LeftyBassist.com

Hi all,

TIme for an update on my Warwick Fortress overhaul. You may recall I snagged a used fortress from GC that had one "hard-to-see-anything" picture in the listing. I called the store, and they did tell me it was pretty beat-up, with corrosion issues and some wear-and-tear. They believed it had toured a lot in it's lifetime. I'd wanted one forever (thanks to Andy Irvine and others), and you see lefty versions very infrequently, especially the 5-string versions. I was on a mission to rescue it, and give it a nice home for its retirement.

I spoke to the fine folks at Warwick HQ, and here are the original specs:

Bass: Fortress one 5 string
Year: 1995
Neck Wood: 5 string Maple Neck with Bubinga stripes
Fingerboard : Wenge
Frets: Bronce Warwick Frets
Nut : Just a Nut Brass Version
Neck construction: Bolt On
Body : 3 pcs. solid Maple
Surface : Nirvana Black Transparent Satin
Pickups : 2 x active MEC JJ Pickups
Electronic : 2 Band Electronic from MEC
Hardware : Chrome Hardware from Warwick

Note that it's listed as having a transparent finish. This thing was so polished in places, I'd assumed it was a high polish finish that had dulled over time. I decided to polish it up, as I didn't care about it being authentic to spec. I took it apart, and then set about cleaning the corrosion off all of the hardware, polishing the nut (it fell off when I removed the strings), cleaning the frets and fretboard, and then buffing the body. I replaced the tailpiece, as oddly it was asymetrical (an old righty version replaced at some time, maybe?), and the regular E and B string ball-ends did not fit (see old/new pic with ends jammed in). I also sanded the back of the neck down and waxed it (very unusual Warwick neck, BTW), as you could feel the laminates. The neck is very sturdy - It took some physical effort to adjust it, but the action is much better now.

I still have a little work to do with the electronics (RF interference, so some shielding is in order), but it plays great now, and feels good. The headstock condition could be improved, but like all of the dings, I'll keep them as its badge of honor, along with the crazy wear on the bottom of the bridge pickup, and deep scratches on the neck pup.

here's a gallery of the bass:

http://temdude.deviantart.com/gallery/6 ... k-Fortress

Also, if you need Warwick parts in the US, talk to Jon Giroux - Artist Relations Manager at the Nashville showroom (j.giroux@warwick.de) - he's great.

Cheers,
Dave

Excellent work. Looks beautiful!

Whoever owned that played the crap out of it (that pickup wear!). It would be cool to know who it was.

Great to know it's been taken care of now!
Congrats!

Great work, man! It's looking really nice!

The E and B string ball-ends did not fitting really surprises me. I had the same problem with the E-string ball not fitting in the bridge of my Thumb. I had to hold it in place while I brought the string up to tension, and eventually the tension was enough to keep it in place.

Thanks all... Now I just need to get back to playing as opposed to hunting basses..