TrevorR

Facepalm! 🤦‍♂️ You know you’re right... they don’t have a drop forge in their woodworking shop... I’ve had a moment of epiphany... the fact that their bridge carcass is specifically manufactured for them and powder coated by a specialist metal shop, exclusively, and to their own specifications clearly means they are just the same as a BBOT* bridge shipped in by the container load from Indonesia and available by mail order from the Allparts catalogue... how could I not have realised this before... 🙄 * before you ask “bent bit of tin”

...I would struggle to see either of those as an inherently negative factor... a well done bolt on neck is no worse or better than a set neck or through neck... just different. And an angled headstock often demands a scarf joint at the end of the neck (unless you’re going to be very wasteful with wood..). The stepped approach used by Wal allows the same laminates to run through to the end of the headstock with no jointing across the axis of the neck. Again, not worse or better just a different and perfectly valid approach. A thought on the Warwick comparison... all the hardware on a Wal is proprietary and made by Wal from string guides to knobs to bridges... let alone the pickups and electrics. The Warwick (like most luthier built basses, even) will mostly feature off the shelf hardware. And there will be significantly more man hours and hand carving from just two luthiers going into a Wal, which costs. Even the best Warwicks will probably start their lives on a series of CNC routers before being hand finished by any one of a few dozen workers in the factory. Not better or worse, just a different approach. It’s like wondering why a chair from an artisanal craftsman builder costs more than a top of the range chair from a high street store. You can sit on both of them but they are different animals built to a different philosophy. And admittedly, very expensive...

And that’s my LESS GRUMPY looking face! 😱

Here's one of those record it on your phone and stitch it all together later on videos which we did for our Sunday morning service the other week which gives you an idea of a typical tone from the Pro bass... a bit stunned how well it came out in the lockdown circumstances...

Paul does a really good fettle and check up on his basses. Had him do some work on my Pro a few years ago. He's not cheap though... but he IS good! The one thing to watch out for on the Pro basses which I'd actually put down as a rare bit of bad (well, less than excellent, non-future proofed) design by Wal is the knobs/pots on these basses. The pots are unusual in that the shaft isn't integral. Rather there are small locating holes in the hub of the pot into which a shaft locates with two locating prongs... I suppose it was done to make th eshafts easy to replace in the case of damage. Or something... Over time (as happens with plastics) the two fork/prongs can get brittle/break off. This happened on a few of my pots. AAAAARRRGGHH!!!!! However, I sent it back to Paul and he swapped them over for "normal" posts with the shafts integrated in the pot itself. Rejuvenated the bass and it's still singing like a bird today!

On the Wal, that's a late 70s/early 80s "Pro Series" bass - if active it's a Pro IIE, if passive a Pro II. From the serial number I'd estimate the bass dates from early/mid 1981 - so quite late in the run of manufacture. They don't go for the same money as the "Custom Series" basses (the ones with no scratchplate and exotic wood tops) but you're still talking £2-3k+ these days. More info here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/p/production-line-basses.html http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9226.html If your chum is on Facebook point them in the direction of the Wal group there. Lots of knowledgeable folks (and potential customers) who hang around there... https://www.facebook.com/groups/2413094311/

Recorded a bass track for our church to use in our streaming service this Sunday. It’ll be stitched together into one of those mosaic style videos for Sunday. Doing Sinach’s tune “Way Maker” a d decided that this week it was the turn of my Aria Pro II SB700 to step into the spotlight. It was my first ever bass way back in 1982 and I still love it. Hopefully “bass neck cam” might also feature on the video...

Babylon Zoo... Jas Mann was the self proclaimed saviour of pop music if I recall... and then sank without trace like the remainder of his awful song. As I recall he had Carrie Melbourne on bass and Chapman Stick...

I think this is probably my fave mash up...

YEah, I seem to recall it had some sort of cornyish rock name... "Rockstop", "Jet Power Music", not actually those but that kind of thing...

Like 'em both! The original was produced by my chum Wolsey. His daughter and my little boy are best buddies and classmates! Well, we do both live in Hard Fi Central Station!

I think that was Bell's!

What's your thoughts on this one then? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The band that springs to mind is Cornershop. I really liked the single version of Brimful of Asha when it was a big hit in the charts. Of course at the time I never realised it was a Norman Cook remix. Then I heard the un-jiggered-with version of the track and it was unutterably dull. Leaden, lumpen, flat, repretitive (but not in a catchy hook way) and lacking in any sort of dynamics. Turned out the ONLY parts I really liked about the song was the Fatboy Slim Big Beat fairy dust sprinkled over the song. Since then every time I've seen or heard Cornershop as themselves - radio, Jools, TOTP2... wherever - both the songs and their performances of them have come across to me as awfully dreary and lifeless. Yeah baby! [REMIX] Oh no matron! [ORIGINAL - Yawn]

Wasn't there also an ABC Music in Kew - on one of the parades of shops near the station... much more of a "schools music" shop rather than a "guitar shop". Also, about Kingston Upon Thames guitar shops... what was the shop up the hill on the outskirts of town, more on the Surbiton or New Malden side? That was definitely much more of a guitar shop...

Oh this brings back so many memories... spent ages in ABC in both Addlestone and Slough. Bought quite a few bits and bobs from Addlestone and rented some PA gear from them a few times. They were early stockists of Levinson Blades and used to drool over them. Still “look at the store”every time I drive through the crossroads. Bought my first acoustic guitar from the Slough branch - lovely slope shouldered Dread by Washburn - D25S - solid spruce top and a really nice ovangkol back and sides. The Slough branch featured in the film “Buddy’s Song” - where a Roger Daltry takes the one and only Chesney Hawkes to buy a guitar in the movie...

...having said that, I'd just love to have one of those passive reissue Pros... or even better a twin pickup passive reissue Pro with a birdseye or flame maple veneer! Drool...

The joy of smaller-run "budget" guitar models in the 2020s... As @CPCustomdubwise says, it's all a bit moot as Paul doesn't seem to be interested in creating new product lines or resurrecting old ones. In terms of the Reissue Pros comparing them to the original Pro models they were, of course, simpler but when you analyse it they's still add up to a pretty penny. There was no relatively complicated circuitry compared to the Pros or Customs but the necks were the same quality and construction. I can't recall what Paul is currently charging for a replacement neck these days but I think I recall someone recently saying that it's in the range of £1.5k-£2k+ GBP. The bodies were hand carved with a thin veneer applied front and back then sunbursted to hide the join. The pickup/s would be (broadly) the same as the customs - or might need redesigning to go back to the older design. Ultimately you're still talking about a £4k GBP bass rather than a £1k Wal.

Never have to with Ben and a James, they’re both really well behaved!

Think I'm going to stick to transcribing Chris' bass part... I know I can DEFINITELY play that one on bass!!!!

That’s amazing. It’s inspired me to do a full bass transcription of Madrigal, Mood For A Day and The Clap. Shouldn’t take too long!

Funky pickups...

No, my Frankenjazz has rounds on it but both my Wals are sporting Chromes flats. Went over to flats on them about 5 or 6 years ago...

We’ve been doing that the last three weeks on a “record it on your phone and stitch it together later” basis... This morning’s one...

Only 8 or so years to go for the Pro bass’s half century anniversary!