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Show your Wals... Appreciation Thread


overwater#1

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  • 2 weeks later...

This picture is old, from a get together many years ago. I do recognise a few of the basses in there belonging to some long time forum folks. But the one bass I want to know more info about is the middle fretless Custom MkI sitting on the chair: it has a single pickup more in a MM position rather than a Pro position, and still has 4-control knobs. Who owns it?

[url="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/396018_10150614877533023_1472807727_n.jpg"]http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/396018_10150614877533023_1472807727_n.jpg[/url]

Edited by mikeswals
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[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1358626046' post='1942546']
took some updated pics today:
'90 MkII midi, '09 MkII
'00 MkI, '86 MkI, '90 MkI

[/quote]

Beautiful pics, Mike, thanks for sharing!
I think the one I envy most is the Midi bass.


BTW, all of yours have ebony boards, is that correct?

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[quote name='oli@bass']
BTW, all of yours have ebony boards, is that correct?
[/quote]

Oddly enough, the black one has a rosewood board. A very dark piece of rosewood.
But I don't think board material contributes anything on a Wal. Whereas the solid-mahogany body of the black one gives a very noticeable lowend depth over the others, that one is my favorite sounding one.

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  • 2 months later...

I sold off my violet MkI and replaced it with a maple MkII 5 string. I sure wish I didn't have to sell one of the "kids", but no way for me to keep them all. [url="http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Negative7bass/media/DSC08792_zpsf839b340.jpg.html"][/url]

Edited by mikeswals
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This is my babies !
2013 Geddy Lee MKI with Block Inlays :



My 1986 Glossy Paduak MKI




My 2013 MKIII 5 American Walnut, very light weight 5 string bass




My 90's Geddy Lee in Action MKII Birdseye :




My MKII 5 2010 (Blocks inlay, Clear Original Finger Ramp, Glossy, Neck with ebony stripes), My 2009 MKIII Zebra , Light Weight, Black Gloss neck and 90's MKII Lined Fretless.



Mu 90's MKII Geddy Lee , Trans Red Birdseye, Satin Black neck

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[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1349441287' post='1826371']
Have you considerd the option of buying back your old MK1 and buying a new fretless neck for it from Wal ? Paul could make you one , lined or unlined according to your preference, and send it to you and if neccesary you could have someone local like Mike Lull fit it for you. Back in the day plenty of people bought fretted Wal basses with an additional fretless neck to swap between the two whenever it suited them.
[/quote]

Dingus, alot has happened since this series of posts about a fretless. I did buy back the fretted violet MkI I mentioned, but I then sold it and bought a MkII 5 string since I thought I was going to be needing one. Of course I miss that MkI now too!
However like your suggestion above, I did manage to pick up a spare fretless neck. So for now, the white bass in my avatar is back to being a fretless, which I'm having alot of fun with again. But I think eventually when I have more money than I know what to do with (yeah right!) I'll have Paul build me a body for it.
Oh btw, Rob Burns is pretty active on the Wal/facebook page.

Edited by mikeswals
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[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1395508229' post='2403228']
Dingus, alot has happened since this series of posts about a fretless. I did buy back the fretted violet MkI I mentioned, but I then sold it and bought a MkII 5 string since I thought I was going to be needing one. Of course I miss that MkI now too!
However like your suggestion above, I did manage to pick up a spare fretless neck. So for now, the white bass in my avatar is back to being a fretless, which I'm having alot of fun with again. But I think eventually when I have more money than I know what to do with (yeah right!) I'll have Paul build me a body for it.
Oh btw, Rob Burns is pretty active on the Wal/facebook page.
[/quote]

Glad to hear Rob Burns is still around in cyberspace,. A friend of mine had some lessons with him when he was still based in London, and as well as being a great player he is also very nice guy, apparently. Last I heard he was still happily settled in New Zealand with his wife and young family.

As for your bass, I don't need to tell you that there are only a precious few basses on the planet that can rival the sound of a Wal fretless

. In the U.K back in the 1980's , it wasn't unusual for some of the top producers at the time specifying to session bassists they hired that they wanted them not only to play fretless but specifically a Wal fretless. Uber-producer Trevor Horn was a devoted exponent of the Wal on his highly successful recordings with various artists during that era. I remember reading an interview with some American session player whose name I have long-since forgotten and he was relating the story of how he was hired to play on a Rod Stewart album that Trevor Horn was producing in L.A and Trevor promptly sent him down to the Bass Center in Studio City to get a fretless Wal five string because he said it recorded better than any other fretless on the market. .

Edited by Dingus
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