Passive Wal - what's it worth?

[Dom in Dorset]

W2176 on the neck plate.
Single passive humbucker with coil tap, vol/tone
It's got a big chunk out of the varnish on the bottom edge and some cracks.
It came to me for set up and repairs, I've not seen a passive Wal before , any idea what one might sell for?

[fatback]

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' post='1060641' date='Dec 16 2010, 03:11 PM']W2176 on the neck plate.
Single passive humbucker with coil tap, vol/tone
It's got a big chunk out of the varnish on the bottom edge and some cracks.
It came to me for set up and repairs, I've not seen a passive Wal before , any idea what one might sell for?
[/quote]

No idea what it's worth, but the early Wal Pros were passive. I had a black one just like this, way back. Foolishly sold it in an episode of brokeness.

Edit: Worth about £100. Shall I paypal you?

Edited December 16, 2010 by fatback

[gary mac]

I think a BC'er recently paid about £1600 for one on ebay, which I think is probably on the high side.

[Clarky]

BassDirect has a fretless passive Wal for £1699 - [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Wal.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Wal.html[/url] - but its been in stock for a little while now

[Happy Jack]

Does a passive Wal actually "sound" like a Wal ... if you know what I mean?

[Dom in Dorset]

I'm not that up on fretted Wal sounds, it's got a decent range, but most of the sounds I like I can also get from my Epi T bird that cost £150.
It's nice to play and set itself up, I suspect that you'd only tell it's true quality playing live at volume or in the studio. Cheaper instruments always take more studio time to get a good sound.
I've only had the chance to play it for ten minutes in my kitchen.

[fatback]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1060793' date='Dec 16 2010, 05:33 PM']Does a passive Wal actually "sound" like a Wal ... if you know what I mean?[/quote]

Mine sure did. It was a joy in the studio, just plug in and play, and out came this lovely tone.

[gary mac]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1060793' date='Dec 16 2010, 05:33 PM']Does a passive Wal actually "sound" like a Wal ... if you know what I mean?[/quote]
Yes mine does as well

[franzbassist]

I think that used to be mine, great bass if so! I recall a sub £1k price for purchase and sale.

[philw]

Nice looking Wal that. I've always fancied a Pro 1 with the pickup in the bridge position and they seem relatively rare compared to ones with a "sweet spot" pickup. Judging by the serial number (W2176) it was built in the summer/autumn of 83, which makes it a very late Pro 1. I know that 'cause my Mk 1 Custom is W2109 and was built in May 83. I'd say the Pro 1 is worth maybe £1000 – £1400.

P

[TheGreek]

[quote name='gary mac' post='1060717' date='Dec 16 2010, 04:39 PM']I think a BC'er recently paid about £1600 for one on ebay, which I think is probably on the high side.[/quote]

I was the BCer who ran the thread on the Passive, single pup MK1 earlier this year(October, I think) but I sent it back to the seller from eBay when it turned out to be a [b]crock of s**t[/b] - the electronics were a bit suspect, the volume pot kept cutting out and the neck was bowed and had dead spots. However this may have been due to its journey from (warm) Spain to (chilly) England. The seller turned out to be a complete a**e and refused to negotiate or refund my money despite the obvious problems - his attitude was that "I should expect problems with a 28 year old bass.." ..wish he'd said this in the ad!! Would have saved us both some time and aggro..Eventually (Monday) got my money from eBay.. See below:



Most people I spoke to felt that I'd paid too much for it at £1600 even if it had been mint - feeling was it was worth around the £1,000 - £1200 mark. I recently missed an active Mk1 which went for £1650 on Gumtree but I think this was unbelievably cheap/inexpensive. There's also a fella on the island of Skye selling an active MK1 for £1800 but he's been difficult to do a deal with. There are a couple of Mk1s for sale at the moment for around £2,500 on BC and eBay but there doesn't seem to be too much (genuine) interest in them at this price.

One sold on eBay during the summer for about £900 but this had been modified with an additional Jazz pup.

Since the single pup model was designed as an entry model and that buyers would eventually have the active circuitry and extra pup retrospectively fitted you might want to contact Electric Wood (http://www.walbasses.co.uk/) for a quote to see what this would cost and factor this in your sale price - however I left a number of messages and emails but have yet to receive any reply. They have recently started production again and it may be that they've prioritised existing orders over contacting potential new customers.

As you can see I've been trying to buy a good one for a while now..PM me if you're serious about selling/trading..