spiritchaser

[quote name='JPJ' post='472825' date='Apr 26 2009, 07:18 PM']Ooh that's made me come over all perculiar After my earlier post, I was thinking about building a five string fretless Wal'alike and the shot of your two has just convinced me. A couple of years back I had a lovely slab of English Sycamore which I had resawn and I used for the top and sides of a jewelry box for Mrs JPJ. She loves and treasures the jewelry box but I cant help thinking it would have made a nicer bass top [/quote] Well, maybe my self-made buckeyed burl Pro WAL (only the 1979 fretless neck is original) could also tempt and inspire you to build a bass. We tried to copy the body shape of the MKI I owned at that time and realized it with the help of my wife, who's a joiner by profession and luthier Rüdiger Ziesemann of Bassline Basses Germany: tc Oliver

... And in came its evil twin: a wonderful 1993 MKII 5 with sycamore faces and skunk stripe - and the reason why I'm selling my LeFay Capone 4 tc Oliver

Hi, I've got a new spare set in black. Ordered it for my MKII but didn't change the chrome ones. So, if you want them just pm me. Cheers Oliver

I fully trust in Rüdiger Ziesemann from[b] Bassline Basses[/b] in Krefeld, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. He did a splendid job with my WAL 5 and our "Hybrid" WAL fretless project (http://www.bassline-bass.de/). Cheers Oliver

[quote name='MoJoKe' post='433858' date='Mar 13 2009, 05:19 PM']I am loving the body colour! It picks up the wood finish beautifully. I'm tempted to do this to my Olive Ash Mach I!!! What about the neck though? I'm surprised you didn't take this back to the original natural finish, as the black makes it look quite dark and heavy?[/quote] Hi & cheers for all your nice comments! I can only encourage anybody to do the same. To answer your question: I didn't touch the neck, because of the wonderful contrasting colours (red/gold/black) and because stripping down the neck'd have meant problems with fitting the neck neatly into the shaft of the body again, for the paint was really thick - about 2-3 millimetres. Too risky. Cheers Oliver

[quote name='johnnylager' post='420825' date='Feb 27 2009, 01:49 PM']One of me mates has a 4-string in black poly that was owned [and had a bunch of the poly removed] by some goth band in the 80's. It looks f***ing dreadful at the mo and the edges of the ripped off poly catch yer arm when playing, so he uses his fretless all the time as he's too tight to pay for a strip & refinish. I'll post him a link to this thread...[/quote] Hi there, yes - it's really worth it - I paid around 400€ for the refin job which was a real steal. But be sure to check out what's really below the paint (see electronics cavity cover for details) - I know that sometimes the paints only purpose was to hide some faulty piece of wood beneath and sell it anyway ... I was also pondering on putting some clear coating on the body when I saw that beautiful olive wood, but then there was the problem of the old black poly sticking to the pores of the wood - thus Rüdiger and I decided to give it a new translucent colour. I first thought of blue, but the olive wood'd have been to dark to shine brightly. For that you really need some very nice light maple faces. I feel like I have a new bass now Cheers Oliver

[quote name='BigRedX' post='420783' date='Feb 27 2009, 01:05 PM']Very nice looking that is indeed! Any reason why you didn't get the neck done as well?[/quote] I wanted it to stay that way - very nice contrast and great playability. cheers Oliver

[quote name='Stingray5' post='420528' date='Feb 27 2009, 01:06 AM']That's a beaut! Good decision going for the refin. I'm also just wondering, what strings do you have on there? I'll hazard a guess and say LaBella flats (black natch!), or maybe even some Rotosound Trusound, or...what? [/quote] Hi all & cheers for the comments! I've strung the bass with DR Black Beauties which are a pleasure to play - only flaw is that the colour fades with heavy use of plecs. However, they sound very well and for a long time also. I've posted some pics of the former paintjob and how it looked like directly after having been sanded down. Also take a look at that monstrous WAL Humbucker. BTW - it wasn't a problem at all getting the electronics out and in again - just a mere plug and play job (apart from soldering the input plug). Going to gig with this killer tomorrow doing 'An evening with Joy Division' - covers - plus a couple of our own stuff in Cologne, Germany. Cheers Oliver

Hi all, I'm so happy I let my luthier sand away the battered black Polyester coating from my 1987 WAL 5. It said "stained English olive ash faces" and not Black Polyester, so I guessed its former owner had not liked the olive wood underneath and let Pete Stevens coat it black. Well, I took the risk of letting Rüdiger Ziesemann of Bassline Basses fame sand it down and refinish it with a translucent red - and it looks like new! And - the bass "only" weighs 5 kgs now. It used to weigh 5.5 kgs. Soundwise there isn't any change noticeable. Well, take a look at the pics ... Cheers Oliver