained wood. Very stable, very hard. It's natural for it to feel that way. It has nothing to do with attention to detail paid by the builder. You either like it or you don't. I've played high end MTD's with wenge necks and they felt slightly rough too.
My thumb BO 5 has a flat back on the neck making the profile quite thin. I really like its neck
My bolt on Buzzard's neck is thick... but I wouldn't say unreasonably thick. I find it very comfortable to play. My 4 string P bass has a thicker neck and the Buzzard is a 5 string.
I know, lets enlist the Mythbusters to look into it!!!!
Maybe it doesn't mean anything to you. To me it means that a wenge neck (like the one Mr. Wilfer is standing on) is a helluva lot stronger than the necks on a lot of other basses out there and that's important to me.
I don't know that "most" of them are... the majority I have seen use Ovankol on the neck with Wenge on the fretboard. But it depends on where you are and if they are bolt or through neck. So there are regional differences depending on distribution, and quality differences based on price.
I was shocked to hear from a sales guy in GC that his Thumb bass had an ebony fretboard... (I later read the sales pitch on the web site and found out you can specify that on neck through models).
My Buzzard has a Zebrano body, Ovankol neck and Wenge fretboard. Nice wood in any case... the bass is just beautiful.
Sorry , but it does not.
First; you don't know how long he was standing on the neck.
Second: you don't know how the neck looked afterwards.
Yep, I believe all the Thumb neck-thru's come with an ebony board. I've played a few. Very nice.
Well, it's my personal belief that the necks on most basses out there wouldn't have even lasted long enough for a picture to be taken. I guess since I personally own a couple of wenge necked Warwicks and have played several others I have more faith in their strength due to personal experience. If you hate Warwicks, cool. I inserted the picture as a testament to the strength and stability of wenge in general, not just Warwicks.
The fact that with every other bass I've owned (except my Steinberger) I've had to make periodic neck adjustments and with my Warwicks I have not strengthens my belief in Warwick quality way more than that picture ever will.
Yes, there is some roughness even on modern ovankgol necks. Some TB'ers (me too) sanded it down. Now I think that the roughness is being left intentionally - I feel a bit more grip to my fine-sanded neck than felt before.
My experience has been somewhat limited with 'wicks, but I gotta say that one I played in the mid 90's was killer. It was a Streamer with a mostly maple neck with walnut (or similar color) of stringers. I wasn't deep into wood, so I don't remember everything about it. The neck was thin, it was light, and balanaced.
The few I have played over the last couple of years were significantly heavier, unbalanced, and had a thicker neck. I normally play very balanced basses. I think the combination of added thickness, neck dive, and overall weight made my hand tired fairly quickly as I'm not used to holding the neck up at all. I think people might have thickness issues that could potentially be compounded by balance issues.
The few I have played over the last couple of years were significantly heavier, unbalanced, and had a thicker neck. I normally play very balanced basses. I think the combination of added thickness, neck dive, and overall weight made my hand tired fairly quickly as I'm not used to holding the neck up at all. I think people might have thickness issues that could potentially be compounded by balance issues.
...and again... I was not refering to the roughness ,or natural feel of the wood, used on the neck and am aware that people are sanding these necks to make them feel less rough
That's interesting and I'm not saying you're wrong. It's just that every ovangkol neck I've played was extremely smooth. The one on my Corvette Proline is just as smooth as any maple necked bass I've ever played, possibly smoother due to the oil finish.
It's not the roughness of wood itself, just the joints between different pieces are felt. Shure, most of you know what I mean.
