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Warwick = Soon to be Korean Made?

#41
BigOldHarry said:
Sigh. I guess it's good that I never really dug Warwick basses.
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I love the snot out of my Corvette $$!

ColeR91 said:
This is very negative to hear as I'm saving up for my custom shop Stage II... Do you think they've stopped taking orders?
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Negative? There's a lot of great stuff coming out of Korea, they've just got to nail down the correct factory and determine who will make their pickups. As far as wood and construction, I don't knock anything coming out of Korea. Especially my Lakland Skyline 55-02 and my PRS Custome Semi-hollow. They know what they're doing in Korea; some of those other countries may be suspect, though. JMO.
 
#42
JPSBassist said:
As for Korean-made basses, Spector's been there since 1986 (Kramer). Same shop. And the quality of those basses, ask anyone, is right on. I have a 22 year-old Korean Spector NS-2 that I'll put up against a German-made Streamer any day.
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You are exactly right in your Comparison to Kramer guitars.

They over extended themselves by moving all production to overseas, and when labor strikes hit, Kramer practically had nothing to sell.
Not to mention an overload of Endorsements didn't help very much either. Kramer gave their guitars away to who ever would play them.


Kramer was not some tiny company either. They sold more guitars than Fender and Gibson put together for two years, 1985, and 1986. Four years later, out of business. Now, Kramer made guitars primarily, and Warwick makes basses primarily. I see them as pretty much the same thing.

Interesting.
 
#43
It is quite funny reading these comments. Especially when 30 years ago, Japanese factories were making great instruments and many customers called them "crap" because of their origin, but nowadays everyone is saying that reducing costs will represent an improvement over quality. Completely wrong. Warwick has produced a lot of instruments with trussrod problems in Germany, that's OK, but moving on and pretending that it will be for customer's benefit is quite naïve I think. Don't get me wrong, the electronics will be the same, but the fretwork and stuff won't be as good as the original models.
 
#47
KramerBassFan said:
You are exactly right in your Comparison to Kramer guitars.

They over extended themselves by moving all production to overseas, and when labor strikes hit, Kramer practically had nothing to sell.
Not to mention an overload of Endorsements didn't help very much either. Kramer gave their guitars away to who ever would play them.


Kramer was not some tiny company either. They sold more guitars than Fender and Gibson put together for two years, 1985, and 1986. Four years later, out of business. Now, Kramer made guitars primarily, and Warwick makes basses primarily. I see them as pretty much the same thing.

Interesting.
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I was selling guitars when Kramer started their down-hill slide... *not* good instruments (like so many of those pointy basses in the late '80s) -- not terrible, but not really good. Certainly not funky and cool like my old 6000 (pictured in my profile... when I was all of 18!!)
 
#48
I just wish someday it would be more obvious to everyone that this should not be a quality-based discussion. Because everything can be duplicated in anywhere in the world given enough effort and dedication (which is less likely to be the case, otherwise what is the point of moving production to overseas if you were not planning to cut the costs); but the deteriorating morals due to lack of earnings through skilled workmanship, equality of income and social balance can not.

Aside from the above fact, Kramer is actually the perfect example for the business side of things, I salute the person who came up with it.
 
#49
My fanboy ignorance is getting in the way here, however have we actually heard official word? I'm probably going to interrigate my sales guy tomorrow, haha. It's interfering though, as I was hoping to upgrade my rig prior to placing an order... I've pretty much had my heart set on this thing (SSII) for a year or so now, custom shop & all, haha. It's funny that I'm completely anti-materialism until it comes to my music gear :hiding:
 
#50
This is official word. I'm writing from our factory in Markneukirchen Germany:

German Warwick production is not moving to Korea.

Only the Corvette Std. will be made in Korea as of this year.


Matthijs Hakfoort
Photographer, Warwick Germany
 
#51
no one has bothered until now, about the most important aspect in the end: Their Sound. :rollno:

-If the quality control will be the same or better

-If the raw material will be the same

-If both electronic components and hardware will be the same

-If prices drop, if The control cavity plate will say "Made in Korea"

You would not buy the bass?

IMHO Sometimes we forget a bit the true purpose of buying an instrument, and we inquire into a lot of little relevance factors related to the REAL need.
 
#52
ATTENTION!!!

Talked to my local Warwick dealer

Only the basic Corvette line is going to be made in Koreea. They explain this like that: The woods and the hardware used on the basic Corvette models was the same as they where using on their most expensive basses like Stramer Stage 2, Infinity NT and so on, it became disadvantageous for them to keep making the basic line in Germany,this is why thy decided to move the production of the basic Corvettes to Koreea. I hope they maintain the quality and cut price tag in half :)
 
#53
FunkyMan said:
no one has bothered until now, about the most important aspect in the end: Their Sound. :rollno:

-If the quality control will be the same or better

-If the raw material will be the same

-If both electronic components and hardware will be the same

-If prices drop, if The control cavity plate will say "Made in Korea"

You would not buy the bass?

IMHO Sometimes we forget a bit the true purpose of buying an instrument, and we inquire into a lot of little relevance factors related to the REAL need.
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I know exactly what you mean & that is why I felt some guilt in writing my posts, however, my biggest fear is simply, that there may be a difference in quality, that it might not be what I desire, I played a Streamer Stage II for all of 2 hours & I've learnt to adore it, that is the bass I want, however, if I could be convinced that Korean made would be just as good, then so be it, but such a thing I'd view as a risk. I'm am quite attached to the idea of this as my dream bass, however, I know, if worse case senerio occurs, I wouldn't shed a tear, though I'd be somewhat disappointed, haha.
 
#55
Well, i don't think warwick will give any model to Korea, but i don't mind. In fact i hate Warwick, but not even for the Instruments. They really had media trouble in Germany 'cause they don't treat their employees that good. They get payed as good as nothing, they have to work 47,5 hours per week and a "graduate in business administration" gets 1100€ which is about 1350 Dollar per month. That is not even half of the normal salary.........and that from a company that makes several millions per year.........the newspapers here were full of this articles, and so i wont buy any warwick again.....and i don't care if they let buildt in Korea or not :)

cheers
 
#58
Its only the corvettes that are going over seas. I have a German one and have to say i love it. Would be interesting to play a korean one and see if i could spot the diff.

I wonder if in a few years people will be looking second hand for German made corvettes in the same way the look for the wenge necked ones
 

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