franzbassist

I remember that!

There is currently a four year wait on a new Wal, so the market for new basses can't be too bad. In fact, they aren't even taking orders at the moment. I'm just looking at the Gallery website now and the three single pickup fretless basses are all from the "budget" (i.e. semi production line) run that Wal did. They aren't even active, so £7-8k for one of those seems truly exorbitant to me. I guess they are hoping people will buy a bass that was made while Wal and Pete were still alive.

No, they went out of business quite a while back now. You can still find some NOS around. They are decent strings (were standard install on Wals for many years).

I don't frequent BC as much as I used to, but there are lots of people on here I have a lot of time for, both as people and their opinions.

I've never bought from Peach but have emailed and called a few times with queries about stock: top notch responses each time.

These look good. Might go for one.

Awesome stuff, thank you! EDIT: He has the passive, two knob, version listed. I've messaged him to see if he has or can make the active five knob for me. EDIT 2: Spoken to Brian. Am going to send my original to him to copy. All is good.

Sire 5 string P bass, so not your run of the mill 'plate

I'd agree this is the most likely culprit. Can also confirm the copper tape trick works really well.

As above, who's good for replacement scratchplates these days?

I would say that is a very heavy bass. The heaviest bass I ever owned was a 5.4kg Wal - I had to sell it because it was just too much for my shoulder!

He's a great player, no doubt, but that bass (indeed all his sig basses) leaves me cold.

Do you know what the fingerboard has already been sealed with? That will be the major factor in what you can do next.

That's a beauty. I had a superb Krell from Alan but sold it on as it was too heavy for me. Great basses.

Yowzah! Never seen one as bad as that before 😱 If it was me I'd have it stripped and then refinished, although an oil finish would work too if the wood looks good enough. I'd keep the JD mod as it adds a bit of character and gives more tonal variation.

On the rare occasion I use a pick I use the .76mm Dunlop Ultex triangles. I prefer the larger size. I used to use thicker picks but have lightened up over the years.

Thanks Phil. Yes, as I said in an earlier post I have decided to leave the stock pickups in the bass as they do the job just fine. They are also quite well balanced, output-wise, so no issues there. Funnily enough, I decided to put a set of La Bella flats on a couple of days ago and it has revealed the true calling of this bass: it is an absolute tone monster with flats!