From an aesthetic point of view it is easy to see why there is so much excitement surrounding this instrument. The hand-selected swamp ash body features a beautiful AAAA Flamed Maple top that is simply stunning. The fingerboard and headstock are also made from flamed maple, giving the bass a unique, monochromatic flow that is very appealing to the eye. It should be noted that this is the first time Warwick has produced a bass that doesn't have their classic black headstock.

To further set this bass apart from the crowd, Warwick dressed up the fingerboard with a special "Setting Sun" series of inlays, where the sun slowly sets behind a mountain and then a wolf is shown howling on the 16th and 18th frets. It was incredible to see the reaction that players had to the fingerboard inlays - they were literally stopping in their tracks to look at them!

To prove that this blonde's beauty is more than just skin deep Warwick made sure to put their best electronics into the Bleached Blonde. The pickups are active MEC Gold J's, with an MEC active 2-band onboard preamp. This combination has proven to be one of Warwick's most popular set-ups, as it is used on many of their other models.

To authenticate that this instrument is truly a limited edition, there is a plate on the back of the headstock that designates which number bass it is in the series. There will be 300 Bleached Blondes made worldwide, with only 80 coming to the United States. To further verify the authenticity of this bass, Warwick's President and Founder, Hans Peter Wilfer will personally sign the back of each headstock.

So how does the bass sound? It has the same growl and low-end clarity that the standard Thumb Bolt-on has, but it also has much brighter upper-mids. When our product specialists played it they all commented on how tight the tone was when played with your fingers, and one NAMM guest thought the slap tone was "incredibly punchy", adding that he thought it would "sit really nice in the mix." Over the four days of the Winter NAMM show I heard the Bleached Blonde played by funk, jazz, rock, reggae, blues and fusion players, and they all raved about its tone and playability.

The Bleached Blonde that you see in these photos is the first one made specifically to be unveiled at the NAMM show, and we do not expect more of them to arrive in U.S. until July of this year. We have already pre-sold many of the Bleached Blondes, so if you want to make sure to get one of these beauties for yourself, you should go to the nearest Warwick dealer and put down a deposit. All the best, Dale Titus.