The Warwick bass continues to settle into the last adjustments. I picked it up again this evening and it plays supernaturally well, so I measured. Every string–even the low B–is hovering just above or just below the 4/64 mark. And I can play triplets on that B string up and down the neck without any buzz or rattle unless I play hard. Un. be. lievable.
When I first got this thing about three years ago off Ebay it was a total clunker suffering from severe neglect. I didn’t measure it, but the string height was probably 10/64s easily. It was a 2014 model which I don’t believe ever sold from the music store where it hung on the wall. It still had the plastic film on it to indicate what the knobs do. I’m sure the store never set the thing up. And it hung and it drifted from factory settings for three years. And then, because no one liked the way it played, the store sold it to me at a deep discount.
I only wish I had known more about set up work three years ago. Now, thanks to persistence and help, this instrument probably plays better than any bass I’ve ever owned. If you bought this bass brand new today you would pay something like $1,199. I’m only now truly understanding why. And I’m now feeling pretty smug about the fact that I got this one for half price even though it had clearly never had a retail owner.