Warwick Nobby Meidel Guitar 1983 Natural. EXTREMELY RARE. Only 30 built. 15 Remain. Headless.

WARWICK

Nobby Meidel

Limited Series Guitar.

EXTREMELY RARE.

Only 30 Built.

Few remain.

1983

“Currently undervalued in the collectible guitar market”

A piece of Art.

SN:  041 (Serial numbers shared between guitars and basses thereby resulting in this SN higher than 30).

The Nobby Meidel Story in the History of WARWICK.

“The Nobby Meidel bass was the first bass built by Warwick. Many of the design features common to all current Warwick's were first developed for this bass. In many ways, the Nobby was Warwick's test bed for all the instruments that followed. 

Hans Thomann introduced Nobby Meidel, the former bass sales rep from the Thomann Company, to Hans-Peter Wilfer. The first Warwick model was then designed together with the bassist. This bass, which bore the Nobby Meidel name, was based on the newly popular Steinberger bass, which back then was also already imitated by manufacturer Washburn with the Bantam bass. An essential characteristic was the headstock-less neck and the tuning pegs located at the bottom end of the body. 
Nobby Meidel was absolutely pragmatic in the design phase of the new bass: he basically sawed off the headstock and lateral designs of the body to unmistakably make clear how he imagined the ideal headless electric bass. The Warwick boss himself created the hardware design and electronics; he even drew the schematics for the prototype. The brass parts were supplied by metal turner Walter Zeitler from Röslau, the rosewood came from a local lumber dealer, the 3-D bridges from Schaller in the town of Feucht, the pickups from Shadow in the town of Erlangen and the instrument’s finish was done at a specialty shop in the town of Eltersdorf. That’s how shortly thereafter a novel instrument, completely built in the Franconia region of Germany, came to market. 

The body is Rosewood and the neck is laminated wenge/rosewood. The original design featured EMG pickups, MEC 2-band electronics and Schaller bridge and tuners. Later units came standard with Schaller pickups, with EMG being an upgrade. The neck features 26 of Warwick's trademark silver bronze alloy frets, also first used in this bass. A total of around 950 were build between Dec. 1982 and 1992.

There were also approximately 30 special Nobby Meidel guitars built exclusively for the US.

From online forum positing:  “They only made 30 and half of them are no longer available due to being in a fire some time ago. From what I hear there are only 15 left in the world.”

 A special stand was designed to hold the instrument. 
The only bass on display in Hans Peter's house is a Nobby. “

ABOUT MY NOBBY MEIDEL GUITAR.

This guitar is an absolute piece of art.  Look at the woods and how they come together in perfect lines with their grain but in dramatic contrast in color and density.  Added to the wood is solid brass hardware to give it the ultimate Natural contradiction of wood versus metal.

Many times guitar players (bass guys especially) have thought to themselves in the middle of a show-“if I had a chainsaw, I would cut the headstock off this thing right now”.  Nobby Meidel did that in designing his signature line with Warwick.  And to solve the problem of it being balanced while playing, he came up with the detachable strap extension.  But not to dismiss the need for a stand that would hold a small body guitar, he designed the tripod stand.  And it’s not only a stand for resting the guitar, it is a stand for playing as well.

Mine is incredibly beautiful.

These are the woods used on it:

The NECK (which does go through the body) is LAMINATED WENGE WOOD & ROSEWOOD.

The BODY WINGS are LAMINATED BOLIVIAN ROSEWOOD & MAPLE.

The FRETBOARD is EBONY.

As with the “NB BASS”, it uses EMG (active) pickups. The “HEADSTOCK” is BRASS as well as the KNOBS etc.

The CASE shown here is the one that came with this guitar. I own several Warwick Nobby Meidel’s and have seen at least three different styles of cases. Those with the stand have a heavy duty “airline” type case such as this one. Those without the stand, have the regular fitted bag. Therefore, I will say that it is original to this guitar.

Please see photos in this ad to see any cosmetic damage (scratches, dings, etc). There are a few nicks on the neck and on the back near the bottom of the guitar. These may be belt buckle scratches but it’s hard to tell. You can see surface scratches on the front of the guitar just below pickups that have come from playing.  Also the wood plate holding the pickups has been turned darker near the bottom as a result of absorption of oil from the player’s fingers.

Comes with case and stand.  Not sure if case is original to this guitar.

Please remember to read our policies and procedures listed below. (Note:  no guarantee nor warranty applies to purchases outside of the USA.  All foreign sales are “AS IS”)

The guarantee.

1.          The guitar is in WELL WORN cosmetic condition and is as described in this ad. 

2.         The guitar is in fully operational condition.

3.         Buyer has 48 hrs. to inspect the guitar or have it inspected.  Any defects, damage, misrepresentations or other problems must be reported within that time period in writing to the Seller.

4.         In the case of damage during shipment, Buyer shall immediately inform seller of such damage and will maintain all original packing materials and box for inspection by the transportation company.

5.         If other problems are discovered, Seller will either arrange for repair etc. at a location near the Buyer or request that the Buyer return the guitar to the Seller (Seller will reimburse Buyer for cost of shipment of guitar back to Seller).

6.         Seller will correct indicated problems and ship the guitar back to the Buyer within 7 days of receiving it.

7.         In the event that the guitar cannot be repaired or replaced with a similar item from Seller’s inventory, the Seller will give the Buyer the option of a Credit against current or future inventory of Seller or refund.

ALL TRADES CONSIDERED.

For buyers outside the continental USA, please ask for shipping quote before buying this item.  Allow five days after payment for Seller to prepare and ship guitar. Thank you.