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Greetings from Northampton, England
http://leftybassist.com./viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1011		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 17th, 2009, 8:36 am ]
Post subject:  Greetings from Northampton, England
Hi there. My name's Andy and I'm based in Northampton, UK. I'm the proud owner of the following basses:-

1984 Wal Custom 4 with Wenge facings and an Ebony fretboard (looking to sell this one - I'll post pictures in the 'for sale' forum in due course, but just so you know...);

1987 Jaydee Supernatural Mark King Signature;

2005 SEI Original 5 headless, Walnut facings and Blue LED's ( 8-) - my current favorite instrument;

2003 MIM Jazz 4 with p/ups upgraded to noiseless and a vintage ashtray - use this for my day-to-day duties as a teacher.


Amps are mostly PJB - I have various rigs ranging up to a Suitcase with extension cab - but I do have a Mini Brute IV that I sometimes use on Jazz gigs (works really well with my Heritage 175 lookalike too!). I also have a Line 6 BassPod XT Live - good fun!


Currently looking for a high end Jazz or lookalike (4 or 5) - willing to discuss trades for the Wal.
Author:  Basshappi [ June 17th, 2009, 9:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Welcome aboard!
Author:  andrew [ June 17th, 2009, 9:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Yeah Andy, welcome. Great to have you here, and that's a great collection of basses you have. If you're looking for a jazz style bass you might want to talk to Rodent here on the board. His Axiom bass is a killer jazz.
Author:  pjmuck [ June 17th, 2009, 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Welcome to the forum, Andy. That's some serious high end shite you've got there! :shock:

I've always been curious about Jaydee basses, and I know they're far more popular in the UK than here in the US. The Jaydee site has a lefty Jaydee Calibas bass right now.

Too bad I already sold my '77 J a month ago. As much as I needed the money, a Wal would be nice. ;)
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 18th, 2009, 4:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
pjmuck wrote:
Welcome to the forum, Andy. That's some serious high end shite you've got there! :shock:

I've always been curious about Jaydee basses, and I know they're far more popular in the UK than here in the US. The Jaydee site has a lefty Jaydee Calibas bass right now.

Too bad I already sold my '77 J a month ago. As much as I needed the money, a Wal would be nice. ;)


Thanks a lot. I can't make my mind up about the Jaydee myself. It's great to play - very fast action and really good for slap - but can't honestly say I love the sound all that much. It always sounds a bit thin to my ears, and I reckon the active eq is hard to get a good balance from - kind of 'all or nothing'. Beautifully made though. Had the good fortune to meet John Diggins a couple of times, and he takes his work very seriously.

The Wal is a classic of course (and very rare in the Lefthand/Wenge/Ebony configuration). Sad to say I don't play it these days. It was my main instrument in the jazz band I worked with (and drew some very nice comments from the sax player - which didn't happen often!). But I stopped doing that a couple years ago, and I think I've only gigged it once since.

Completely impractical for teaching of course. Like all great instruments it was made to be played and it just isn't right now, so it's time for someone else to get to know it. I'll put it up with some recent shots in the for sale section when I get a little more time.
Author:  fivebass52 [ June 19th, 2009, 2:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Would enjoy seeing pictures of your basses... hope you intend to put some up soon! :)
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 19th, 2009, 11:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
fivebass52 wrote:
Would enjoy seeing pictures of your basses... hope you intend to put some up soon! :)



Your wish is my command:
Wal and Jaydee pics added - will post SEI when I get it back from service shop and MIM Jazz at the same time.


Attachment:
Wal.jpg
Wal.jpg [ 96.93 KiB | Viewed 13215 times ]

Attachment:
Jaydee.jpg
Jaydee.jpg [ 123.04 KiB | Viewed 13212 times ]
Author:  andrew [ June 19th, 2009, 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Wow, both of those basses look fantastic. If Wal basses weren't so crazy expensive these days I'd love to own one like yours someday Andy. I'm a sucker for the natural finish Wals with dark wood tops.
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 19th, 2009, 12:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
andrew wrote:
Wow, both of those basses look fantastic. If Wal basses weren't so crazy expensive these days I'd love to own one like yours someday Andy. I'm a sucker for the natural finish Wals with dark wood tops.


Wenge is one of Pete Stevens' favourite tonewoods; tone and sustain have to be heard to be believed!
Listen to this:
Booooooiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg........

See what I mean? A cut above the average bass I think you'll agree! :lol:

Downside is the weight. Wenge is actually denser than Oak, and the Ebony board only adds to it. This is one heavy bass!

Jaydee has a much lighter and more 'modern' feel (even though the original design is at least as old as the Wal) - low, fast action and great for slap (as you'd expect of course). Doesn't have the Wal's depth of tone though.
Author:  fivebass52 [ June 20th, 2009, 1:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Thanks for posting the pics, they're great looking basses!
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 20th, 2009, 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
fivebass52 wrote:
Thanks for posting the pics, they're great looking basses!


Hoping to get my SEI 5 headless back early next week. Will post pics as soon as, but my laptop is sulking right now so having to use my steam - driven desktop which doesn't like handling photos for some reason! :?
Author:  Jeroen [ June 20th, 2009, 3:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Would love to see the SEI. And to own your Wal, if only I could afford it. But the 3000 pounds for which it is currently for sale at the Bass Gallery is way out of my league.

I think I know that SEI by the way. In fact I had almost bought it from its previous owner about two years ago, but I could stop myself just in time, realising I had no use for it really, as it would probably sound a bit too modern for anything I was doing back then. But it sure was tempting, and became more tempting price drop after price drop...
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 20th, 2009, 4:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Jeroen wrote:
Would love to see the SEI. And to own your Wal, if only I could afford it. But the 3000 pounds for which it is currently for sale at the Bass Gallery is way out of my league.


If it helps, that's their shop price (from which they'll take a fairly big cut). I'm still free to sell it privately, so can do a better deal. My original ballpark when I first approached them was £2500 (around $4000 at current exchange rates). Still happy to negotiate around that, and still willing to trade with cash as appropriate (looking for a high end Jazz or lookalike - prefer a 4 but a good 5 wouldn't hurt). I know there's a few folks on here got some beautiful Rics (and I've been offered one already on Basschat) - never really hankered for one though. :(

As for the SEI, see if this sounds familiar - Walnut facings and Blue side LED's; Aguilar OBP-3 preamp (can't remember the p/ups)
Author:  Jeroen [ June 21st, 2009, 2:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Kent Armstrongs, if I remember correctly. MM-style humbucker in the bridge position, and a J-style singlecoil in the neck position. If we're really talking about the same bass, that is :)

This one:

Image

Image
Author:  Jeroen [ June 21st, 2009, 2:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Turns out I still have the pictures the previous owner sent me when I inquired about the bass on my Photobucket :lol:

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/d ... 0headless/
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 21st, 2009, 2:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Jeroen wrote:
Turns out I still have the pictures the previous owner sent me when I inquired about the bass on my Photobucket :lol:

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/d ... 0headless/


Hey! My bass! :lol:
Author:  Jeroen [ June 22nd, 2009, 5:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
leftybassman392 wrote:
If it helps, that's their shop price (from which they'll take a fairly big cut). I'm still free to sell it privately, so can do a better deal. My original ballpark when I first approached them was £2500 (around $4000 at current exchange rates). Still happy to negotiate around that, and still willing to trade with cash as appropriate (looking for a high end Jazz or lookalike - prefer a 4 but a good 5 wouldn't hurt). I know there's a few folks on here got some beautiful Rics (and I've been offered one already on Basschat) - never really hankered for one though. :(


Nope, sorry, 2500 is still above my league currently. And whilst I do have a high end 5-string Jazz, I am not willing to part with it. It's a great instrument that has served me quite well in the past 3 years and hopefully will continue to do so for many years to come, although it's no longer my main axe (I've been playing 4-strings mostly in the past 6 months, and have bought a couple of very nice 4-strings in the past few months - my Rickenbacker, G&L, Italia, Ibanez Musician, Fender Jazz and a 2nd Ibanez ATK300). As much as I would love to own a Wal, I think I'm done buying basses for 2009 :oops:
Author:  leftybassman392 [ June 22nd, 2009, 6:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Jeroen wrote:

Nope, sorry, 2500 is still above my league currently. And whilst I do have a high end 5-string Jazz, I am not willing to part with it. It's a great instrument that has served me quite well in the past 3 years and hopefully will continue to do so for many years to come, although it's no longer my main axe (I've been playing 4-strings mostly in the past 6 months, and have bought a couple of very nice 4-strings in the past few months - my Rickenbacker, G&L, Italia, Ibanez Musician, Fender Jazz and a 2nd Ibanez ATK300). As much as I would love to own a Wal, I think I'm done buying basses for 2009 :oops:


No worries. I'm not really in a hurry to shift it right now (but obviously 'eventually' would be nice :!: ). Actually the Bass Gallery does have a very nice SEI Jazz 5 in at the moment, and I may wind up trading it that way. Goes against the grain doing that though, as I just know I'll get stiffed in the trade - not the shop's fault of course, it's just business. Be nice to move it on to somebody I've at least met.
Author:  leftybassman392 [ July 23rd, 2009, 2:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Update as of 23rd July:

Although the Wal was never officially for sale on this forum, it may well be academic now anyway because I think I've sold it (traded it, to be more specific - for a 70's Jazz) to a buyer in the UK. Sad to see it go in a way - it's almost part of the family these days and the house won't be the same without it. Still, 'move on and no regrets' is a motto I've tried to live my life by so there it is.

Just thought I'd let people know...
Author:  pjmuck [ July 23rd, 2009, 7:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Greetings from Northampton, England
Damn! If I'd known you were amendable to aq trade I might have offered up one of my 70's Js. :cry:
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