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Mixed Up Wal...


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Interesting Mk I with unsubstantiated provenance, no decal on the headstock, and what looks like a rather rippled re-spray... has it got something to hide? I also seem to remember another Wal for sale in Aberdeen not long ago, but attributed to disco band 'Liquid Gold' on that occasion.

Even if it's all legit, £8K seems a bit over the top!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WAL-Mk1-Bass-1980s-Geddy-Lee-model-ex-Nena/264784897617

Edit: just found both basses on this website, so perhaps they're both in Aberdeen!

https://elitevintageguitars.com/

Edited by lowregisterhead
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I can only assume this guy came into a substantial amount of money & decided to invest in vintage & rare guitars - have read he doesn't actually play. He's well-known for eye-watering pricing, especially among Yamaha SG fans, many of whom feel he's intentionally bought up a vast number of these guitars in order to deliberately inflate the prices. And succeeded, it seems. For that reason he's understandably not well-liked in sections of the vintage MIJ community.

The only dealings with him I've had was after I posted on an SG collectors group about trying to find an 80s SG1500, had a bit of spare cash & I'd wanted one for 30-odd years. I was bombarded with pushy PMs trying to get me to part with £2500+ for one of the five that he owns! Eventually managed to find a nice one for about 1/4 of that price.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just stumbled on this again on eBay. On closer inspection of the pic of the build details on the inside of the control cavity cover, it looks like it was originally a mahogany core with a birdseye Canadian maple facing. So definitely a respray, hence the slight rippling and lack of a logo on the headstock. Shame really - I bet the the birdseye maple was lovely. The price appears to have gone up to nearly 9 grand now.

Edited by lowregisterhead
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  • 2 weeks later...

He's been trying to flog this for ages.  Whenever the going rate gets close to the asking price, the price goes up.  Doesn't want to sell apparently.  Still it may in fact BE quite close to a "Geddy Lee Model" as that one was also nice maple needlessly over-sprayed in black.  Some people (Mr Lee & Mr Flea) think the coffee table look doesn't quite go with their hard rock image.

... amusing thing (to me) is the number of people who have paid vast sums for a "Geddy Lee Copy" Wal and only later discovered that they should have had the maple layer afixed before the black was sprayed on.  One US based collector even changed his order mid-build to get the maple added!!  Does it affect the sound?  Unlikely.

PS:  Bloke in the states did actually buy a Wal from Joey Morewood /Jay /  EVG.  A beat up Pro2e with a missing knob that the man was trying to flip at huge profit ... proclaims the transaction all went very well and was very pleased with the bass (which is now for sale again in Florida).

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On 11/03/2021 at 23:03, lowregisterhead said:

 On closer inspection of the pic of the build details on the inside of the control cavity cover, it looks like it was originally a mahogany core with a birdseye Canadian maple facing. So definitely a respray, hence the slight rippling and lack of a logo on the headstock. Shame really - I bet the the birdseye maple was lovely.

Back in the day I had a e-mail conversation with Nena-Bassplayer Jürgen Dehmel about this: he really had a Wal with birdseye maple facings resprayed to black because of the stage look of their band...

 

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5 hours ago, walp said:

Back in the day I had a e-mail conversation with Nena-Bassplayer Jürgen Dehmel about this: he really had a Wal with birdseye maple facings resprayed to black because of the stage look of their band...

 

It's a shame - the refin limits its appeal and resale value somewhat, I would think, and not worth 9K anyway IMHO, even if the provenance was proved with a letter or some sort of certification. I was living in West Berlin in '83 when '99 Luftballons' came out, and he was using a Steinberger then.

Edited by lowregisterhead
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