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tvickey

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Everything posted by tvickey

  1. tvickey
    🤣Smells like fish drizzled with lemon now!
  2. tvickey
    The fretboard on this one is Wenge.
  3. tvickey
    A world of difference with the Ernie Balls... the low-B is there and sounds great. While taking off the factory strings, I realized that whoever initially put them on didn't leave enough length for decent windings around the post for the low-B. It was one winding of a really tapered string. I always aim for three tight winds around the posts, as in my photo here.
  4. tvickey
    Thinking to myself, "Should I put lemon oil on the new fretboard? Nah... that's silly, right? It's a brand new bass so it must be clean. Oh wait, what's that dark residue on the fretboard? OMFG" I've occasionally played basses for a really long time before changing strings and oiling the fretboard, but I've never seen anything like this. I don't know what those strings were, but they were s*%t and had to come off for sure. Garbage, absolute garbage.
  5. tvickey
    So, the package from the distributor arrived. They sent me a Rockcare fretboard protector and a new pack of Black Label strings. But these new Black Labels look like Black Labels... and have the plain brass (uncolored!) balls at one end, with the twiddly / spiraling bit on the other. I've decided not to put these on, and just go with my usual (Ernie Balls). Had they sent me the Warwick EMP bass strings I might have used those... but they didn't. Anyway, now that it's the weekend I'll re-string the bass, do a full setup with adjustments, and hope it sounds much better.
  6. tvickey
    For some reason the light reflecting off the metal bridge made it look like there is some kind of discoloration, but there isn't! Bridge is a nice solid dark grey / metal color.
  7. tvickey
    Thanks @mrtcat, that is very interesting. I checked the Bass Direct website just now, and the new Corvette 5 $$ that they just got in also has those same strings. Look at where the strings make contact with the machine heads on the bass. They really don't look like Black Labels on that end either (compare with my earlier photo of the LX4 GPS).
  8. tvickey
    The black stealth bass arrived. I opened the case, immediately took this photo, and thought to myself, "It's almost too pretty to play. What if it gets hurt? Could I gig this? Yeah... definitely." It is also a superb sounding instrument.
  9. tvickey
    I've looked in the gallery, but I cannot find any basses at all that have colored ball ends. Are you able to point out an example? Or are you just referring to the tapering on the low-B?
  10. tvickey
    If one wanted to avoid using tapered strings altogether, perhaps this wide-slot saddle insert would be better than what is on the LX5 for the low-B now.
  11. tvickey
    Yes, I discovered that a short while ago too, after googling around a bit.
  12. tvickey
    The other important information is that the ends of the strings going into the tuners on the LX5 (for A, D and G at least) do NOT look like the ends from the Black Label strings on my GPS LX4 Streamer (photo below). At that end they also look like D'Addario strings. 😂
  13. tvickey
    The next conspiracy theory: Is it possible that D'Addario strings are made by the same basic out-sourced manufacturer as the Warwick Black Labels, say somewhere in China? Was there a limited-term packaging mix-up? Perhaps at the Warwick factory the strings are delivered as large quantities of singles with E, A, D, G being mis-labeled D'Addarios, and the B genuine Black Label?
  14. tvickey
    Believe me, I thought about taking these strings under a microscope and comparing them to D'Addarios. We could get the alloys in them analyzed... I'm happy to send them off somewhere.
  15. tvickey
    BTW @Silvia Bluejay: I like your profile banner. This is almost what I have on my bass, except the low-B ball end is not purple. 😂 Looks like you're left-handed?
  16. tvickey
    I had this same thought as well @Silvia Bluejay. Will the new pack of strings that I receive in the post have colored ball ends? I think not, but hey I could be surprised... Maybe D'Addario bought out Warwick strings and now supplies them all? Does this mean an improvement for the Black Labels? When will they start making the low-B have a purple ball end? So many questions!
  17. tvickey
    Update: The distributor intervened and reassured me that this is a bespoke bass built just for me. This is consistent with the serial number on my bass, which includes an M = December and a 19 = 2019. So indeed it appears to be newly built and it is very unlikely that it has taken some strange convoluted route through Germany, or spent a large fraction of its time up on a shop wall. The distributor is sending me a fretboard protector, as well as a new set of strings. The explanation (provided by the distributor) is that some Warwick strings now have colored ball ends,. This information differs from what Warwick just told me earlier this morning. I encouraged them to make the community aware with some twitter / facebook posts, and perhaps an insert that comes with the bass ("hey, our Black Label strings now feature colored ball-ends!"). Beware: your new Warwick bass might arrive with strings that look like D'Addarios (except the low-B, which does not yet have a colored ball end).
  18. tvickey
    I'm still waiting to hear back from Peach Guitars (who sold me the LX5), but a quick google of the model number on my certificate returned this webpage from Zoelch Musikhaus (screen snapshot attached), where a GPS Streamer LX5 in cream white with black hardware had recently been in stock. The mystery deepens and there are now more questions... Is this where my bass came from? Did Zoelch Musikhaus put D'Addarios on some of the strings before returning it to Warwick? Why did it get a new 'mugshot' photo taken with the D'Addarios on when passing through Warwick? Why didn't Warwick just put on new strings? Should I ask for a small refund, as this was possibly not a true 'custom' build?
  19. tvickey
    Thanks for your comments and input, everyone. Warwick now confirmed via email that none of their strings have colored ball ends (but this community already knew that!). Response was basically, "Our Black Label strings do not have colored ball ends, none of our strings have colored ball ends, why would you need that?" @Monkey Steve: Interesting about your fretboard protector and the strap buttons. Regarding the strings on my bass, I posted the Warwick factory 'mugshot' photo earlier in this thread and there you can very clearly see that the bass strings have colored ball ends! Still a big mystery... and a mis-matched set!
  20. tvickey
    Okay, so there were some reception issues when I received this LX5. There is a new thread dedicated to that here:
  21. tvickey
    Just to add that I've now had a chance to really jam away on the new LX5 (since it is a more reasonable hour). It became pretty obvious to me that tonally, the A, D and G strings are much different than the B or E. In fact, the B and E seem mis-matched to both the other three and to one another. It could be two or three sets on here. What a mess. Undoing the twist on the low-B string seems to have fixed some of the sound issues that I had earlier, which triggered this thread. I have also now adjusted the height of the pick-up closer to the neck, and things are sounding a bit better. But, a mis-matched set of stings on a new Warwick bass is indeed totally unacceptable. So hopefully they'll drop some in the post and send them my way soon.
  22. tvickey
    Right, so other than this issue with the mixed strings and the missing fretboard protector, I'm very happy with the bass. It certainly looks brand new. I did send a couple of (polite) emails: One message to Warwick simply asking if they ever paint the ball ends on any of their strings (but the community here seems to know the answer). The other message to Peach Guitars in Colchester, who ordered the bass for me. I asked them to please have Warwick send me the fretboard protector and a new set of strings. I've asked for a set of the EMP Warwick strings. They are the higher-end and more expensive strings that come with the Master Built basses, but I'd say Warwick owes them to me now!
  23. tvickey
    Silvia Bluejay, I had these exact thoughts and followed that same train of logic myself. But now have a look at the Warwick factory 'mugshot' photo that came along with this Warwick! I put the photo here with the certificate shown, and then a zoomed in photo of the 'mugshot'. You can clearly see that it's the same mixed set of strings! WTF? I have my own theory on what happened here. But first, let me add a few more clues which might be helpful in solving the puzzle. Here's what we know: o There appears to be a mixed set of strings on this bass (at least A, D and G look like D'Addario, probably E as well). o The RockCare fretboard protector from Warwick was NOT included with this bass. This seems very unusual, as I've always gotten one with other new Warwicks that I have purchased (and this is a GPS Streamer, so not all that cheap). The protector is a thick plastic sheet that Warwick also sells separately for about 5 EUR. o The strap-lock buttons came opened in a small plastic bag (photo attached), rather than in a new sealed plastic and cardboard package. A bit odd, and again totally unlike what has come together with other 'new' Warwick basses purchased. My theory is this: I put in an order for an LX5 GPS streamer in cream white but with black hardware (standard is chrome). Someone, somewhere, had a cream white LX5 with the default chrome (a music shop? a distributor?) which got returned to Warwick recently for whatever reason. While that bass with chrome hardware was in the possession of someone else, at some point some / all of the strings were changed. The strap buttons were removed from their original packaging and used on a strap. The fretboard protector got tossed out / lost. Warwick, perhaps being busy and wanting to move stock, swapped the chrome hardware on that 'returned' white LX5 bass with some that is black to fill my order. They then took a new 'mugshot', packaged everything up, and sent it to me. It's effectively a slightly used / floor-model bass. That's what I think, but I do tend to be paranoid.
  24. tvickey
    Doctor J, you make an excellent point. I'm now drinking my coffee and I realize that something is not right. It dawned on me that the color scheme for the ball ends on the normal 4-string set matches the D'Addario coloring scheme. However, the low-B in a D'Addario 5-string set would have a purple ball end and not a brass one as is pictured above. According to the specs and the Warwick website, this bass is supposed to come with Black Label strings: http://www.warwick.de/en/Warwick---Products--Instruments--Pro-Serie---Teambuilt--Pro-Serie---Teambuilt--Streamer--Streamer-LX--5-string--Features.html But what in the hell is on this bass? Did someone send me a 5-string bass with a mixed set of strings? Do Black Label strings now have colored ball ends and I'm just being paranoid? Thoughts?
  25. tvickey
    Have you used these on a Warwick? I saw some reviews online that reported there are issues with using these strings on basses with two-piece bridges due to the core not lining up on the saddle very well.
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