RonC

Neck

Body

The family picture

Last year i've been working on a Wal copy bass. As Wal basses are my absolute favorite and i am the happy owner of 3 Wals (two MK1 basses and a ProIIe) i was wandering if i was able to build one myself. Since 2018 i'm following a luhiers education (6 hours a week) at the CMB in Puurs (Belgium). I allready build an acoustic steelstring guitar (Martin#1 copy) for my wife so now it was time to treat myself. This Wal copy ofcouse needed to be an extra addition to my collection. Since i have a fretted Mk1, a fretless MK1 and a fretted Pro (which has a more vintage sound compaired to the MK's ) my weapons are quite complete. But they are all 4 strings ands sometimes i miss a low B. Since i prefer 4 strings i've decided to build another 4 string but tuned BEAD. To make a plan i disassembled my MK1 and measured everyting. Last week i've completed it and it feels and sounds damn close to my other Wals! Here are the specs: Mahogany body with ebony facings (maple veneer) Matching headstock Maple/mahogany neck Ebony fretboard Danish oil finish Lusithand Double NFP special MKII preamp Turner Multicoil Pickups ABM bridge Shaller tuners Handmade potmeter knobs and output.

What a great job!! good craftsmanship, this Vigier looks stunning!

Yes, i did. Since 2018 I’m following luthier classes in Belgium.

Here's a teaser!

The bass is almost finished! The neck is ready, and i'm finishing the body at the moment (i only work on it one day a week so it takes a while..). Then making the control plate (wood), oil everyting and mounting the hardware PU's and electronics. So i think it will be ready in a month or so! As soon as it's finished i'll post a build diary with pics!

On the gluboost website there are some videos how to use it. When you follow these steps I’m convinced you can fix it invisibly! Succes!

Glu Boost fill and finish! It’s a kind of superglue. fill the spot, sand it, polish it and you won’t even see it anymore. I’ve repaired a lot of cracks and dents with it.

Beautiful!! I really like these basses. Never had the chance to play one but I’m curious..

Sometimes (like now) I do regret that I let this one go… but you can’t keep all your basses…

I had trouble getting a decent price for it also… it was quite an expensive bass when I bought it though (I believe around the 4000 Dutch Guilders). the highest bid I got was 900€…. eventually someone wanted to trade it for a stingray. (Which I sold because I didn’t like the color), then I bought a natural stingray back.. I always prefer natural wood basses.

I sold it to buy a stingray back then. The stingray is gone also... that one i do mis. I still have a brochure of Leader somewhere, i'll make a copy to post it one of these days!

I played one from around 1991 till 2002 somewhere. It’s was a great bass, a bit of a Warwick kind of vibe. The body is pretty small so when I grew older (and a bit fatter 😂), it didn’t suit me anymore😉.. Mine had bartolini pickups. It sounded great and played really nice. Fantastic build quality! Here’s me slapping the Leader back in 91 or 92…

That’s a gourgious bass! congrats on that one! Andre is indeed a great luthier.

Besides the already mentioned points, the bracing is different for both sides (bass and treble) so therefore the acoustic sound won’t be optimal..