Pilgrimage to Warrior and Back!

[thumbslam]

Hello all, I wanted to share a little bit of one of the most amazing trips and bass experiences I ever had. I drove from Pa down to GA (10.5 hours) to meet JD, Dran, and the whole family of Warrior instruments. I went to order a bass, pick up a bass and also my guitar player was going to pick out woods for a guitar for himself. The experience was so incredible and the whole Warrior family is the most giving generous kind spiritual people I ever met. I did pick up one bass and I will post more on the incredible tone and playability later but I just wanted to leave a picture or two of what I took home and the buckeye body of my next bass….My new friendship with their family was as precious if not more as the instruments themselves…

[slybass3000]

Wow very nice!

My only concern is that I find the pickups a little to wide for thumb anchoring.

[thumbslam]

Normally my thumb is on the B for 70% to 80% of my playing and when I'm using the B in the song the MM is standard and works fine for me. The tone of this bass is so great man. Most instruments I play/own have a tone that is more electronics than wood I guess that's why I like Warwick as well as they get closer to my ear as having more of the wood come through the sound of the bass than electronics. But this Warrior is like 70% wood and acoustics of the bass and 30% the insane killer preamp custom built for him by Bartolini...Passive pickups and active preamp 18 volt is ear porn to me!

[andrew]

Wow, killer looking bass, congratulations! Cool to hear that the people who do Warrior are good folks too.

[AzWhoFan]

I'm sorry, but I don't quite get it. They had a lefty 5'er hanging around the shop? Or was it a custom build you went to pick up?

[thumbslam]

Sorry yeh that was confusing rant..I did order one about 3 or 4 months ago I actually forget the exact date. It was at the vintage guitar show in King of Prussia in Pa a while back. Yeh they have all kinds of builders and dealers at the show. This trip was planned by my guitar player because he wanted to order a guitar but wanted to pick out his woods in person and I went with him and they actually had my bass done that I ordered. I was thinking of possibly ordering another one but was just kicking the idea around but when I met JD and hung out with his whole family for 2 days and went to diner with him and became friends I was sure I was going to order another one. When I saw that piece of burl already on an ash body cut lefty I almost soiled myself...I reserved it. The specs on that bass are crazy..

[AzWhoFan]

Ah, now it makes sense! I can relate to your buckeye burl epiphany. I had the exact same thing happen to me when I discovered my Wyn bass. It was also in an unfinished state, but I knew I had to have it.

[blankrider]

That buckeye wood is incredibly beautiful. woww

[derevaun]

Wow, nice stuff. I really like the shape too--those guys have some talent.

[Addison]

Kick ass story, and kick ass bass.

Congrats brother!!!

[pjmuck]

Never knew Warrior made lefties. They produce beautiful stuff. Congrats. Would love more pix and reviews of both basses when you get around to it.

[slybass3000]

Normally my thumb is on the B for 70% to 80% of my playing and when I'm using the B in the song the MM is standard and works fine for me. The tone of this bass is so great man. Most instruments I play/own have a tone that is more electronics than wood I guess that's why I like Warwick as well as they get closer to my ear as having more of the wood come through the sound of the bass than electronics. But this Warrior is like 70% wood and acoustics of the bass and 30% the insane killer preamp custom built for him by Bartolini...Passive pickups and active preamp 18 volt is ear porn to me!

Do they customize a bit the order? Like if you want different PU?
To me the only drawback for the 5 strings is that they seem to use 6 strings PU which to me put the anchor thumb too far compare to a regular 5 strings PU. I am wrong?

[thumbslam]

Hey Sly, I think I already said before the pickup thing is no issue..I use the B mostly for an anchor and the MM is fine for banging away on the B and I have thick wide hands not super long. They have a bunch of different options....They are not cheep though! My 5 is only 8.2 LBs. JD says it's because all of his woods are air dried for 40 -120 years. He only buys way high end killer woods..No CNC machines that I could see it's all hand done. The pickup config I chose is his signature set up. It sounds amazing!

http://warriorbass.com/index.html This is down for right now it's brand new but check it later..

I have tons of pics of woods and the shop and of JD himself leveling my frets and buffing the fretboard out..I'll put them up if you guys want..

[slybass3000]

Hey Sly, I think I already said before the pickup thing is no issue..I use the B mostly for an anchor and the MM is fine for banging away on the B and I have thick wide hands not super long. They have a bunch of different options....They are not cheep though! My 5 is only 8.2 LBs. JD says it's because all of his woods are air dried for 40 -120 years. He only buys way high end killer woods..No CNC machines that I could see it's all hand done. The pickup config I chose is his signature set up. It sounds amazing!

http://warriorbass.com/index.html This is down for right now it's brand new but check it later..

I have tons of pics of woods and the shop and of JD himself leveling my frets and buffing the fretboard out..I'll put them up if you guys want..

LOL,
sorry if was repeating myself, i was thinking for me out loud. I glad for you it works out that way. I actually checked my SR5 and without measuring it looks pretty much the same so may be it is not an issue for me too...eventually. Thanks for the link and I'll check it when it will be online.

Congrats!

[AzWhoFan]

WE WANT WOOD PORN PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thumbslam]

OK you asked for it!!! I have tons of pictures from 9/18/2010 but these are a few. Other than the day I got married and the days my two daughters were born this might have been the coolest insane killer amazing day of my life. JD, Dran his son and the rest of the family were the most kind, humble, giving people I ever met. I’m honored to be playing and own one of their basses and I have my next one already started. I go to have to sell plasma to get it. JD the dad said he hates being called a luthier, he said he is just a hillbilly who loves wood and building guitars and it’s a gift he has been given. I know there are many great builders out there and my path led me to him and I’m more than happy it did.

I have brought my bass into practice tonight and several of my other basses that are 5 and 3 thousand dollar basses and the Warrior stole the show. Tone is incredible! The clearest most pronounced B I ever heard.

[thumbslam]

MO pics

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Mo pics

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Got even more than these but I don't want to hog up the sight...

[Addison]

WOW...

Man, I just want to go there and hang out all day and sit there and giggle everytime someone turns on a power tool.

Kick ass pics!!!