Soliloquy

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1070427' date='Dec 27 2010, 07:46 PM']I have to say, this is not something I enjoyed reading but that thought was at the back of my mind when Wal came back. During the hiatus, I was thinking "Surely, someone could be making a lot of money out of these basses if they were prepared to start making them again. Whoever owns the rights could make a killing". And sadly, it seems that the "New Wal" is just a money making exercise. It is good business for them to charge what they do because people are obviously paying it (probably in small amounts). But there is nothing in a Wal that takes a huge amount of time to make. The woodworking, even at it's most exotic, is well finished and functional rather than incredible. Not bashing what Wal basses are (I love them after all), but like I say they could make the same basses for less money and sell more as a result. The demand is certainly there to make Wal the bass of the moment again. I was just sat playing my ACG there, marvelling at the bass. The woodworking is better than anything I've seen Wal do. The fit and finish is superior, the electronics are superb. There isn't a corner cut anywhere on the ACG, yet it cost roughly 1/3 of the price of a new Wal or thereabouts. Whereas new Wal basses start at £3200 - so I'm guessing that will get you a Mk1 4 string with a bolt on neck and some basic top wood. My ACG harlot is about as highly specced as I've seen an ACG (or a bass). The quality of the build, woods and materials are all top notch and the bass competes with heavyweights like Alembic, Fodera and Ken Smith at an affordable price point. It is every bit their equal. It's proof that you can build exceptional basses for good value, and I'm sure Alan's order book will attest to this as a good way of doing things. With the ACG, you get a sense of Alan's passion for building and making fantastic instruments. I've not played a new Wal yet, but sadly at the moment I get the impression it's a front to get rich Wal chasers to open their wallets. I had hoped that the new era of Wal would bring back the passion that Ian and Pete brought to the brand, along with their reasonable prices. It seems this is just not the case![/quote] I got to say that you've gone the step further that I was a bit reluctant to take. Wal's are a bit 'production line'. They make a lot of necks and a lot of bodies, this is what Paul explained to me he was hoping for anyway. A neck isn't made to fit a particular body. They even fit cheap and nasty strings on them as standard, or they were back in June.

Most policies have excesses anyway. That would probably be more than the cost of a new tuner.

Very nice basses, very heavy though. I had a Stanley Clarke bass a few years ago, it was hopelessly unbalanced.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='1067861' date='Dec 23 2010, 03:38 PM']Roscoes are stunning. The fretless Roscoes are the best fretless basses I have tried. The shapes arn't all great, but I quite like the Century series (which I have).[/quote] I had a Roscoe 5 string a few years ago. It was a fretted, but had the most perfect fretless sound of any bass I've played. It had a beautiful kind of burpy growl, that didn't actually work too well as a fretted bass.

I've never played a Marleaux 6 string. My Marleaux 5 is ridiculously light though.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1065489' date='Dec 21 2010, 11:10 AM']Never liked the physical feel of Jaydees - I find the few I have played uncomfortable. Status are better in my mind but I am a Wal man through and through and do think that they are worth the £3.5K asking price. Would order one tomorrow (5 string fretless) if the money was there.[/quote] I couldn't agree less. I had a Wal that I sold earlier in the year. It was very old, and a beautiful instrument. I had it refinished by Paul at Wal. The impression that I gained with my dealing was that the new Wal business is nothing more than a money making enterprise. There really didn't seem to be any passion about the basses. I wasn't alone with the impression either, there was another guy there when I collected my bass, he thought exactly the same thing. £3.5k is an awful lot of money for a 'bolt on' neck design bass. There's very little of the custom element in the bass, not like Sei, Status or Jaydee. The comfort of a bass is a very personal thing. My Jaydee is as comfortable as any other bass that I own. It's actually a lot better to play than my Sei. My Zon has the most ridiculous string spacing, an Alembic Stanley Clarke that I owned was totally unbalanced. I had a Kingbass Series 1 that was nice but had a sound that you just couldn't EQ out.

Jaydee ! I recently got my 24 year old Series 3 back from John. It's been totally refinished, and sounds and plays as good as anything else I've played, including Wal, Alembic and Status. I'm going to be ordering a new one, I want a 5 string GA24. This is it a month or so ago, and the finished article.

I like playing a 4 string, I love my new/old Jaydee Mark King bass. I do like my 5/6 strings though, especially for reading gigs. It just makes things a lot easier with not having to move about so much.

The Protech is better, I've had Mono and they're good, but far more expensive and don't have as much carry space for other items.

[quote name='JTUK' post='1046870' date='Dec 3 2010, 09:53 PM']Wouldn't bother with listening to it, personally..it is a 3 chord groove which you should really..as a band..be able to make it worth listening to. If you can't do this...the band should give up.[/quote] I have to admit I agree with this sentiment, to a point. I played it for the first time this year, after 20 plus years of playing, and 10 as a professional musician. It came up on a set list for a 'dep' gig. I listened to the track once through, to see what the chords were. Then I think probably once more to make sure I hadn't missed anything first time through. It's a very, very simple song, just three chords. You should just go for the 'feel' of the song. I really doubt there would be much to gain from working out the original bass line 'note for 'note'. I doubt the original band played it the same every time, it's a groove thing. Just play what you feel with your band, and have a good time with it. The only aspect of the original statement I don't agree with is about giving up. Don't do that !

I've had plenty over the years, I find that I use them briefly and then stop. A decent bass sound is pretty much all I need.

I used UPS and Interparcel to collect an Aguilar 4x10 cab from a guy in Glasgow back in the summer. It was collected OK but went missing shortly after. You wouldn't believe the argument that I had with Interparcel. They insisted that it hadn't been collected, even though it had ! I'd spoken to the guy I bought it from, he gave me the consignment number and everything, but they wouldn't believe that it had been collected. In the end I 'found' it, by phoning up the UPS depots around the Glasgow area, and describing what it was. They're hopeless !

I've got John's number already, I wanted to order it today. I'm out all tomorrow, so it'd be tomorrow night before I could order it, and with the post service like it is, it'd add time onto it arriving.

I want to tweak the truss rod on my Jaydee bass. Anyone know what size thing I need ? I'm thinking I need something like this. [url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/allparts-guitar-amp-parts/tools-guitar-care/truss-rod-spanners/box-spanner-516-inch-p-4186.html"]http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/all...nch-p-4186.html[/url]

I posted a Stingray to Finland a few months ago, I think I used Fedex, but it may have been UPS. Try Interparcel or Parcel2go, see which is the cheapest.

[quote name='geofio' post='1028430' date='Nov 18 2010, 09:00 PM']NO NEED FOR THAT STUFF PAL , I AM ONLY MAKING A POINT AND WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE PLEASE !!!!!!!![/quote] Why are you shouting ?

I have about £1500 for a nice fretless, but I haven't seen anything that I like. I bought my Marleaux from on here a couple of months ago. It's getting towards Christmas though isn't it ?

That's why I'd buy used, you can get a lot of Sei for not that much, here's a headless one - [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/product_details.cfm?ID=1610&type=Bass%20Guitar"]http://www.thebassgallery.com/product_deta...e=Bass%20Guitar[/url] I don't know really, about Shukers, they just seem 'stiff' and unresponsive somehow.

Have a listen to Joe 'Foley' Mcreary on the Miles Davis album 'Live at Montreux'.

I can totally understand you wanting custom instruments though. I've had MM's, Fenders, Ibanezes etc, and they're not a patch on the custom basses that I own.