LeftyBassist.com

Man I love those basses! Weird story about the serial number though..

Wals are great indeed. Wish I could afford it. I've played two lefty Mk. I's and both were incredible instruments and true tone chameleons. The neck shape took a little getting used to but I loved both.

The SR800 a few ads below it also caught my eye. Not because of the bass, but because of that case! That's a lefty Musician case, and one of my MC's did not come with a case. Already emailed the seller, but she's already in negotiation with someone in Ireland and she prefers to ship it in its case. If the deal is off, she promised to let me know

That same Wal was up for sale a few years back on Arni's site. I also contacted the seller and got some shots (i'll locate and post if interested). 1988 will not have the best electronics and it also has a different bridge. This one also does not have the poly black back of neck if the same bass which I am sure it is. Good bass but a lot of bread!! Also the 5 string Wal Mk II's are noted to have a very big "basebass" bat size neck. The Mk III's have more of a V shape neck. I owned both in a 4 string at one time. I had this basses little brother in a 4 string poly black. Thats the one that was on elderly for 5800.00. I traded it to johnthebassist.

This kind of thing happened more often than you'd think. I've seen Pete's book (or parts of it anyway). It's a fascinating document, but a paragon of accuracy and thoroughness it ain't.

There's a website (whose name escapes me for the moment) that documents the history and last known whereabouts of every instrument the company produced. There's lots missing from the list.

None of which matters of course because they're all fabulous and beautifully made instruments.

Mine's listed up there as W3516. it's a '91 and was purchased from Steve Chesney a few years ago. It possesses the voice of god, IMO.





Wal makes, IMO, THE best fretless tone I've ever heard and the best on board preamps (you can really get lost in a world of low pass filters), but two issues I've always had with mine are the super skinny/flat V profile neck (causes cramping over time) and the bridge design (which doesn't look all that different than the 5 string's bridge shown in the ad), which occasionally has mysterious rattles in it that I can't figure out what causes them! A fatter baseball width neck would actually be welcome to me. I contacted Paul a few months ago when I had heard Wal was back in business to inquire about getting a replacement neck with a more Fender J profile, and he said he could make me one...for $1200. Ouch.

I like Wals but I have always thought their pricing was over-inflated.

Ta!

So, he's selling it for £3200 and Wal's site has their NEW bass prices starting at £3200... ?

Ummmm...

No thanks.

it's 3200 euro, so thats about 2700 pounds

D'OH!

My bad.

Still more money than I've got laying around, though.

£2700 actually looks like a pretty good deal - I sold my '84 4 string MkII around 6 months ago and got £2500 for it then. Factor in the improving financial situation, and you're looking at something close to £3000 (3600 euro or around $4500) for this one.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - notwithstanding the quality of the new instruments (which by all accounts are every bit as good as the old ones), these older instruments are going to start commanding astronomical prices sometime soon - if you want one, now's the time to buy while you still have some chance of affording it!