MI Pro

Having seen his father’s distinguished company, Framus – an acronym of Franconian Musical Instruments – forced into bankruptcy in 1975, after a glorious 30 years, Hans Peter Wilfer set about restoring the family tradition with the establishment of his own business, Warwick, in 1982.

Using skills he had learnt as a child, Wilfer began to build instruments, which have ultimately helped to ensure that the company, which celebrated its 25th birthday last year, is today recognised as a manufacturer of fine bass guitars.

With instruments like the Corvette and Streamer Stage basses, Warwick has seen increased international popularity, particularly in the UK, as well as its home territory Germany and Canada, Russia and Spain.

“The bass market in general is very strong for us,” explains Wilfer, “I have the feeling that Warwick is becoming more accepted around the world. I’ve personally fought for this position for many years.”

Though this is undoubtedly Warwick’s key target market, its recent success has extended to other areas of the MI industry. Last year, the company saw sales of its Framus guitars – the brand signed over to Hans Peter in 1993 by his father, Alfred Andreas – grow by over 200 per cent compared with 2006.

Wilfer considers this to be a very personal achievement and enthuses: “This is the biggest challenge for me and I am absolutely delighted to see that this small flower is starting to grow for us after already working on it for 12 years now.”

Framus’ exciting line of guitars in 2008, including the Mayfield Custom, should ensure that this flower continues to blossom in coming years.

Whilst working hard to produce the highest quality instruments, Warwick has recently turned its attention to applying these elite standards to amplification, with an advanced addition to its range. The assistance of bass virtuoso and composer, Jonas Hellborg, was enlisted in developing what Wilfer hopes will become the “best bass amplifier system currently available”.

Hellborg designed an amp featuring circuitry resembling that of high-end recording consoles, with input transformers and hand-wired, coil-based eqs. The Jonas Hellborg Amp System is aimed at serious players and the no expense spared approach has been commended by US magazine, Bass Player, from which the system received the Editor’s Award in January.

In 2008, the company will reorganise its UK distribution system in order to make its products more accessible to British musicians, many of whom, are buying Warwick products overseas, via the internet because their presence in retail outlets is not comprehensive enough.

Warwick has taken note of the daily requests it receives from UK customers and is determined to improve its dealer network. “We need to get more support from our partners in the UK so that our products have more presence in the market,” explains Wilfer. “Some dealers do not see the potential of our products and very often, it is not a price issue why customers are buying overseas; they are forced to, because they can’t get them in Britain.”

After the recent departure of Rob Norton as Warwick’s UK VP, a new man will be appointed shortly to head up its British operation.

However, Warwick does not intend to saturate the market with off-the-peg products. Quite the opposite, in fact. The company is very clear about which sector of the market it occupies.

As Wilfer stresses: “We do not aim for mass production; we like being a custom shop player – and compare ourselves with brands like Porsche.”

A major objective for 2008 is to improve the quality of its instruments and amps even further. He continues: “We simply want to be one of the leading manufacturers of bass products and, in the long-term, guitar products, worldwide. For sure, our quality standard is very high already, but our goal, by the end of 2008, is to have made without question one of the best basses and guitars available.”