Lefty007 wrote:
That's the reason why I can't play a Warwick, even do I really love how the sound. My first good bass was a Warwick Thumb 5-string. I ordered it new, but didn't know better. It was probably 10 lb, and with that little short upper horn, it just killed my shoulder, arms and back. Back then I was average weight, but I was playing in a hardcore/nu-metal band where jumping on stage was a requirement. I keep buying Warwick here and there, and also lust after Spector, because they sound so good, but I take them on stage and the lust is over. . .
Sorry for the continued detour here, but I had to comment on this since it was exactly what happened to me!
I used to have a picture of a Thumb 5 NT hanging in my locker in high school that I cut out from a Warwick catalog!!
Fast forward 10 years later, I was in a Bay Area metal band that was "about to break"
and my band manager got me a low-level endorsement deal with Warwick... they actually had a Thumb NT 5 in stock and, of course, that was what I wanted. I ended up getting it for under distributor cost or something... it was like $1,400 shipped overnight in a hard-case.
Anyway... I literally forced myself to like that bass. First of all, it was close to 12 lbs... and coming from playing a Stingray 5, I had to completely readjust my strap and playing style to make it work for me. Not only would my shoulder cramp up after about 30 minutes from CONSTANTLY readjusting the neck because the dive was so bad, but the cuticles on my index and ring fingers of my picking hand were peeled back and would bleed every gig because of the tight string spacing.
Weight, string spacing, ergonomics, balance... all these important details I never gave a shit about back then but mean oh so much to me now.
All of that said, I played that thing HARD for several years until I eventually sold it for what I paid for it... killer tone and I love the looks, but it was just a bear in every other category.
Here's an old video of me playing it at The Key Club in LA... I wasn't trying to look metal with a mean face, it was just my shoulder cramping!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdzNqmHsllgOk, back to the short scale P-bass.