joe_geezer

And that's a shame that under Wal's current owners & business model (which is not the same business model as Waller's, who made affordable basses with reasonable wait times) you will not own one.

Great comment!

So, would the general consensus be, that folk, are happy that they probably will never have the means or the finances to own a Wal & that keeping the prices very high and the wait times very long is actually a positive sign that Wal are making great instruments - even if none of use will ever own one... ? If we compare Wal to Alembics then Wals seem cheap as Alembics go for £18,000. Alembic basses are constructed with more exotic woods, a more time consuming process, lots of mother of pearl and gold plated metal work .etc - they are like the Rolls Royce of basses. Wals are bolt on & if you compare other top end bolt on basses like Pensa, Sadowsky .etc they are in the $5000+ range. Wal's were always competitively priced back when Waller and pete the fish were running the show... and those instruments were fantastically built, i'm not sure I agree as some people have mentioned that they were sub standard - if that was the case then Geddy Lee, Paul Mccartney, Percy Jones etc. etc. wouldnt have played and loved them.

I played many original Wals and never found any to be second rate, on the contrary they were at least as good as a Fodera, Alembic... i must have been lucky

If Wal were to hire an extra 2 contractors, that would at least halve the waiting times, would that be a positive move or do you think even that would degrade the quality of Wals?

I remember going in to the Bass Gallery in the early 2000s and seeing a wall of secondhand Wals, i think they were prices at £800 - £1200 back then. Then Waller died & the prices started creeping up as demand grew with the help of ebay etc. So is the price hike reflective of supply and demand, not on the actual materials or man hours building? Here's the Wal prices from 2001 https://web.archive.org/web/20010813174714/http://www.thebassgallery.com/index2.html click on the top left broken image link, which links to the bass page, then click on "Other Basses" , scroll down and youll see the Wal prices

Do you know how they were able to use the brand name, did they purchase it off Ian Waller's family?

I'm good thanks in camp Jaydee... but thanks for caring

Good point

Should Wal scale up their operation, employ a few more makers / apprentices to meet the demand at a more affordable price? Are the current owners of the Wal brand starving the market of an iconic English bass guitar manufacturer? Do you think if Wal scaled up their operation it could potentially reduce the quality of their instruments? OR are you happy that only a few Wals are made a year and then that keeps Wal prices high? Making a Wal bass a great investment. Would you rather the Wal owners sell up to a team that could reduce the 4+ year wait times to order a bass? Love to hear you thoughts on this subject?

Wow, that reminds me of the tone that John Giblin use to get from his Wal! Looks stunning!

Thanks for that

Are the GA's 34" scale length?

Wow, it reminds me a bit of one of Mark King's Alembic Series 2 basses... do you own or have you owned any supernaturals?

I love this bass & there is also a few others built in the last few years, i think there's also a quilted maple version some one ordered... Just out of interest, how long did your build take & what model is it based (or is it based on a ga24 but with all the custom extras?).

I just emailed John today to finalise the order: Jaydee GA24 full neck & headstock binding Pearl Green colour

Guys i need your help, Has anyone ever owned or played a Jaydee GA24? Does the pointed body shape effect how you stand the bass up? Also is it comfortable to play sitting down, could you position the bass between your legs or would the pointed body shape dig into your inside leg?

100% agree, when I say low action, i mean low but still high enough that you can draw some tone out of a note. I try to get the best action for slap but at the same time allow come nice clean sustained notes played finger style with the minimum amount of fret buzz, its a bit of a tight rope lol

I play Jazz. fusions, smooth jazz & funk, I like to play fast so I need a lower action for this & slightly lighter string (100-40). I also have a fender Jazz with heavy strings and high action for my Jaco sound. Mark King also stated in the Guitarist interview that you need to get the lowest action possible & he's an amazing finger style funk player as well. If you're a metal or rock play then a lower action probably isn't your bag, i have no idea as i am not a rock / metal bassist. For example, this is me playing on a jazz with low action and 100-40 strings:

Love that white finish, also nice amp!

Your wish has been granted

Hi guys, I have a second Jaydee on order... will confirm the model but it will be fully binded & sea foam green pearl colour. A few thoughts on my first Jaydee that i received in January: Being a Mark King fan since the first time i saw Level 42 on Top Of The Pops in the 80s, I always desired that distinctive Jaydee look & sound through out the nearly 30 years i have been playing bass now. So 3 years ago i put in an order for a blue series 3 Jaydee.. yep 3 years! When the bass arrived the first thing i notice was the beautiful craftsmanship & attention to detail, the construction was flawless. The neck was solid and super stable, so much so that i could get the most ridiculously low action. The paintwork was gorgeous, it actually changes colour depending how the light hits it, I would definitely recommend a pearl style colour if you like this effect. The negatives: Picking up the bass i did notice at first that it seemed a little heavier than my other basses which are all chosen for their lightness. This did bug me a bit (more on this later). On playing the bass for the first time sitting down, I found it a bit weird to balance on my knee as the shape of the contour pushes the bass backwards compared to say a Fender sitting position. Also, generally playing the bass after playing Fender Jazz basses for years, felt a bit strange, I couldn't get used to the tone controls, and the tone wasn't like my Jazz bass ...... 3 months later, negatives turn into positives: I soon got use to the slight weight increase, since lock down i had done virtually no exercise, after a few barbell curls I stopped to even noticing the slight weight difference. I soon got used to the shape of the bass in a sitting position, i experimented positioning the bass in between my legs (it actually helps your right hand finger style technique in the position) but also in my normal - resting just on my right leg position. One thing that has surprised me is how amazing these basses play and sound but - it didn't happen out of the base case, it took a few months to get use to the Jaydee sound and playability. Now, I can't even play as fast or articulate on my Jazz bass! Also, Jaydee basses are meant to be played mostly with the back pickup on, yep even for slap! But if you select both pickups you can get that Marcus Miller smooth slap sound as well. Also, It can handle an amazing Jaco style growling mid tone, perfect for staccato funk or reeling off bebop licks. By far this is my favourite bass I have owned, and iv'e owned quite a few. To conclude, my experience with Jaydee basses is that they are really professional basses for pro bass players. You have to make a few adjustments if you're coming from a Fender style instrument & probably need to play it in for a few weeks / months but once you do there's no looking back! I'd love to hear your similar stories & thoughts on your Jaydee bass experiences.