Shaggy

Really impressive! I'd love to have a bespoke custom bass made, sadly unlikely to happen, but on the plus side I've enjoyed having owned many lovely vintage basses (including 3 Wals) before prices went totally bananas 🍌 and out of the reach of the ordinary player Shouldn't this thread be in "Build diaries" though?

Surely that's @Beedster 's man-cave / studio? This one should have been unplugged; i.e. unplugging the mixer from the mains socket.......

I do like that mod - DiMarzio Model 1 with single vol control? Rather reminds me of my old '81 RD Artist which had been "EB3-ised" with mudbucker and mini-humbucker; beast of a bass (apologies fir nicking pic from @chenzo_1 who I sold it to....)

James very handsomely posted a load of vintage amplifier valves on the Recycling forum, which I immediately snapped up - great communications with him, valves sent out rapidly and fantastically packed - happy bunny here...... Definitely one of BC's good guy - huge thanks

Very tasty indeed Why can't Gibson put out stuff like this???

No, you were definitely not "the bad guy". Live and learn, and I wish I'd been that assertive in a couple of deals that I've had (non-Basschat, of course)

Really sorry to hear that Chris; I know you were right in the zone there where as musicians we want and try to be, and that's just unnecessarily spoiled it. Hope you get it properly sorted, and preferably amicably. If you have to move onto another bass though, at the very least this seems to have shown you the direction that you want to go.

Have to say I feel the same about this as I do the new - Chinese? - MG cars (I used to own a '72 MGB Roadster) - if the new product bears no relation whatsoever to the old product and what made it uniquely appealing, then why not just call it something else entirely? Wal basses were one way the Hayman / Shergold design evolved, but there were potentially other ways - keep the multi-string formats, keep the multi plug-in module model with modern module options such as MIDI, synth, headphone amp, bass modeller etc, keep the original body and headstock design but make it a bit sleeker with modern finish options like flip metallic paint and funky stained hardwood. Also agree with @AndyTravis about the short scale thing - always needs to be an option of course, but are players getting smaller these days or what?

PM'd

1977, aged 16, a school rock opera production of "Far from the madding crowd" which we'd done as a class for English Lit. O level and had grown to heartily detest. First song was "Brown sugar" (Stones) but re-titled "Bathsheba". Though thinking about it now, I was also in the warm-up act, a motley Prog group created mainly from the weirder members of the school orchestra, so technically my ever first song on stage was "A trick of the tail" (Genesis). Never played it since.

With parachute jump He who dares......

I think for the "stealth" look you need DR Black Beauties........ Actually, genuinely really great strings!