Warwick Pro Series Thumb BO 5

I had saved for a long time for this instrument and worried it would not live up to my high expectations for it and also worried purchasing such an expensive instrument online and from overseas, my expectations were exceeded in every way and there was nothing to be worried about!

The bass arrived triple boxed, yes triple! With lots of sustainable and recycleable cardboard packaging and stuffing to protect the instrument.

The bass was also packed inside a very sturdy gigbag which is included, it has a quite stiff exterior for a gigbag and seems very strong.

Inside the gigbag there is a toolkit with all the necessary tools for adjusting your bass, a picture of the bass on the day it was completed, a certificate of authenticity and a usb with a digital picture of the bass and all the required information in how to adjust and care for the instrument. These additional touches before i had even seen the bass really added to the experience and were a very nice touch.

The bass fretboard was protected with a warwick fretboard protector, which again was a really nice touch, removing this reveals the immaculate shiny bell bronze frets and the beautifully patterned wenge fretboard. The body wood is ovangkol which had a beautiful grain and a lovely flame effect to the natural wood which dances in the light almost like holographic material, the finish on the body was satin and was flawless.

The neck is also ovangkol, 4 piece construction and very sturdy, the satin finish is so thin on the neck it feels almost like there is no finish at all, its extremely smooth and the neck is thin and fast but still feels substantial.

All the hardware was perfect, installed correctly and worked well, tuners turned freely, knobs turn smoothly with nice centre detents on the balance and stacked bass/treble, the bass was well set up with a medium/low action and felt very professional, this bass is also quite weighty at over 4kgs, however this adds to the sturdy feeling of the instrument.

The bass comes with straplocks, another touch of class and professionalism, when standing up the bass neck sits just north of level, which for me is just fine. When plugging the bass in the input jack seems a hogh quality and gave a nice reassuring click. The bass is clear and articulate, the b string sound is pristine, despite the low-ish action there was no fretbuzz, no dead spots on the fretboard and no sharp fret ends.

The instrument has the signature thumb bass growl as expected with both pickups blended evenly, boosting the bass and treble increases the depth of tone available and also gently increases the signature growl of the bass. Also to note, the bass was in tune out of the box, another thing which indicates the care taken packing and shipping the instrument which was another positive.

Overall i cannot fault the fit/finish/playability or sound of this isntrument, it is everything I wanted from it and more. If youre interested in the signature thumb sound and impeccable craftsmanship i can highly recommend this bass.

What can I say. Beautiful instrument. Woodwork was perfect, instrument in tune and everything first class. Incredible accessories, including pictures and certificate. With most basses you barely get one or two allen keys. Now you get two allen keys, big truss rod key, separate holder for accessories, usb stick with stuff, pictures et cetera. Plays like a dream, and sounds like a choir of angels. However. It was impossible to play because of the neck dive.
I tested it for two days, in which time my arms and shoulder got hurt due to poor ergonomics from the neck dive. The neck dive for me was minus 45 degrees or even more. Instantly, when I tried it with my trusted leather strap, which is not sticky, the neck started going towards the floor. I tried wide suede strap too, which was even worse since that way my t-shirt was 20 cm below on the shoulder where it should have been due to correcting posture and the neck dive and suede sticking to shirt. I tried shorter strap, lifting the bass higher. Lifted very high, it was playable, but it really hurt my shoulder because you have to reach far with your left hand and I could play only one song at a time, after which I had to rest my shoulder. And I don't have short hands, quite the opposite. If I didn't lift it up, I had to hold it up with my left hand most of the time to get decent angle where I didn't have to reach so far. Thus, I had to send it back, no other option unfortunately.
I understood that some of these Thumbs and especially Bolt-ons suffer from neck dive time to time, but they should balance around 15 degrees up or zero. Yep, not this one, it went straight towards the floor. Check out Ryan Martinie playing his Thumb from YouTube. He always wears it higher with wide strap and he plays shirtless, most likely to avoid the neck dive as the strap sticks to your skin and you don't have to correct posture or worry about your shirt being 20 cm below on the other shoulder. Mine also had neck dive when playing sitting, so no help there. Well, at least I had this legendary instrument for two days, and if I ever get rich I'll order a Master built neck-through, as I've heard they suffer less from the neck dive issues.
Edit. Forgot to mention that the fretboard edges were so sharp and hard that it was painful to play anything that required constant reaching of strings with pinkie finger, as the sharp fretboard edge hurt the joint of the finger. Someone with long fingers may not have similar problems, but those edges are many times rounded to avoid pain.