Belka

One thing I've noticed recently is that a lot of pros seem to also have large amounts of equipment. Back in the day you would associate pros with their 'signature basses'; Marcus with his Jazz, Bernard and his StingRay (although the first chic album was done on a Jazz and a Precision), Anthony Jackson with his career girl and then his contrabasses (ok, so that's plural, but when he received each new one he stopped playing and sold the previous ones), and of course Jaco and his bass of doom, Jamerson and his Precision, Carole Kaye, Joe Osborn, Duck Dunn, etc. These days, artists and producers are so into sounds and vibes that it seems to be taken seriously as a sideman you need to have a collection of basses in order to cover a load of different vintage vibes/sounds. If you look at the likes of Sean Hurley, Tim Lefebvre, Ian Allison, Dan Hawkins, etc., you generally seen P with flats, P with rounds, active 5 string, Jazz (sometimes 2, again, rounds and flats), vintage mustang (or if money is an issue the JMJ sig), Jack Casady sig (or if money is NO issue, the '70s Gibson version), various other short scales with flats/tapes; Hofner, Wilcock Mullarkey, Serek, etc., then maybe a Rickenbacker, pre EB StingRay, perhaps Spector - they seem very in vogue again. Plus others depending on the player. Dave Swift also has a huge collection of basses, although I would guess in his case it's more of a hobby than it is Jools Holland requesting certain sounds. All this is before you take into account their in some cases huge pedal/amp collections (Janek Gwizdala, Tim Lefebvre, JMJ, Juan Alderete). It might be a bit different in the Jazz world, or for people known for solo work, although Victor Wooten seems to have a huge collection of mostly Foderas, as does Anthony Wellington and Tony Grey. Hadrien Feraud has a big collection too. Andrew Gouche has a huge collection of MTDs. There are others too. These guys seem to have multiple flavors of a similar taste for want of a better expression. Does that mean we mortals need a huge collection too? Not really, but it makes it easier to justify if you get accused of being a dentist/lawyer suffering a mid-life crisis. Does this mean we should encourage up-and-coming players to focus on acquiring gear over skills? Obviously not, but if someone is serious about turning pro these days, getting the right gear for the job something they have to be aware of in this day and age.

Yes, I'm not exactly sure when they stopped shipping them with ashtrays but it was early '80s. I have no doubt that the bass is all original. I think the price is fair. Get over to Bass Bros and try it. He should have lots of other Jazzes you can compare it with to see how it checks out for you. Make sure you can deal with the weight though.

Binding with dots happened in two periods - around 1966 and again in around 1982. S8 and S9 serial numbers were used all the way up until 1983 so I'm sure Bass Bros are right listing it as an '82. Personally I really like 1976-1983 Fenders. Everyone says it was their worst period but from what I've seen the shoddiest woodworking/fit seemed to occur more around 73-75; that's when you see the worst cut bridge pickups routs/neck joints, etc. Actual fit and finish did start to improve on the S series basses and by 1982 I'd imagine it was pretty good as you get into the 'Dan Smith era'. Part of the reason why they get a bad rap is the weight- the example you listed is 5kgs, which is too much for many players these days.

Exactly. I remember hearing stories from Rufus Philpot and Janek Gwizdala going to Wal as up and coming young players to order their basses. Could something like that happen now? I don't think so. It's true for the pop world too. The likes of Nick Beggs, Martin Kemp and Mick Karn were all very young when they picked up their Wals. I doubt they had to wait 4/5 years for them.

I noticed this too. I don't the real reason why this might be exactly, but the only thing I'd hazard a guess at is that Overwaters are designed to be a Swiss Army knife/blank canvas kind of instrument - use the electronics to sculpt any tone you want - perfect for a pit player/touring musician who needs to be able to access different tones very easily on one bass. To my ears at least, this comes at the expense of the instruments not having a core, recognisable tone that jumps out and appeals to people - people don't buy them for their sound, but for the flexibility/quality, so perhaps outside of the pro world they don't have that much appeal. I could be wrong - I mean I've played a few of them but you've owned three so probably have a much better idea than I do.

I think this is mostly true. It's a bit sad that the ridiculous prices and closed order book/4 year wait means that there are no (at least that I can think of) young/up and coming players playing Wals. I mean you can see younger players out there playing USA Spectors, Foderas, MTDs, Alembics, Ken Smiths, etc., professionally, but most of the new Wals I see (admittedly on Instagram so not necessarily truly representative, but it is a good indication of younger players' trends at least) seem to be going to weekend warriors of a certain age (over 50 is quite accurate) who have waited the 4/5 years (nothing against weekend warriors of certain age of course - they keep the custom builders in business). In the UK, Overwater seem to have the pro market pretty well sewn up, but go back a few years and there were plenty of players using Wals at the West End, on BBC sessions etc. (Rob Burns is one that springs to mind). Even Laurence Cottle seems to be using his GB more than his Wals these days (too valuable to play out perhaps?). This just all reinforces the stereotypes that Wals are collectors' items, antiquated etc., as you're not seeing them out there used for new music. Of course it's none of my business and Paul can do what he wants with his company, but he has really missed a trick in not finding a good quality manufacturer in Japan, South Korea or the Czech Republic (think Spector, Sadowsky, etc.) who can take up some of the manufacturing slack while still turning out a really high quality product which would get into players' hands and keep the brand alive, while keeping the UK operation as a smaller custom shop.

I noticed these as well during a visit to the Gallery a couple of weeks ago. At least half of the Wals they had in stock seemed to be fretless basses with a single bridge pickup. The fretted versions with two pickups were considerably more expensive. As in-demand as Wals are, I'd imagine the single pickup fretlesses are a considerably harder sell than the two pickup, fretted basses with the filter electronics (this may be unfair but I'd guess that the demand for Wals is driven a great deal more by Justin Chancellor, Flea and Geddy tones than any others) - and as much as I love the shop, they charge considerably more than other UK dealers and don't seem to mind stuff hanging around for years before it's sold (or quietly withdrawn) - every time I visit they seem to more and more stuff and less space. I'd love a fretless single pickup Wal but I wouldn't pay more than £3000 for it - and I'm well aware that to a lot of people that would still be silly money.

I have a Nate Mendel and although I think generally it's a great bass and sounds good, the frets are the one thing I don't care for. It's not that my bass suffers fret sprout, it's that the ends are not well rounded and can feel a little sharp. I also don't like jumbo frets generally, IME small/mandolin frets feel much better and I can't see the need for jumbo frets on a bass generally; I understand that one reason guitarists like them is for bending, but you generally can't bend bass strings anywhere near as far as guitar strings, and in any case, the 7.25 radius on the Nate Mendel would severely limit any extreme bending you might want to try.

Funnily enough, although I very much doubt that Rutger would have claimed this himself, there are some songs which are commonly attributed to him that he didn't play on. A guy called Mike Watson (who is actually a Brit, not a Swede), played on SOS, Mamma Mia, The Winner Takes It All, and Super Trouper, amongst others. An American session guy whose name escapes me did Voulez Vous.

We had a corporate gig last night right at the end of the Grand Pier in Weston-Super-Mare. Fun gig although a lot of hanging around as we had to load in at 4:30 with a first set start at 8:45. Our dressing room was next to the dressing room of another 'act' - 'The UK Pleasure Boys'. All I can say is that judging by the way they choose to position their Santa hats I'm we didn't have to share with them. First try out of my new (to me) 5 string and it performed superbly. It's sometimes not until you look at the photos that you realise what a nice rig you have.

More of the latter I think - it's definitely a persona (Donny Benet is not his real name), but I think he's serious about the music.

Aside from the nice basses (I can see a vintage Smith in the video posted above), he has a collection of rare vintage synths and drum machines, so all those early '80s sounds are really authentic.

This is superb - great song with a sublime bassline. It sounds like a late '70s Jazz to me - have been chasing this tone for a while.

I know - only a fool would believe Michael McDonald was on Slow Train Runnin 😉 I was trying to make the point that it would be a brave singer who attempts coverts to McDonald era Doobies.

You are absolutely right in what you say about Long Train Runnin' and Play That Funky Music. I would probably add Superstition into that group as well. I can only assume that when rock bands decide to do some funk without actually liking/knowing anything funky these are the songs that are acceptable to them (don't forget to transpose Superstition up a half step so the guitarist can actually play it). That, or they have been played by so many bands they just add them into their setlist without questioning why. The Doobie Brothers and Stevie Wonder have such rich back catalogues and yet these are the only songs of theirs people choose to play. I suppose to be fair it's difficult to find a vocalist who can do anything with Michael McDonald on it any kind of justice.

Ambient is correct. Good technique becomes very important when trying to play a 6 string properly. Muting is especially important. I know that some people say the main advantage of a 6 is playing across the strings rather than playing in a more linear manner in order to be able to deal with key changes and avoiding major shifts up and down the fretboard, and while this is undoubtedly a major benefit, in order to make the most of the instrument you really need to study players like Anthony Jackson, John Patitucci and Oteil Burbridge who really make use of the full range of the 6 string. It's very good for transcribing too - the vast majority of guitar and horn solos can be transcribed and played (albeit an octave down) on a six string a lot easier than they can on a four or five, even those with 24 frets. At the same time I would never say that you can do everything on a six. Slapping (unless you really need the high C, which sounds very 'pingy' when popped anyway) is a whole lot easier on a 4 or 5, as is aggressive pickstyle playing (Duff McKagan for example - you lose the ability to mute fully with the right hand, so you can have the low B and high C ringing out all over the place if you're not careful).

It was sold on commission through a shop. I have no idea who the seller is.

No, these are rounds.

Hi all, I just wanted to ask if anyone recognised these strings. They were on this Jazz Bass when I bought it and they seem to suit it very well. They have purple coloured silks both on the tuners and the bridge. They look like steels but are fairly old so they could be nickels that have lost their sheen. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Me too. I think it might start planning to go to the 2024 event now. Looks like a very nice part of the world too.

Dep needed for a party gig as I'm away on holiday that date. £150 for the gig. It's an evening do - two 1 hour sets. A mix of the usual function covers and some less obvious songs. PM me with any questions. Thanks.

Those tuners are normal for a '66. Lollipops started appearing on Jazz basses in 1965 and were standard for '66-67, but they showed up on P basses later, '67-68. I have no idea about the seller but that bass looks like a genuine '66 P bass in all respects. Nothing looks dodgy/fake at all.

I don't know about Les Pauls but I actually think vintage Fenders would be pretty difficult to fake to the extent you would fool an expert. Firstly the tuners - you can not buy any Fender tuners these days that look like the vintage ones made up to 1976 - all of the repros they make all just look slightly different. Next, the necks - it's practically impossible to source a 7.5 radius neck with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard - either with a slab or veneer fretboard (the veneer would be even more difficult). Finally, tortoiseshell pickguards - Spitfire come close, but there's nothing like the real thing. Early sunbursts also look a lot different to what you get now - I guess custom colours with white/mint pickguards would actually be a lot easier to fake. I can see the attraction for a skilled faker of doing a late '50s Les Paul when asking prices are around half a million, but the bother of making a dead on repro of a Fender bass to sell for around 10-20,000 hardly seems worth it, especially if they're going to build their own neck from Brazilian rosewood, age it, pay a machine shop to make the tuners look right, etc. The real issue is probably passing off refinished basses as original custom colours - it would be a lot more difficult to establish how genuine those really are. The same with Les Pauls probably - I would imagine most of the fake '50s burst Les Pauls are earlier goldtops with the P90s swapped out for humbuckers and refinished rather than reproductions built from the ground up.

Randy had this bass made for him by Fodera. No idea where it might be now.