=The Warwick Fortress Club=

[Genral Specific]

Fortressess Updates**

I have posted a photograph of my progress so far sanding my Fortressess. I have learned a few things:

1. The "Colored Oil Finish" is not an oil finish at all.

2. This is a Lot of work!!

3. When I tap on the body with my finger, the tone has changed since removing most of the finish on the back. I am thinking that when wood has its grain open to the air, it resonates differently.

I started out using 600 grit sandpaper. This made no progress at all. I got all the way down to 320 grit before I felt I had the appropriate sandpaper. The dust from sanding would be white and then white and then white and then white and then honey amber and then wood! Once I had sanded through the finish, the wood and stain wear away quickly, so I changed back up to 600 when I was getting close to fresh wood.
This whole job is very dirty and slow going, but I find the task very peaceful. The experience is bringing me closer to my bass.

Pedro> You are right. I could just put a dummy switch there. You remind me of a story. I recently read about an American session bass player who had this famous pedal that he 'made'. Everyone wanted his 'sound'. Later in life, he revealed that the pedal was empty and the footswitch on top did nothing. I cannot remember the man's name. I would name the switch for him.

[drewm]

Fortressess Updates**
1. The "Colored Oil Finish" is not an oil finish at all.

This is a good point. This being the only Warwick I own, it didn't occur to me until I read on this forum about people waxing their instruments that the Fortress has some sort of coating.

Anyone know what the finish is?

[Matthijs]

The Colored Oil finish is actually a laquer.

[Vargrimst]

Here it is my only bass, a '94 Fortress One :D
Imageshack - rocco2
Imageshack - rocco5
Imageshack - rocco4
Imageshack - rocco3

It never look so brown at the daylight, it has a very strange color with shades of green and amber (:

I called it Rocco, 'cause in italian we say down "basso", and basso is a masculine name... and the bass reminded me of the forms of a famous italian porn star xD
Hi from Italy ^^

[Josh Emmons]

I think I want to have the Fortress as a regular model again. THEASE BASSES ROCK!!!

[mart]

Hi Fortress Fans! I've posted some pics of my old '97 F1 in the "Vintage" section: Another 97 Fortress One

[mart]

Pedro> You are right. I could just put a dummy switch there. You remind me of a story. I recently read about an American session bass player who had this famous pedal that he 'made'. Everyone wanted his 'sound'. Later in life, he revealed that the pedal was empty and the footswitch on top did nothing. I cannot remember the man's name. I would name the switch for him.

Mo Foster tells a story like this. Apparently back in the day session players were payed a fee that was proportional to the number of instruments they played. Effects pedals counted as an extra instrument, but Mo had exactly the sound he wanted from his bass, and didn't need any pedals. So he built a pedal, which I think he called the "DFA", that contained nothing but the switch. But it earned him twice as much money for each session!

[kascollet]

o

[verb]

Wow thats a nice find.Do you have any of the paperwork for this beauty ?
If you have the model code the first digit tells you if it is CS(1 I think) or production(0)

[kascollet]

No, sadly, I don't have any of the factory documents.

How could this Fortress be a production item ?

[papy-c]

My "new" Fortress One from 93 ... Passive Mec but Seymour Duncan active préamp ....
I changed old gold hardware for black one .... more " rock " feeling !!!!

[kascollet]

o

[Ian]

Papy C, is that Honey Violin finish?

[papy-c]

Papy C, is that Honey Violin finish?

I don't know ....Bought used .. Probably the third or fourth user !!!!

[pjinserra]

I have two Fortress One's....my 94 has a 3 piece ash body....my 96 has a 2 piece maple. The maple body has much more unique character to it because of the grain patter.
Love em both.
Paul
Richland, WA, USA

[davidm]

big fan of the fortress...wow. thanks for posting

[kascollet]

o

[papy-c]

beautifull one !!! we can imagine R. Trujillo with this one

[grifff]

Here's my second Fortress 5, a One model, from 1997 with the wengé neck.
This baby offers all the sounds my Masterman can't. If the MM is a Stingray, this one is a Jazz Bass.

For example :
Fingered :
Slapped :

Did it come from the factory with that finish and the output jack? Really nice playing on both clips too!

[pal1972]

Hi guys, I'm new - though at least my basses aren't! First up is my '94 fortress one, ive had this from new and i'll never part with it! its my primary gigging bass, ovangkol/wenge neck, has lovely feel to it dont know exact colour of the finish but its georgous!! second my newly acquired '96 masterman - flamed maple neck gold hardware, it too is lovely to play and will now be my 'number 2' gigging bass!! not got any 'good' pics but i did take this one of the pair side by side!!! I am a very happy bunny!!

DSCF6900.jpg picture by pal1972_2008 - Photobucket

[Ali]

Hey pal1972, great looking pair you have there! The Dolomite Sprint looks in fantastic condition as well....

[Pedro]

Back to the Fortress club with a Masterman fiver, with a gorgeous tobacco burst polish finish.
This thing permanently growls, it's awesome.

SN is J-109736-04, yes 2004. It has the modern ovangkol/wengé neck and the JANII (witch is broken as usual :-( ).
I'm looking for some information about this baby, as the SN tool of the website has been helpless in telling me her story.

Is a 2004 Fortress necessarly a custom shop order ?

Man that tobacco burst is beautiful, very jealous now lol

[PaulDaly]

Just got a 1995 Fortress Masterman 5 string inn french violet.. In work now. Will post pics as soon as ii get home. Absolute tone monster and the neck is amazing

[CliffHNZ]

I like it with this all black HW. Thinking about doing the same with my Masterman but I don't know if it shall suit the sunburst fine.

I know mine is only a Rockbass version (a 2004) but it may give you a little bit of an idea of what it will look like...

[kascollet]

o

[CliffHNZ]

Beautiful sounding and looking bass there kascollet. After I shake out 13 years of cobwebs and get playing out again, the first thing I'm going to do is try to find a German Fortress to go along with my current Chinese one. There were three basses I always wanted in my first "bass life", a Warwick Fortress, a 4 string Alembic, and a 6 string Carl Thompson fretless (was a bit of a Primus fan). I've played on plenty of Fortresses back then (late 90's) and quite a few Alembics and one Carl Thompson and the Fortress always stood out in the tone department. Wish me luck on gettin my groove back so I can get "the real thing".

[Florin]

Nice clips kascolett

[NWLou]

Hi, I have a volume pot on a '94 Fortess that is going out> Anybody have experience in changing one of these and the aprox cost. NWLou

[Florin]

Hi man,

Where are you from? what exact model you have? If you don't know exaclty, post some pics :-)

Welcome to the forum!

[NWLou]

Florin, I just added some pics to my Album. Had problems uploading from the Mac, I needed to use photobucket. Thanks for the welcome. Lou

[Florin]

Hi,

This seems to be your replacement :-)

Sound of Wood - MEC Volume Potimodul f. Warwick M 81SP003

Cheers,

Flo

[NWLou]

Thanks Florin for the link. How do I find out more info about my Fortress? Did you see my pics in my album. Lou

[Florin]

Well, as you say you have a 94 Fortress One, if you give us the serial, we can give you the month too.
It has a wenge neck built with 3 laminations
Wenge fingerboard
Maple body.
Active MEC pickups
Active 2 band EQ
Dunlop Flush straplocks.

It is a great bass, I would like to have one right now :-)

[NWLou]

Florin, you're right, it is a great bass. I thought I always wanted a Thumb after playing one but I didn't have the cash. After trading in some gear at a buddies shop I saw he had this 5 String Warwick on consignment. I used some of my credit from the gear and some cash to pick it up. I liked the Warwick neck so I thought it would satisfy until I got my Thumb. Well about five years later I got a Thumb. Great bass, but it just didn't have the versatility and feel of the F1. I have since picked up another 5 as a back-up, a 5 string Lakland 5502, but in retrospect I should have just used the money and looked for another F1.

The serial number is B-000081-94. Cheers Lou

Well, as you say you have a 94 Fortress One, if you give us the serial, we can give you the month too.
It has a wenge neck built with 3 laminations
Wenge fingerboard
Maple body.
Active MEC pickups
Active 2 band EQ
Dunlop Flush straplocks.

It is a great bass, I would like to have one right now :-)

[Florin]

So that B says it was made in february 94 :-)

[Negyuh]

Hey you Fortress guys, if all goes well i will be a member of the club real soon if you guys let me, new information will follow...

[Vargrimst]

Hi guys, i'm selling a 1994 Fortress One in mint condition, someone is intrested? PM me!

[Great King Rat]

So here I am
New to the forum and new to the Fortress Club...

I had a Corvette $$ 5String and traded it for a Fender USA Jazz 5... but I missed it so much that I could not resist to buy another Warwick

So heres my 95 Custom Shop Fortress One

Hope you enjoy it... if you got any information on the bass... let me know
The body is supposed to be Swamp Ash and the neck a truly beautiful dark Wenge, is that right ? Ebony on the fretboard ?

Passive J Pickups with active 2band Preamp is that right ?

Lemme know what you think

And rock on !