Until about 8 months ago, I never considered buying a Warwick bass. Then I came across the first Warwick bass that stimulated my "must have" gene. It was a discontinued, and pretty rare, Fortress Flashback, which is a nice retro looking version of the Fortress made in limited numbers around 1996. I was genuinely surprised by it's tone and playability. So, I started doing some research. As it turns out, there was a period, roughly from about 1992 to 1997, when Warwick turned out some very well made basses constructed from high quality tone woods that can now be had on the used market for a fraction of what a current similar version would cost. While various models from this period have various woods used in the bodies, the necks, including fretboards, are mostly made from wenge. These units came with a brass nut that allows individual height adjustment for each string and brass frets, so fretted and open notes sound nearly the same. Warwick used mostly wenge for it's necks up until around 1998 (when it began using ovangkol due to a scarcity of wenge - wenge necks are available again from the custom shop, but are very pricey) and I believe it is the source of the famed "Warwick growl". Basses from this era can be had on the used market usually for under $1,000.00USD and I have seen them as low as $600.00USD. To obtain a similarly made model today would be at least $3,000.00USD, and likely closer to twice that. I personally think Warwicks from this period are some of the most underpriced basses on the used market. So, if you haven't tried a Warwick because of the high price, keep an eye out for one of these gems. I don't think you will be disappointed.
I should point out that I am speaking only of German made Warwicks here, as I have zero experience with the Rock Bass line of Warwicks, which are made in China.
Also, an interesting and informative history of Warwick can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-f...w3enNaMzQ/view
An example:
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