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GUITAR INDUSTRY SPECIAL WARWICK<br />
THE ARTIST-FIRST MODEL<br />
Ask Warwick President<br />
Hans-Peter<br />
Wilfer about the<br />
cornerstone of a<br />
profitable, global<br />
custom bass shop. He’ll likely<br />
mention Jack Bruce and John<br />
Entwistle.<br />
“We are very oriented to listen<br />
to the artists,” said Wilfer,<br />
whose company is celebrating<br />
its 30th anniversary this year.<br />
“That is for sure one of the keys<br />
to the success we have today.”<br />
ARTIST AS MUSE<br />
Wilfer spent much of his<br />
childhood on the Fra-<br />
66 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2012<br />
mus factory floor. (His father<br />
founded the company in 1947.)<br />
At its height, Framus employed<br />
a team of roughly 400, but it declared<br />
bankruptcy in 1974 and<br />
finally closed in 1981. Wilfer<br />
took the reins a year later and<br />
resurrected the operation as a<br />
modest three-man enterprise<br />
with a bevy of established artist<br />
relationships.<br />
“I learned tons from [Bruce<br />
and Entwistle] as to what’s important<br />
in building an instrument,”<br />
Wilfer said.<br />
He emphasized Warwick’s<br />
unique wood selection as a core<br />
component of the company’s<br />
best-selling axes, the Streamer<br />
and Thumb Bass series. Per<br />
artist recommendations, Warwick<br />
was also one of the first<br />
MI manufacturers to use the<br />
now-popular bubinga wood.<br />
For that reason, Wilfer credited<br />
more than just his groundup<br />
guitar-building education<br />
as the reason for Warwick’s<br />
reputation. The once-humble<br />
European builder has piqued<br />
mainstream interest through a<br />
roster of endorsing artists. The<br />
company uses these professional<br />
players to educate not only<br />
its staff but also Warwick’s<br />
growing consumer base on<br />
the merits of pro-quality specs.<br />
From Warwick’s patented<br />
nut and bridge systems to its<br />
invention of invisible fret technology,<br />
Wilfer stressed he never<br />
lets quality fall by the wayside,<br />
even with the company’s Chinese-<br />
and Korean-manufactured,<br />
more economical Rock<br />
and Pro series basses, which<br />
are distributed by Mundelein,<br />
Ill.-based U.S. <strong>Music</strong>.<br />
“Every one to two weeks, we<br />
send a guy from my facility over<br />
to China, and he checks every<br />
single instrument,” Wilfer said.<br />
“If something isn’t up to our<br />
standards, it doesn’t go out.”
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