Here's a brand new model from Warwick that actually connects them to the past. Warwick's CEO Hans Peter Wilfer is the son of the founder of the Framus Guitar Company, and Framus produced the original Starbass II back in the 60's.
More than a reissue, the Warwick Starbass II is actually an update of the old design beautifullly merging vintage inspiration and concept with modern construcion and Warwick's trademarc efficency.
This model steps away from the rest of the Warwick catalogue, with a semilhollow construction, 21 fret neck, set neck construction and noise free Single Coil MEC pickups. With this bass you get the best of both worlds, as it lets you enjoy a vintage styled instrument withouth any intonation or stability issues.
The top and back are made from two pieces of amazing looking bubinga, with solid bubinga for the sides. In traditional Warwick vein, the neck is made from ovangkol with awenge fretboard, but in this case with just 21 frets (which is a must if you want to reproduce the classic sound and feel).
The bass comes with roundwound strings, but we encourage you to try flatwounds as we think these bring out the true character of this instrument.
Some details:
Set neck:
Pickups:
21 fret design:
Here's the proof that this bass combines perfectly vintage vibe and modern efficiency: the all passive Vol/Vol/Tone/Tone with 3 way pickup selector setup is mounted around the lower F hole, but there's a quick access at the back in case you need to check/fix/replace some of the pots in the future. Neat!
In case you think that a semihollow bass is too limited, the truth is that these instruments have found its way into a wealth of different styles. Obviously 60's flavoured styles sound great, but check out players like Peter Hook (New Order), Justin Meldal-Jonhsen (Beck, NIN, etc.), Miguel de Lucas de The Sunday Drivers or bassmaster Carles Benavent.
