NickA

"Terribly sorry mate, but we just sold it; can we take your contact details so we can let you know when another comes along?"

Is the right answer!

I can see the shops point tho.  More cash less hassle .. exporting to the states with CITES declarations etc must be a real pita.

On 20/05/2024 at 13:57, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

a mirror thread on Talk Bass.

There is a thread on Wal Facebook.  The guy who didn't get the bass is being a real gent about it. Peeved, but polite.  The shops reputation has suffered a little, but everyone in Wal world is still friends!  ....I think.

5 minutes ago, cetera said:

I still have a fretless Wal Mk1 though

..and THAT imo is the BEST kind. 😁

£11k ?? Ooph.  Upside, you made a killing. Downside you don't have that Wal!

Prices getting a BIT more sensible of late.

series 1 at bassbros. A mere £5500.  Ugly headstock and pointless pointy bit at the bottom ... Still rather lovely tho.

They have an epic too.

No 5 string Europa sadly, but nice one on reverb....

https://reverb.com/uk/item/67502664-alembic-europa-1997-bocate-top-wood

Actually that's Jazzy V's ..which I had palpitations about when it was listed here.

GAS? Me?

Gallery's wal pricing is loopy of late... commission sales for optimistic collectors I guess.  They've a perfectly nice Wal MK1 for £8250 right now... and an alembic omega for £16500.  More work and fancy wood in the alembic, but most of the uplift is some "celeb" connection which seems to pump prices more than the actual bass.

The gallery sold that "I've been on a live aid video" Wal to Scott Devine for £18k... nuff said.

Don't touch that black one with a barge pole.  It will put you off double bass for life!  There may be a decent bass under the paint and "repairs" but it would cost £100s ( £1000s even) to dig it out.  I think most dealers and repairers would tell you to scrap it rather than spend the money

What are you planning to play on it btw? And how likely are you to persevere with it?

Double basses are something you form a relationship with over years of playing.. and trading up is expensive.  So making a decent investment in one early on can be a good thing in the long run.

On 17/05/2024 at 15:38, Kev said:

Perhaps I'm just forever bitter for selling it for £3.5k....

Hmm ...possibly 🤔

they are a bit marmite tho.  The ergonomics don't make playing that easy; my Mk2 5er, in particular, is a big hefty thing with poor upper fret access.  Some adjustments in technique ( floating thumb, never hooking my left hand round the necketc) help and I'll put up with it for the tone ...and it does look nice on the wall 😉.   Worth the £4k I paid?  Yes, but with the proviso I could sell it without losing money. £10k? No way, that's double bass money.

5 hours ago, Kev said:

they don't like any notion of the sky high prices of the basses being threatened

I've been criticised on there for "talking down prices". 

Lots of collectors. One reason the price is so high is that the prices keep going up.  It's a tragedy as so few good bass players can afford one, let alone dare take them out for a play. 

My fretless custom is out every week, it gets bashed a bit, I don't care; I'm not going to sell it ever.

Great basses, but not THAT great.  And the vaunted Rush and Tool connections are bogus as neither Mr Lee nor Mr Chancellor sound like they're playing one ( all effects and Geddy's weird low action light string setup).  Flea, yes, BSSM has MK2 Wal all over it.

You can get E,A,D,G,C sets.  Then you're just drop tuning a tone, which will be fine.  Tho if you insist on A not B for the top string it might be a bit flappy. 

Don't know what model Sonny Thompson's Dolph is .... being white and that.  Equipboard reckons it's a mere SN, not a Pro1, Paired with a big Trace rig ...as did Nirvana.... which is an unexpectedly great combination.  If only I had the space I'd have kept my old trace combo just for the dolphin.

My bass might like playing F, Bflat, Eflat and Aflat.... But my stubby little left hand fingers don't.  The bass can like what it likes, but I'm the boss and I choose the notes 😁.

But as for the sound, I like flat keys and modes ..I think because it's flattening notes in a scale that creates the ambiguity and melancholy of blues through to minor scales.  Sharpening notes feels like an attempt to force things to sound cheery.... like those awful songs that run out of ideas and suddenly go up a 5th to brighten things up ( listen to "we had joy we had fun, we had seasons in the sun" without wincing.)

On 11/05/2024 at 22:57, Cairobill said:

(apart for a fretless wal  )

From my cold dead hands 😂😂😂.  Much as I liked the bb2000...

I had one of these; excellent basses.  I traded it for my fretless Wal ..not even because I needed to, just because I had some silly two basses policy.  I got £180 for it and the shop had it in the window for £270 the next day!  Regretted it ever since.

Now have a silly 4 basses policy..... but very tempted.

Love the playing btw ...and Patrice.

We have a "Wal Bass Lovers of the World Unite!"  FB page btw. Full of advice & opinions (and disagreements). One member has 12  (?) Wals. Probs the best place to buy and sell Wal basses too. My Mk2 came from there.

On 08/05/2024 at 16:32, Maxwellwoodger said:

Thanks for this, I have contacted the shop… and it will soon be mine!

Congrats... welcome to the world of Wal.  Silly prices these days but still beautifully made and a joy to play.

.....and minutes after you posted a " MK2 Wal wanted" request in the items wanted thread! 🤔. 

Skinny back to front or side to side? I presume it's the thickness that's a concern.

Lot of money for a big chunk of ebony for a slightly thicker neck. Andmifmthe fingerboard goes up,then the bridge might be too short.

Might be cheaper to have a maple wedge put under the fingerboard?

23 hours ago, NikNik said:

one in Boire, with gold hardware.

Boire and Barts? It was hearing Schalk Joubert playing a five string one of those that really set me wanting a dolphin.

Never had the chance to play one or compare with my "modern" ( ovangkol and MEC) bass.  I think their sound is warmer, less "brittle" which I'd put down to the pickups not tbe wood.

Queue invasion of American Rush and Tool fans waving bunches of dollars!

These things are generally £6k plus these days....4 string mk2s being the most expensive for some reason.  And remarkably they still sell at those prices.

What are they thinking?!

At my ( great) age, I'd have to pay £5k-£6k and all I'd get is some crappy beat up fender. Shan't bother. 

"Mush"!!! ???? Not a word I'd apply to a dolphin..... not even a set neck one.

The pro1 is a very different bast tho.  Clarity in excess.  Fantastic for soloing, sometimes hard to drop in the mix.

Amongst many things, Brexit has totally f#£_&d the cross Europe trade in 2nd hand instruments.

Really dumb as the UK govt were not forced to charge vat on imported 2nd hand goods, they just decided to do so for extra revenue..

Hand carrying a personal possession tho, you are unlikely to get questioned ... best leave the country with one bass and return with another.  Ferry ports less intrusive than airports btw ( especially if the bass stays in your car ). 😉 

I see you like the sound in "passive" mode.  I guess you know it's not really passive, the pickups themselves are active and all pulling that switch up does is turn off the onboard EQ ... should be the same as turning the EQ knobs to neutral as you're still sending a buffered and actively mixed signal to the amp. Or am I wrong?

I find the whole sound a bit "thin" unless I crank up the EQ knobs a bit.

Ps: looks just like my ovangkol one (2001) so I'm guessing not boire.  Might have a wenge neck tho ( don't know if that alters the sound, but it looks nice).  Here's mine

I've got one of those. And the massive case. It has the best ergonomics of any bass.

usually in "jazz" mode = even pickup balance and coil tap, lovely clear tone,  great for slapping and tapping too.

I'd wanted a 5 string, and a wenge neck, but dolphins are so rare you just have to grab what comes up!

Enjoy.

I don't ever use my acg-eq-01 bass live.... I sometimes find a really good sound on it and plan to take it out with me "pre set" ; but then dither and take the Wal instead. That one is easy to tweak on stage. For some reason as the evening progresses the filtering gets reduced and the pickup balance heads towards the bridge.

It's a problem with owning a fretless Wal ... other basses get ignored.