JohnR

They have recently started offering upgrades and customisations for the Kingston range. I was their first customer and 2 x sets of soft touch knobs are in the post.

I have already upgraded the pickups and preamp and am considering a new bridge. For a left hander they are the ultimate project bass.

MTD without hesitation.

Beatstep Pro now sold. 

Akai keyboard still available.

I just had to double check to make sure I hadn’t logged onto talkbass by mistake. 

Big thumbs up for The Bass Gallery from me. I bought a Vanderkley cab from them. Great comms and a friendly team.

Sorry to muddy the waters but how about an FRFR solution? 

Thanks All.

One of the few benefits of selling a left handed bass on BassChat is never needing to bump the thread as so few get put up for sale that there is no possibility of falling off the front page.

Here is the invoice for the rebuild and service.

Price now reduced to £2,800

It was thirty years ago today…….

This is the one I thought I would never sell. However, I am now exclusively playing a 6 string bass with a 35” scale these days and can’t see me ever going back to 4 string.

Up for sale is my 1988 Mk I Wal Custom 4 string. I have owned this since new and took delivery of it in April 1988. Completely refurbished and serviced last year by Paul at a cost of £2,700. I will scan and upload his invoice.

Payment by bank transfer only. Collection preferred but delivery can be negotiated. I live in Glasgow and potential buyers are welcome to visit.

The body is in mint condition which you would expect as it is only a year old. The neck is in excellent condition but does have some marks from being played over a 30 year period. I hear you asking why the body is a year old while the neck is 30 years old. Read on……

It has been rarely gigged over the past 30 years as I was primarily studio based during the late 80s until I stopped playing with bands in the mid 90’s.

It is an Ian Waller build and was originally black polyester overall. During the 90s I stripped the body to the wood which I later came to regret. For several years I wanted to have it restored to Wal specs and, last year, I sent it to Paul for evaluation and refurbishment. His assessment was that I had unevenly sanded the body and a black gloss polyester finish would only serve to highlight the flaws.

After discussing options he agreed to make a new body which I decided to have  built with birdseye maple facings to have a clear distinction between the new body and the original neck and hardware. I also loved the idea of combining Ian’s original work on the neck with Paul’s contemporary body build.

Paul also did work on the frets and serviced the pickups and electronics. The tuners, string tree and strap locks were all replaced with black versions. The tuners are now lightweight Schaller M4S versions which look identical to the original tuners. I also bought a new Wal case which the finished bass was shipped back in.

All of the original hardware will be included in the sale. The body, tuners, string trees and strap pegs as well as the original control cavity cover with Iain’s details of the original build.

I have the invoice from Paul detailing all his work and the costs. The final bill was £2,700 which I consider money well spent in bringing this beautiful bass back up to Wal specifications. I also still have the box Wal used to ship the bass to me last year which I will reuse if it has to be shipped.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more photographs.

The asking price is firm and I am not looking for any trades.

The photos below show the different stages in its life from black to stripped to new birdseye maple body.

John

Bargain. I have a left handed KZ 6 and prefer playing it to my Wal. I have upgraded the preamp and pickups though.

It will be my next purchase.

Genzler Magellen 350 combo.

No but I have been considering using them. They have a very active social media presence with some great tuition videos. Billy Gibbons even popped in last time he was in Glasgow.

I always thought the bass was recorded through a Leslie cabinet.

Nice. Time to start saving.

Great bargain. I have the LH version of this bass and love it.

Gig bags are normally a generic shape to accommodate a wide range of bass shapes and sizes. I am left handed and have owned several types of gig bags which fitted my basses fine. Cases are a completely different matter of course.

You should be able to get a good idea of the tone, neck shape and general playability from trying a right handed bass. It won't be perfect but should at least help narrow your search down.

I have an MTD Kingston 6 string bass which has 18mm string spacing. I plan on changing the stock bridge for a Hipshot and wonder if there would be any problems in installing an A style bridge with 17mm spacing.

I am guessing that it should not make much technical difference other than to playability.

Does anyone have any experience of doing something similar and reducing string spacing?

Thanks

John

I've gone through the same process and tried lots of variations of string brand and type and found the DR Hi-Beams to be the lowest tension strings I could find. They also sound superb to me.

Bas purchased my Vanderkley cabinet and his great communications and enthusiasm made the entire process a pleasure. He has great knowledge about bass and I really enjoyed our email exchanges.

I have bought several items from Bass Direct over the years through their website. I love the fact that there is a shop specialising in the needs of bass players run by someone who is passionate about bass.

I emailed them yesterday to discuss ordering a left handed 6 stringer and had an email conversation with Mark in the evening to identify my requirements. First thing this morning he had sourced one with the bonus it is in my preferred finish. This might not be a big deal for all you right handers but we leftys rarely have this sort of luck.

I phoned Mark this morning to seal the deal and we had a great conversation about bass playing and the evolution of gear over the years.

John

Twenty nine years together. We have been through a few rough patches but are just as happy as the day we first met.

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On hold pending.

Have a bump on me. I have seen the photos and the bass is in great condition. I only passed on purchasing due to some unexpected bills this month.