Shaggy

These from Custom World Guitars in Holland seem to be well regarded and are decently priced: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-neck-rosewood-with-pearl-block-inlay-vintage-style-38mm-nut-C-shape-/121574156470?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c4e6268b6 (all maple ones available too) Nearly got one for my '75 AVRI, but found a '70's Fender one on US eBay

[quote name='ukulelelab' timestamp='1427920468' post='2735977'] Let's see your lovely Guild basses! Here are my '65 Jetstar and 90's starfire II: [url="http://s39.photobucket.com/user/brianmay1957/media/jetcropped.jpeg.html"][/url][url="http://s39.photobucket.com/user/brianmay1957/media/stacropped.jpeg.html"][/url] [/quote] That Jetstar is just fabulous....... Briefly had a B301-F which I regret moving on. Guilds are always classy, and a reputation for using high-quality tonewoods

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1427650327' post='2732700'] "Leverage" as a verb. I hate, loathe, and detest that, especially as no-one has a clue what they actually mean by it. [/quote] I'd say that it's important to optimise the transparency of any leverage, vis a vis the dynamics of the current situation

Hmmmm.......are we Grumpy Old Men / Women, or what? Not too upset by fashions in colloquial speech (except possibly "like" for "said", which really does grate....) - English has been evolving and absorbing since Chaucer was a lad, and white youth has been copying the slang of black youth since the Jazz age of the early 20th century What REALLY annoys me is modern management-speak, of which there are a good few examples in this thread. Not a day goes by when some jumped up little gobsh*te tells me that "we need to be mindful of having a conversation with x in respect of y" rather than "we should talk to x about y" etc etc

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1427370168' post='2729397'] Yep, 'fretless' and 'Wal' go together like cheese and tomato in my book Greg. I'd love to see it in the flesh, I should pop down on one of my Wales trips, although I worry I'd end up buying it back from you [/quote] Well I think we've managed a trade each year for at least the last 3 years, so may as well pencil in one for 2015...... Like you I've always been more of a fan of passive basses, but this might just prize me away from my beloved Ovation Magnum 1 fretless. Still got the Ric 4003FL?

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1427103180' post='2725675'] Fantastic Greg, congrats mate, just what I wanted to do but didn't have the patience for! Is it still FL? C [/quote] Sorry, been away from the internet for a few days! Yes, still fretless - plan was to re-fret when funds allow, but I'm rather liking it as is.....

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1426961743' post='2724144'] Really great to see this thread resurrected again. Well done on making such an investment into this bass...a very good decision I would say. It looks brilliant. [/quote] [quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1426967128' post='2724275'] A Fairytale ending. I hope it lives another 30 odd years at least - with the player loving every minute! A new lease of life for a legendary instrument. Enjoy [/quote] Many thanks for the good words guys. I suppose it was one way of acquiring "by stealth" a Wal bass that I otherwise probably wouldn't have acquired!!

A drop of sun today, rugby on the telly - a good day to update this thread! I've inserted pics into my post above as a reminder of just how fugly the "Wazz" was in modded form. I'm an inveterate modder myself, but that just.........baffled me. But a good old Wal in otherwise very sound state, just crying out to be sorted. So, at the start of last year, choices were: 1. leave more or less as was, and create a "super-Wazz" with some decent boutique Jazz pickups and a U-retro circuit or similar 2. fit Wal-clone pickups (from the German company I keep forgetting the name of), an East ACG filter-based circuit, and do the woodwork restoration myself, to restore it to at least original appearance and performance 3. Get Electric Wood (Wal) to do a full restoration job, using original-spec pickups and circuit As tempted as I was to try option 2, I knew I'd never be happy with anything less than option 3. So after a while trying to contact Electric Wood, and a little while longer persuading Paul and Phil to take the job on, I took the old girl down to Fetcham in Surrey last November, and picked her up again the week before last. And yes, they were even more baffled than I was! What a really top pair of guys to deal with - I felt like a kid in a sweet-shop in the workshop - and the craftsmanship and quality of the end result are just fantastic. I had to limit costs by keeping the neck as is (frets filed down to make it a lined fretless) - fine for now, and I'll re-fret at some future point. The total project (bass plus work) has cost me around the same as I paid for my fully original '85 mark 1 fretless around 6 years ago (though a fair bit less than it'd go for now), for what is effectively a non-original bass, but on the other hand all work has been done by Wal, and it's an early-80's mark 1 Wal with brand spanking new electrics. And of course it sounds like - a Wal. A couple of crappy shots taken today with my iPad - for some reason my camera won't link to the PC. I'll sort some better ones soon. The bright sunlight makes the new plug of wenge between the pickups stand out much more than it does in ordinary light - in fact the contrast is barely noticeable and with age patination should blend in seamlessly. Many thanks to Paul and Phil at Electric Wood, and our own Chris who sold me the bass, and cd_david who sold me the control knobs

Lovely - has anyone A / B-ed these against the '60's originals? I've had a few EB-2's but never one of these; always fancied one

I've found quite a few US traders refuse to use the eBay Global shipping programme because of major hassles with it The one time I used it (for a small item) it was ok

A Mike Lull custom maybe?

Always been into old Gibsons, but for some reason I've never much liked the ergonomics of the EB-0 / EB-3 - much prefer the EB-2 / EB-2D. IMHO the ultimate bass of this "type" is the Ovation Magnum, which is also all-mahogany and set neck, though the Fender Tele bass with the big neck 'buckler mentioned above is also a good call

Main benefit in terms of tone / wear is for fretless boards I'd say, definitely my choice of board there. Not so much difference with fretted board as already said above; they do stand up to harder wear, but can be a bit brittle if/when re-fretting

Not much I can add to the info above, except to say that it took me around 25 years to come around to Thunderbirds, and wish I'd done it 25 years earlier - so don't leave it too long to at least try! I'm lucky enough to own a '65 IV, and it's hands-down got the best passive tone I've ever heard, and is the second-best ergonomically to play of all I've tried - the best being the Gibson Explorer, bizarrely enough The new ones seem pretty decent mind, and cheap enough second hand - for those new prices quoted, reckon I'd go for a Lull over a Gibson

Bought an Eden amp bag off John - easy deal, and always always a pleasure to chat with a BC'er who plays the same instruments as me (bass, guitar, and mandolin) and with similar tastes to me (i.e. mainly old Gibsons ) Just wish I'd bought his old EB-3 a while ago...... . Anyway, thanks mate!

Back to the OP - I looked into this last year having acquired Beedsters old "Wal / Jazz" mongrel (an '83 Mk1 Custom that rather bizarrely had been modified with SD jazz bass pickups and a generic circuit) with the aim to restore it to original spec. There's a German company that makes near-exact clones of Wal pickups - http://bass-elektronik.de/products/hot-wire-w-bucker-pickups - and as as mentioned in this thread the filter-based East ACG-1 pre-amp should give a pretty close approximation to the bespoke Wal circuit. Fortunately Paul and Phil at Electric Wood were willing to take on sorting the bass and re-fit with correct Wal parts - not cheap of course, but at least it'll be a "proper" Wal once more! For a Wal-type custom build though, I'd have thought the parts above would be excellent

"Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" ( Ryuichi Sakamoto) "Letter to Brezhnev" "Twin Peaks" film & series (Angelo Badalamenti) Aforementioned Ennio Morricone But my perennial favourite - "Cal" (Mark Knopfler)