Warr Guitar – First Thoughts
My Warr guitar arrived yesterday via UPS. The shipper did a phenomenal job of preparing and packing this instrument. If you’re ever considering shipping a musical gizmo, this is the right way to do it.
(1) The shipper loosened the strings – important and smart since the instrument would be exposed to varying temperatures while being shipped.
(2) The guitar was snugly packed inside its gig bag. This doesn’t provide a great deal of protection but is designed for ease of transport and is a good first line of defense for bumps and surface damage.
(3) The gig bag was wrapped in 2 layers of bubble wrap. And yes, we had a total popfest with that stuff after I unpacked it.
(4) Surrounding the bubble wrap was a layer of cardboard fabricated to follow the contours of the gig bag. This meant any bumps or impacts would be distributed over a large surface area.
(5) The whole thing was inside a large box surrounded by about half a cubic yard of styrofoam peanuts.
It arrived safely and in great condition. I carried it to the garage and spent about 20 minutes unpacking it, carefully sorting all the packing materials for recycling. Once I got down to the gig bag, I brought it into the house, removed the instrument and leaned it against the wall in my home studio. After six hours it seemed temperature-adjusted so I tuned it up and began to noodle some music with it.
First thoughts… I need to convert this beastie to my playing style (and not the other way around). I immediately adapted my left-hand playing to the upper 5 strings, but the lower 5 strings are reversed. I understand the reasons for this, but my little sleestak brain can’t flip fast enough to make sense of it. Contrary to the conventional Warr / Stick approach, I intend to put the lower strings in the same order as a bass guitar. So I’ll be ordering a new set of strings immediately, and then finding a local guitar/bass tech to cut a new nut for me. The existing nut looks like it’s a high-density plastic, and I’ll probably go with Corian for the new one. As long as I have the strings off I’ll give the fretboard a good cleaning and dress the frets a bit. Looks like the bridge will need some compensation tuning as well.
But seriously. This is a really amazing machine and I can’t wait to get it into the mix.