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Warwick Rockbass fanned Fret


alinbassplayer
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Has anyone seen this? 

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2020/01/10/warwick-announces-rockbass-corvette-multi-scale-five-string-bass/

I'm curious to try one out, also i would love to see some German built fanned fret ones, especially in the Streamer or Thumb model, even though i assume the prices will rival the Dingwalls.

While the scale extension doesn't seem to be that big, only 1.5 inch, it makes a difference in other real life situations, but will it enhance that B string Warwick growl we all look like?

What do you guys think?

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Interesting!

It is a very subtle fanned fret system compared to a Dingwall (35.5 inches to 34 inches compared to 37 inches on the low B of a Dingwall). Frankly I prefer that, as the angle of the upper frets on a Dingwall would make chords tricky on a Dingwall (I do a lot of high up chord work as part of my rehearsal and writing work so that would annoy me). The Warwick angles look less extreme, but probably at the loss of the famed Dingwall 'piano clarity' of a low B on a 37 inch scale. 

If Warwick offered a five (or six) string Thumb with the same fanned fret system I would be very tempted. I have just never really liked the Corvette body shape in comparison to the Thumb and the Streamer. 

 

 

Edited by thodrik
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There are very few basses that retain that piano clarity that cost under £2K but I am sure it will sound good regardless, also Warwick always had a little more bite to their sound, and they were never a classic sounding bass company.

In regards to the design, i've always had a love hate relationship with the Corvette body, i love the Streamer, Thumb and Dolphin body shapes though. I think if they did a Streamer double buck fanned fret 5 string, i would dip into that credit card faster than you can say...sh*t i'm in debt again :) 

Again i am curious why only Corvette announced, and why only Rockbass, and another interesting choice are the individual saddles a la Ibanez BTB compared to their iconic 2 piece bridge.

All the questions, none of the answers 😄 

 

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It looks very much like a 'hmm, lets try this idea out to see if it works' type of release. Hopefully it catches on.

I would like to try one. In terms of prices, I think that the German 'Team Built' series are pretty well priced. A Team Built Thumb 5 is currently about £1500. If they simply added £300 or so for a fanned fret upcharge then I think the price would be pretty competitive. In terms of a full custom shop job with fanned frets, I dread to even guess what the price would be. 

I wonder if other builders will now follow suit? A Spector Euro with fanned frets perhaps? I could see Gibson doing it as well, though it wouldn't surprise me if they fanned the frets the wrong way round, so you have a 32 inch B string and 37 inch G string. 

The Monorail bridge is interesting. I'm guessing it is cheaper to just place individual bridges are the chosen locations than for Warwick to design/purchase a bespoke five string bridge for a multiscale bridge. I have a Vigier Arpege which has a similar type of bridge (not fan fretted). It definitely works in functional terms but I don't see it is an upgrade on a traditional bridge. In any case, it is a bit of bother trying to clean in between the individual bridges. So much dust gets stuck in there! 

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That's what i'm thinking as well, it might just be one model only, like they did with the single cut. 

The mono rails are cool, i had them in my prestige Ibanez BTB and loved them from a functional standpoint, cleaning and polishing was an entirely different thing.

Honestly I think Gibson will probably jump on the fanned fret band wagon when frets and strings will be obsolete, (when we're all playing theremin type basses), or something similar to what you mentioned, add a 7kg body to that and the robotuners and we have....an "instrument" that nobody wants to buy for the price of a flat in London.

Gibson custom shop be like: "Come at me bruh!, what're you talking about, we've already done the headless SG"

image.png.5c0e1c4a0b314229708bbfa0e02695d4.png

Gibson bashing aside, i hope Warwick brings a couple more models on board.

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