Question about Wal basses

[bassaussie]

Hi all, I've been fascinated in watching a number of Wal fretless basses pop up in the classifieds area, and it got me thinking. What proportion of Wal basses were fretless? I'm talking about that late 70s, early 80s period. I don't know how accessible this information would be, but thought maybe there might be someone on here who'd have an idea.

Part of the reason I ask was my experience with an Australian brand, Maton (obviously from my name, I'm Australian). Back in the late 70s and 80s, they made a bass called the JB4. I think all up, they made about 1000 instruments, but the interesting part was that around 40% of these (possibly slightly more) were fretless. I think this was a comment about what was happening in the bass world at that time - Jaco had hit the scene, and a lot of good fretless players were appearing, and these smaller companies were making good quality instruments in response to that. When I look at Wal, they remind me of Maton - not the instrument itself, but that they were a smaller company responding to the need for good quality, yet local instruments.

[Monkey Steve]

I'm not sure that it's easily available info - they have always been a custom shop, and never seemed that bothered about publishing stats for how many basses they've made.

there is this: https://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walspec.html

Which is very far from official - seems to be a list of instruments that the site owner has been told about, rather than anything comprehensive.  But may give you a flavour of the fretted to fretless ratios for the period

[bassaussie]

34 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

I'm not sure that it's easily available info - they have always been a custom shop, and never seemed that bothered about publishing stats for how many basses they've made.

there is this: https://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walspec.html

Which is very far from official - seems to be a list of instruments that the site owner has been told about, rather than anything comprehensive.  But may give you a flavour of the fretted to fretless ratios for the period

Thanks for that. You're right, it's not 100% conclusive, but it certainly gives a feel for what they were doing. And they were definitely doing a good proportion of fretless basses.

[BassBod]

They were responding to the demand of the time...Jaco had arrived, fretless was cool..most of us in the UK heard Percy Jones and John Giblin before we really heard Jaco 😜.  The mid-heavy Wal pickups also suited fretless rather well..

[Spoombung]

22 minutes ago, BassBod said:

They were responding to the demand of the time...Jaco had arrived, fretless was cool..most of us in the UK heard Percy Jones and John Giblin before we really heard Jaco 😜.  The mid-heavy Wal pickups also suited fretless rather well..

Yep.

[TheGreek]

The brother of a friend of mine got one for his 18th birthday - still has it nearly 40 years later. Inspired by Mick Karn.

BTW I've asked - it isn't for sale.

[bassaussie]

2 hours ago, BassBod said:

..most of us in the UK heard Percy Jones and John Giblin before we really heard Jaco

Yeah, I knew these guys were a big influence around the same time, and someone else mentioned Mick Karn. No disrespect intended with the solitary mention of Jaco.

[Bilbo]

I bought mine because of Percy Jones. I also had a Frunt amp. Remember those? No idea what happened to it but I still have the Wal. 

[BassBod]

14 minutes ago, bassaussie said:

Yeah, I knew these guys were a big influence around the same time, and someone else mentioned Mick Karn. No disrespect intended with the solitary mention of Jaco.

😎 course not!  I remember hearing my first Weather Report LP’s and being surprised that Jaco never slapped, and didn’t sound like Stanley Clarke 😳.  It was a long time ago, and information and media travelled very slowly..unless there was a serious sell being co-ordinated by a record company.  

I don’t think I heard Jaco’s first solo album until about 1984...but I’d been looking for a copy since at least 1981..

[TrevorR]

4 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

I bought mine because of Percy Jones. I also had a Frunt amp. Remember those? No idea what happened to it but I still have the Wal. 

[Misdee]

There were a lot of Wal fretless basses back in the 1980's. Wal was synonymous with a particular fretless sound, and fretless basses were very much in vogue. Great days for bass players. Much missed! 

[bassaussie]

12 hours ago, TrevorR said:

I like to think I'm quite familiar with most brands associated with bass, but I can honestly say I have never heard of Frunt before. Completely new name to me, and I love hearing about stuff like this, it's so interesting to read up on. Where they a big brand in the UK? They sort of look look Acoustic or Sunn amplifiers, but I'm simply going on appearance.

That's a great photo.