I'm surprised this hasn't been posted here yet (or I didn't find it), it's been talked about in the Warwick forum for a few days now. Warwick have finally widened their wood options, resulting in this list: Body Tigerwood Yellowheart Lacewood Basswood Black Walnut Burl Buck Eye Burl Camphor Burl Chakte Kok Golden Madrone Spalted Maple A Spalted Maple B Spalted Maple C Koa AAAA Koa AAAAA Mahogany Afzelia Flamed Maple A Flamed Maple AA Flamed Maple AAA Birdseye Maple Quilted Maple AA Quilted Maple AAA Purpleheart Bubinga Bubinga Pommele Swirly Bubinga Cocobolo Harewood Cherry Koa AAA Macassar Madrone Burl Karelian Birch Satinwood Olive Ovangkol Swamp Ash Thuya Burl Birdseye Poplar Walnut Zebrano Ziricote Fingerboard Maple Rosewood Wenge Tigerstripe Ebony Head Composite Fiber Flamed Maple Birdseye Maple Neck Ovangkol Wenge Maple Flamed Maple Birdseye Maple Interesting stuff, as their selection was kinda limiting. They will also offer wood pickup covers at some point.
They've had this kind of selection for a few years. Have you gotten a recent Warwick catalog? They've got all sorts of shiny samples of different woods in there... Of course, anything outside of standard woods is a custom shop bass, and if you think Fender custom shop basses are expensive...look out Edit: When I had my Warwick deal (actually I still might...I probably should cancel that seeing as how I haven't had a Warwick for around a year) I had inquired about getting some non-standard basses made and they were still in bananas-land price wise. Even endorsers pay full price for custom options.
Well, I haven't followed their wood selection very closely, but it wasn't that long for sure. More specifically, a post in their forum says: New woods added are: Basswood Black Walnut Burl Buck Eye Burl (My personal favorite) Camphor Burl Chakte Kok Golden Madrone Spalted Maple A Spalted Maple B Spalted Maple C Koa AAA Koa AAAA Koa AAAAA Mahagony Madrone Burl Thuya Burl So, it's like almost half of the list I posted in the first post is new woods.
I see they're offering wenge as a neck wood again... interesting... I thought they were done using wenge for necks.
Never heard of that one before! it is certainly interesting to see Warwick offering all these woods and wooden pickup covers. I guess they must be trying to get a more modern "boutique" look to match the prices they charge! It can't have escaped their attention that luthiers like Stambaugh and Bee make great basses for relatively low prices, encoraching upon Warwick price territory! IMO this new selection of woods and other aesthetic upgrades might be an attempt to salvage some of the companies image (which I'm sure some see as being sullied after the huge drops in quality of new basses) as well as a way of justifying their huge price.
That's so true. I'm endorsed by Warwick, and my fretless Thumb is a 35" scale, but you certainly don't get anything free!
My dream bass is still a Thumb 5 with a wenge neck, pickup position of a standard Jbass, and wide 18/19mm spacing. Getting closer.
I don't think they had ever stopped offering wenge as a custom option. At least it's not a new addition anyway. And yes, what I've seen from their price list for custom options is ridiculous, if you have more than a couple option you might be able to get the same specs on a completely custom made bass by a good luthier for the same price or even less.
I guess it depends where you are geographically with regard to Warwick prices, and how they compare to US made basses, which are ramped up like mad over here in the UK. My custom shop Streamer Jazzman 5 (bubinga pommele, 35" scale) cost only 16% more than an EBMM Stringray 5 or US Fender Deluxe P 5 would have done, presumably because I'm in Europe.
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