[quote name='BigRedX' post='252425' date='Jul 31 2008, 11:14 PM']I don't mean to rain on your parade, but there's plenty of other threads full of people enjoying their Fenders, Musicmen, Warwicks and such-like. This celebrates those luthiers who have decided to follow a less mainstream route.[/quote]
On the case of Warwick, don't you think that they are a company that only became mainstream because of their success? Certainly, they started out as "weird and wonderful". They were an early adopter or the NS body shape and the "bowl back" body cut (which is pretty damn amazing). Models like the Thumb and the Dolphin are some of the most recognisable "strange shaped" bodies around today. And their choice of woods has given the brand it's own signature tone, which is instantly recognisable.
Warwick were most certainly weird and wonderful, and simply because they were rather good and well marketed, they became sort of what I would call the afficionado's choice of mainstream basses.
You see, these basses:
are a bit more "weird and wonderful" (and a lot cooler) than this: