Warwick April Newsletter

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April 2012
Dear customer, Spring is here – and so is the latest Warwick Newsletter, bringing you up to date with what has been going on at Warwick in the last four weeks. Needless to say, this includes news from the hottest Music Trade Show on the planet – the Frankfurt Musikmesse. Do you still remember our raffle to win a brand new Mini and other cool prizes last year? Well, this time you will find out who the winners are. But of course, this is not all! An interview with Nightwish’s very own Marco Hietala and a close look at the award-winning Warwick Alien Deluxe acoustic bass are other exciting topics that are a must for every Warwick fan.
			Happy reading and I hope you enjoy this issue. Yours truly,
OVERVIEW
Bass of the Month		Warwick News		Environment
Warwick Alien Deluxe		Musikmesse Frankfurt 2012		Being environmentally conscious
Warwick Amplification		Inside Warwick		Interview
Hellborg Preamp		Production Assistant for CAD Alexandre Salmon		Marco Hietala
Warwick's Bass of the month - Warwick Alien Deluxe
In this month we want to introduce to you our Warwick Alien Deluxe Acoustic Bass - and we’re doing this for a good reason: our Warwick Alien Deluxe Bass received one of the renowned m.i.p.a. awards at this year’s Musikmesse. This award’s winners are chosen by 111 trade journals from all over the world.    The Alien Deluxe is not only impressive because of its unique appearance but also this instruments sound is setting new standards.  The specially designed cutaway, Rosewood bridge, and its asymmetrical sound hole makes the Alien Deluxe look like it’s really coming from outer space. When it comes to the sound, the Alien Deluxe is revolutionary. You have to be cautious picking the right woods for acoustic basses which also can be amplified electrically. With a construction all made of precious solid woods you can get a rich acoustic tone, but it’s also more sensitive to feedback if the bass is amplified. That’s why we made the Alien Deluxe’s top completely out of laminated spruce wood.  The bottom and frame are made of a beautifully grained laminated Bubinga. On one hand this provides better stability, on the other hand - combined with the Fishman Presys Preamp with Piezo pickup - a less sensitive amplification, hence reduced feedback.   The On the top frame you can find the Aliens Presys Preamp, located directly in the player’s field of vision. It has in addition to the tone control for bass, mids, treble and brilliance a variable notch filter that eliminates exactly that frequency, which is the most sensitive for feedback. The control for volume is bigger than all the other buttons, so it is really easy to find. The Fishman Preamp also comes with an autochromatic tuner with an excellent readable display.  Right under the folding control panel you will find the battery that supplies the circuit with power. The tone of the Alien Deluxe provides a remarkable bass volume, presence, and balance. When amplified, every frequency will be dynamically up to the highest levels. The clear tone and the strong - electrically amplified - wideband sound is what makes the Warwick Alien Deluxe Acoustic Bass so different. The Alien is available as fretted and fretless, both for right- and lefthanded. You can also get the Alien as 4-, 5- or 6-string version.
Warwick News - Musikmesse Frankfurt 2012
As every year, this year’s Musikmesse in Frankfurt/Germany was a success for Warwick and Framus. Many of our endorsers, business partners, dealer and friends visited us at our booth. Let’s look back at some of the highlights of the Musikmesse 2012 – Europe’s biggest music trade show. Every day visitors could meet with renowned artists at our booth. There were Meet & Greets with TM Stevens and Divinity Roxx, Earl Slick, Jean-Paul Bourelly and Regi Wooten, and also with Jonas Hellborg, Steve Bailey and Lee Sklar. All of our artists were impressed by the Warwick and Framus booth and enjoyed both meeting other musicians and friends there, as well as just hanging out in our lounge area. Every day at noon “JoStLe” (Jonas Hellborg, Steve Bailey and Lee Sklar) inspired the Messe visitors at the Musikmesse Agora Stage. The three famous and talented bass players play their personalized  Warwick instruments with unbelievable precision. Seeing “JoStLe” live is an amazing musical experience which cannot be compared to a typical bass jam session. The amazing drummer Chester Thompson (e. g. Genesis and Phil Collins) supported “JoStLe” at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt. Last year, the Warwick and Framus booth offered the chance to join a big raffle. The main prize was an Austin MINI Special with a “Fuzz on the Buss” airbrush graphic. The lottery drawing was conducted in December 2011 during Warwick’s Open House Day under the supervision of a notary.   At this year’s Musikmesse the winners finally received their prizes. Moritz Maier, who is actually a guitar player, was happy about his brand new Warwick Thumb Bass. “I’ll definitely try my hands at playing bass! If it doesn’t work out, I bet the bass player in my band will be happy about a new Thumb bass”, Moritz told us. Mansi Manslayer won the Framus Diablo Supreme X. The MINI was picked up by Berith Gunnarsson from Sweden together with her whole family.  Temporary license plates were attached to the car, the car keys and documents were handed over, some pictures were taken and then Berith could finally hit the road in her new MINI. Safe travels always, Berith! Overall, this year’s Musikmesse was another success for Warwick and Framus. We would like to thank all our business partners, dealers, endorsers and friends for making it all possible! Without you, it wouldn’t have been such a great show. We’re excited and looking forward to seeing you next year again in Frankfurt! If you didn't had the chance to visit us in Frankfurt or if you just want to check out our booth again and all alone - click here for the virtual version of the Warwick and Framus booth at Musikmesse Frankfurt 2012.
Environment - Being environmentally conscious
The top priority for Warwick and Framus is the careful handling of the wood resources. Expensive wood in particular is usually rare, so we try to make the most of our raw material and to only produce minimal scrap lumber. We were able to reduce our wood waste during the course of the production process to a minimum thanks to our acquiring new state-of-the-art machines. Thus, are able to obtain the optimum yield of every piece of raw wood. This is made possible by our new copy saw which cuts the required shapes out of the wood with a minimal loss of material. For instance, three of our ultra-modern CNC milling machines are equipped with five instead of the usual 3 axes (as most manufacturers make them). In this way our basses and guitars can be processed more efficiently in one step. As a result, we can decrease our consumption of electricity. No concept for wood processing is perfect without a well-thought out plan when it comes to the utilization of the production wood waste. At Warwick and Framus we do not throw away our wastes thoughtlessly, but instead we use them for heating. By means of an ingenious extraction system we transport the wood shavings directly from all production workplaces to our silo (please find more information about our state-of-the-art extraction system in the March newsletter 2012). As we use an alternative heating method using wood, we at Warwick and Framus are able to significantly reduce our need for fossil fuels such as gas and oil. This results in an economic and an ecologic benefit.  When incinerating wood, it only releases as much carbon dioxide as it absorbed during its whole time of growing. Apart from our careful handling of wood resources we do our best to work as energy-efficiently as possible - starting with energy saving lamps, our own generation of electricity, and the use of thermal insulation.  Factory solar panels produce our electricity at Warwick’s headquarters. Even the town of Markneukirchen profits from this! We made specific arrangements for thermal insulation in order to prevent valuable energy from being wasted in the first place. In cooperation with renowned and highly qualified professionals we have developed an effective concept for thermal and building insulation, highly efficient heating equipment, and have performed all corresponding updates to our machinery. Our company building is - among other things - air-conditioned through the use of geothermal energy. In the summertime, we store all the thermic energy, which is first discharged from the building, deep under the earth. In the wintertime, this energy is available to us for heating purposes. Furthermore, we make sure not to release too much unused warmth to the environment during the entire production process.  Instead, we utilize as much waste heat as possible for heating. We at Warwick and Framus already use renewable energies on a very high level. We wish to increase our efforts even more by 2015. Our product lines will be further modernized, our use of energy will be even more efficient and we will make even broader use of alternate energies.  By doing so, we can achieve an energy balance without any trace of environmental pollution.
Warwick Amplification -  The Warwick Hellborg Preamp
The Hellborg Preamp is designed to be the ideal front end for Bass instruments, be it Bass Guitar, Upright Bass or even Tuba.                                               Jonas Hellborg drew on his extensive studio experience to compose this package with a variation  of the classic based EQ made famous by manufacturers like Neve and Pultec, but with frequency bands that makes sense for Bass. The input stage is in essence a Mic Pre. This means it can be adjusted to accommodate the output signal of any instrument however weak or strong without adding noise or distortion. The Preamp has already found homes in the setups of such notables as Bootsy, P-Nut and TM Stevens. Since it is designed to work in a recording study environment as well as live it has the highest grade components and circuitry available. Haufe Transformers on input and DI output. Hand wired coils for the EQ. To overcome the disappointment that many players feel when they go live after using all kinds of fantastic gear in the studio, the Hellborg Preamp basically allows you to take the stereo on the road. Wether you use it with the other components of the Hellborg Amp System or just run it straight in to the PA. It has an effects loop, Tuner out, Balanced DI out, Line out in short its a Sonic Swiss Army Knife for your Bass.                                                   Find more information and videos on the Warwick website: Hellborg Preamp
Warwick Inside - Production Assistant for CAD: Alexandre Salmon
Alexandre Salmon is Production Assistant for CAD (Computer Aided Design) at Warwick’s Headquarters in Markneukirchen. We asked him ten questions about his life and his job with Warwick/Framus. Read the interview below.   1) How long have you been working at Warwick? I’ve been  working here since January 2009, so it’s my fourth year now. 2) Where are you from and how did you get to Warwick? I’m from France originally, from the Lyon area (the most beautiful city in France). I was working in Canada for about 5 years and wanted to go back to Europe and work in the field of musical instrument making. Warwick was my one and only choice. So I applied, exchanged a lot of e-mails with Hans-Peter Wilfer and after many adventures and a one-month-visit I finally left for Markneukirchen. 3) How come you went from France to a small-town like Markneukirchen? Because you have to love your job! My goal was a career in musical instrument making. In this field, Warwick is the best and biggest manufacturer in Europe with a 30 year history, and it’s even longer if you think about the 65 years of Framus.  4) What about your education? What schools have you visited? What are your qualifications? Until I was 20 years old, I only had a standard course of education: I went to grammar school and graduated with a specialization in science. After that I went to college for a short time. But when I turned 20, I decided that I wanted to make musical instruments. In France, studying in this field is a bit difficult, so I went to Great Britain, to the Merton College to the south of London. At first I studied building wind instruments and repairing instruments. At the same time, I studied guitar building. After spending one year in London I went to Canada, where it is possible to study guitar building for 3 years. The degree program for guitar building was brand new! Before, they only had a degree program for violin-making. Well, and 3 years later I was a qualified luthier with a Diplôme d’Études Collégiales from the École Nationale de Lutherie in Québec! After that, I repaired guitars in a music store in Québec for almost 2 years. I studied a lot of instruments there and learned many things about guitars and basses. Then I came to Warwick! 5) What is your job at Warwick? My tasks here are different from what I did during my former job. I’m responsible for CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing). That means: I draw instruments and integrate them into the production process. I draw new models, create prototypes and I prepare them for production (templates, CNC-programs, design, parts, etc.). Plus, my job is to rework the “old” models to bring the designs and programs to the same standard that the “new” ones have.  It’s my job to increase the quality of the instruments I make with my machines as well: better parts, better tolerance, more attractive surfaces, better uniformity… If you get better parts out of the CNC machine, you have simpler working processes afterwards. And you have more beautiful and better instruments that are of the highest standard for our customers. Moreover, I take care of the special Custom Shop instruments if they need special programming. 6) You do designing and programming with CAD (Computer Aided Design). Could you explain to us what this is and how it works? What is so special about CAD/CAM? At Warwick I’m working with Solidworks. This software allows me to draw parts 3-dimensionally and to put them together virtually (either the instruments or the clamping devices and the parts). We are able to check almost every detail on the computer. As a result, problems can be recognized earlier (and can be solved earlier!). With Solidworks, I can do a lot in the area of instrument surfaces, which is essential for our products. It’s impossible for the work of our milling machines to be superior to the quality of the basic designs. This is why my designs have to be as close to the instruments as possible. Sometimes this becomes a big challenge if instruments have a complex surface. But it’s the result that counts! 7) What do you like the most about your job? The fact that I get to learn a lot of new stuff! And also, my awesome toys: three 5-axis milling machines and a smaller 3-axis one). Using them I make instruments I’m really proud of! I like that! 8) Do you play guitar or bass yourself? Nope. But I’ve been playing music since I was 7 years old. I play the trombone. I played in groups like Rockeurs de Valves or Skopitones in Québec. But I can’t really play string instruments and I have little interest in it. Many people think it is necessary to also play the instruments you’re building, but I don’t think it has anything to do with your technical skills when it comes to instrument building.   9) What do you like more: Warwick basses or Framus guitars? What is your favorite instrument? I like both of them equally, although I worked more with Framus. I did all the new guitars in 2009, with the new curvature… With Warwick it’s a little bit different: Warwick products are already classics! But I really like both! If I think about it, maybe I like the Buzzard, the Infinity and the Panthera a little bit more than the other models… 10) What does Warwick/Framus mean to you? Quality and beauty. What else?
Interview - Marco Hietala
1) How are you? Please introduce yourself to our readers! Doing good thank you! I'm Marco Hietala, bassplayer and vocalist in Finish rock and metal groups Nightwish and Tarot.   2) Please tell us something about your latest record. Which Instruments did you use in the studio? The latest album we've done with Nightwish is called "Imaginaerum". We're usually categorized as "Metal" but this one is a very versatile album with an abundance of different vibes and atmospheres. I guess that's why it has gone over very well with prog rock fans also. I used my "Vampyre" for most of the songs on the album. The jazz and blues vibe in the song "Slow Love, Slow" needed an acoustic, so I used my "Alien" on that one. On a couple of faster ones like "Scaretale" I used my "Infinity". It has a nice wooden midrange crunch soundwise and that fits faster songs very well.   3) When did you actually start playing? Why did you choose the bass guitar as your instrument?  I started with my father's beatup acoustic guitar when I was twelve. At thirteen I was playing and singing in our first band with my schoolmates. I started playing bass in the band because originally we came from a very small place and not many players there. You could say I started out of necessity, but I've always loved a good punch and groove that you can deliver with bass. That made me want to understand and play bass seriously. I still play a lot of acoustic guitar also. It's more versatile when you write songs. You can actually hear me playing my Larivee acoustic guitar on the song "The Crow, The Owl And The Dove".    4) Who influenced you as a bassist when you started playing bass? I listened to a lot of Black Sabbath, so Geezer Butler obviously. Also the other old school hard rock guys like Bob Daisley, Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, Roger Glover and Glenn Hughes in Deep Purple. Cliff Williams in AC/DC is really exceptional with his minimalist approach. Later on I've picked up stuff from old Motown recordings to prog to modern trash metal. I've tried a lot of stuff but the slap bass is the one thing I absolutely cannot do. 5) When did you first come into touch with Warwick and how did that happen? I came in contact with Warwick through their distributor in Finland. A company called "Musamaailma". They wanted to have someone to try out the amps and cabinets Warwick were putting out at 1999, if I remember right. I had already tried some of the basses from Warwick, and I knew they were doing seriously good work with those. I ended up using the amplification for a year and some. In 2000 we were going to record an album in Sweden with a band "Sinergy". A weekend before leaving for studio I took a "Warwick Infinity" to test out at home. Next week I just called the guys in "Musamaailma“ that the bass is with me in Sweden and I will not bring it back. After that we worked out an endorsement for basses and amps both. 6) What do you particularly like about Warwick instruments and how do they affect your sound? I especially like the real wooden quality and personality of the sound. There's clarity, sustain and even tones whether you go up or down. There's also a certain distinct "rasp" in the upper middle of the sound that I enhance a bit with some distortion. The balance with the weight is great and the necks seem to fit very well the "stranglehold" of my leftie. I said that we have an endorsement deal, but the most important thing to me is the quality of my tools. I wouldn't use these, if I didn't love them. I put my hands on one of these basses and they almost play themselves. They've got all that I need.   7) You own a beautiful custom shop bass Buzzard from Warwick. Could you introduce it to us and tell us something about its special features, please? So far I've mostly familiarized myself with the "Buzzard" at home. I've used it live for the 6 Finish shows and the 3 in Russia now. I saw the rusty finish at the Warwick homepage and immediately wanted to have one. Now I hear that there's only two "Rusty Buzzards" made so far. I guess you know where the other one is then... The bass sounds as it looks. Snottier and more evil than "Vampyre". It has the low/low mid qualities of the 60's and 70’s that I like a lot. To my opinion, they always smooth out the bass too much when mixing the albums. At live situations I get to pump all the violence I want out of the cabs. I think my new baby is proving to be very much at home there.   8) What are your plans for the future with Nightwish? Pretty simple right now. The album is out. Let's hit the road and bring some shows to the people! 9) A big tour is going on. Which Basses you will use live? I'm bringing "Buzzard", "Vampyre" and one of my two "Infinities" on the road with me. "Vampyre" is good for situations where you need more low end. "Buzzard" and "Infinity" have crispier sound, so they're better for bigger halls with a lot of backslap and boom from the walls. Of course all the basses work as backups for each other. There's always a chance that one of them gets "sick" on the road and can't be used at some particular evening. 10) What`s about your other projects you did in the past? I've been involved in lots of projects. I've done bass and vocals for the first album of Delain. I've produced vocals for the last four albums of Amorphis and I've sung in Northern Kings. The most important band where I've been as a bassist/vocalist besides Nightwish has been Tarot, the first band that I've got to record an album already in 1986. The band still records albums and tours when I'm not busy with Nightwish. 11) Thank you very much for the interview. The last words are yours. Thanks to everybody at Warwick! You're there for the bass player, and if I get a chance, I'll be there for you! As always: Respect to the supporting audiences and fans! I wouldn't be here without you. Marco Hietala.
Outro
We hope you enjoyed reading our latest newsletter and stay tuned for more exciting Warwick news in 2012. See you soon!
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