EMG456

Me too (a fan, that is) and proud to say that I used to argue the case for them to all my narrower minded muso pals back in the day. I used to take some flack for it but now I feel strangely vindicated... Gunnarsson also did stellar work on the Bjorn, Benny and Tim Rice musical Chess and I believe oversaw all the new recordings for the Mama Mia film as well as playing the bass of course. If the mythical gig ever happens, hopefully Rutger will be there to enjoy it! Cheers Ed

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1388333746' post='2320860'] The question is...if an ACG bass is built as well, plays as well, uses a similar filter based electronic package (always my preference) and looks as good as a Wal...at half the price (plus being located just over an hour drive away from me)...would I be stupid to discount it? [/quote] Yes, you would. Alan's stuff is very, very good and easily the equal of all the other exotic names which have been mentioned in this thread so if it's just a few hours out of your day to lose, give him a call and go along and check them out. That said, an ACG may be able to do all the things a Wal does but it's still •not a Wal•. In terms of musical instrument ownership there are many more factors coming into play than the simple and measurable ones like is it well made, can it provide a certain kind of sound, does it feel nice to play etc. etc. The fact is that you could end up buying something that matches the Wal in every respect but two years down the line you find that the hankering for the Wal still has not gone away. If that's the case than I'm afraid the only way to cure that itch is to scratch it! Anyway, I'm a fan of "big birthday" basses so wish you well with whatever choice you make. My big five oh bass had been determined to be an NS Design electric upright until, virtually at the point of ordering, I was knocked sideways by a YouTube link and now find myself more than five years down the line, still struggling to become vaguely competent on the Chapman Stick! You never know what's round the corner but whatever you choose, enjoy it. Cheers Ed

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1387365848' post='2311072'] Maybe I've just been unlucky and only seen a bad batch of them. I definitely wouldn't buy one without spending a lot of time trying one out. [/quote] Knowing the care and attention to detail that goes into them, I can't imagine Pete (or Paul) turning out a bad instrument, let alone a batch of them, so it is probably that the specific combination of design elements in the Wal bass just doesn't suit you personally. Nothing wrong there- we all like different things. I have a similar reaction to Warwicks. I have heard them played and sound fantastic. I have looked at them closely and liked what I saw but every time I have tried playing one, I have hated it. I know they are really well made and are top notch instruments but no matter how hard I try, it seems I will probably never own one. So yes, all who hanker after a Wal but haven't tried one- try before you buy. Also bear in mind that unless you've played an Alembic or an ACG bass, the preamp controls will take a bit of getting used to. All this talk now has me gassing for a Pro II fretless or early custom with the old paddle style headstock! Thanks BC! Camdenrob, what options have you gone for? Cheers Ed

Just bought a couple of Jazz Bass pickguards from Pete. Exactly as described and arrived very rapidly. Excellent transaction. Cheers Ed

Yep, Stuart - that's him. I guess he took over the electronic stuff after Iain Waller's death? Anyone know if he's still involved in any way? I have a picture of the three of them posing with my finished bass... Cheers Ed

Well I have a different hairstyle now but I do still have the midi bass. :-)

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1386703981' post='2303427'] I couldn't say it was magical - I had gotten up [i]way[/i] too early to get the train to Wycombe- but the last time I went to the workshop I got to play ( very badly) the prototype for the first ever Wal six string while Paul serviced my bass . That prototype had a solid ash body, from what I remember, and I think it eventually went to Rob Burns. [/quote] Ha Dingus - you must've been there about the time I was down for the "fitting" for my 5 String Midi Bass. Pete showed me the almost finished neck of the 6 he was experimenting with - happy days. Can anyone remember the name of the guy who was doing the electronics and pickups at that time? As you say they were all nice people. Paul Herman took a fair amount of banter from Pete and the joke of the day was that his only job was to glue in the "boat" which was what they called the little black plastic piece that protects the body from errant truss rod adjustment keys! Now he's the main man. Cheers Ed

The frets thing is not unique. A long time ago I sold an SD Curlee to an acquaintance and it ended up having the frets filed of to make it fretless with metal lines. The good news is that it is indeed reversible as was the ownership of that bass and it's now back with me in all it's fretted glory, apparently none the worse for the adventure. I think if you like the typical chunky V profile of the Wal neck, a nice ebony board would be in order. If you wanted you could even go all retro Wal and cover up the nasty woodwork with a nice carved leather scratchplate! Just a thought... Cheers Ed

No gigs in my hectic schedule now until the end of January... maybe the bass will be back up here o it's travels next year? Cheers Ed

Excellent - I think that's the way I'll go too. Ed

Anybody here use a stack pot Jazz? I recently acquired a beat up old Aria Jazz Bass which needs a lot of tlc. I'm going to recreate the vibe of an old '61 Precision that I used to own which had a '70s stylee stripped body. The finish stripping had already been done to the Aria so I don't feel at all bad about doing this! Anyway, I would like the look of a stack pot control plate on the bass but it's a long time since I owned one of those so the question is... If I run the stack pot controls with both tones wide open, will it sound and act exactly the same as a Vol, Vol, Tone Jazz? Are there any strange interactions between the tone pots - ie can you reliably roll the tone down on one pickup without affecting the other? That's today's question - any help will be appreciated. Cheers Ed

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1384179681' post='2273581'] I used to own an Antoria J bass that had a butchers block of mahogany strips with a thin layer of something between. Sounded lovely. I'll find a pic and post it. [/quote] Here's my somewhat modded Antoria P. I've owned it for 35 years and it's a great bass. The second pic shows the laminated body construction. cheers Ed [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10817952815/"]antoria_1[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"][/url] [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiem/10818081754/"]antoria_2[/url] by [url="http://www.flickr.com/people/eddiem/"]emg456[/url], on Flickr

Been playing all graphite basses for close on 30 years now. Are they different? Yes, but then two supposedly identical basses are always different too. Are they better? Well, in terms of robustness, stability of set up and tuning, clarity of reproduction- yes, undoubtably. In terms of sound, no- just different- you may prefer it or you may not. I like them but I still also play basses just made of wood. You should give it a try- you will probably like it. What I do know is that my graphite necked basses are solid, dependable,reliable and sound great and if I'm in any doubt as to any other aspects of a gig or session, one of them will be there to make sure I get through it with my head held high! Cheers Ed

Sorry mate - it was me! I got it for £73 - my max bid was £75 so £103 in all. I have a hankering for a jazz bass reminiscent of an old '61 precision that I used to own - it had been stripped of finish as was the stylee in the early '70s, was beat about and felt like a comfy old pair of slippers to play if you know what I mean. I feel that the Jap basses of the mid '70s to mid '80s are every bit as good as the '60s Fenders so the basis for my project was always going to come from there but I would always nowadays feel a bit guilty to get a nice Tokai/Aria/Ibanez/Antoria/Squier and then destroy the original finish etc. So this fits the bill - all the destruction has already been done and what I will be doing is giving it a future as a viable instrument once again. What is likely to happen is that fingerboard will either be trimmed down to size or replaced with one a bit darker looking and a worn tort scratchplate will go on together with reverse tuners. After that and I can see what it plays/ sounds like, I'll look at anything needed in the pickup/ electrics side of things. Oh, and it's likely to get stack pots as well! Kind of looking forward to it and I'll let y'all know of progress when it arrives hopefully in one piece!! Cheers Ed

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1383041420' post='2259321'] I would suggest, sir, that you give Sun Ra or Global Unity Orchestra a miss! Or possibly check them out to experience just how free-form and avant-garde music can get ;-) [/quote] Yep - they seem to me to be about as far away from "free-form" as you could get - everything's arranged to the Nth degree and they all have the chops to keep up with programme! That said, it's plain to me that they *do* possess huge amounts of funk, soul and musicality and I find it refreshing to see young players following their own path and not trudging down the dreary but fashionable retro route. Good luck to them. Ed

Interesting... I watched the Graceland Imagine documentary on the Beeb recently and while I remembered Mr Kumalo using a Washburn fretless at the time, I didn't know what the model was. If you look at the footage carefully, you will see that whilst the body/ neck is basically the same as the beautiful example pictured above, the pickup positions are quite different. the Jazz pickup at the bridge is very close to the bridge - much closer than this B-40- and the Precision pickup on Bakithi's bass is much closer to the end of the fingerboard with the orientation reversed - ie the E and A string pickup is closer to the neck than the D and G one. You can see this during his solo at around 2:17 in the video above. Bakithi himself says it's a B-20 - see this interview at [url="http://www.fretlessbass.com/KumaloBakithiInterview-01.html"]www.fretlessbass.com[/url] Either way, there seem to be very few of these around - nice basses. Ed

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1381259337' post='2236682'] it was the quality of the jv's that led to the avri series [/quote] I worked in a music shop at the time and I had one of the first AVRI 62 Jazz's for a while. It was a great bass - much better than Fender had been turning out up to that point. I may be wrong here - after all it's a long time ago - but my memory tells me that the US production was stopped dead and all Fender production came from Japan till they sorted out all the issues in the states. I think that the first AVRI's may have been assembled in the states from Japanese necks/ bodies and US hardware. I also think that the Fullerton plant was where they turned it around and started producing nicer instruments again so for me, I would look far more favourably on an 80s Fullerton Fender than a 70s one. Cheers Ed

Well, the Seymour Duncan pickup at the bridge position on my Jazz 24 stopped working. On investigation, the winding wire had broken at the solder joint with the wire which leads off to the pot. I had to judiciously unwind one turn and re solder the joint - it's been fine ever since. Note, this is not for the feint hearted but I figured that at worst it would still not be working and at best it would be fixed! So pickups can fail. Cheers Ed

I have a Wal 5 string midi bass which I ordered from Pete back in the early 90's. It uses Steve Chick's fret sensing system but was created before he had put in the string tension sensors to detect string bends and vibrato which were on the Peavey Cyberbass and now on the IR basses. It was the best system at the time and may well still be but you still have to play very cleanly to avoid embarrassing glitches - Pete would not take my order until I had reported for duty at High Wycombe so he could see whether or not he thought I could handle it - too many complaints from folks who had sky high expectations! Of course I expect it will be much better now - after all 20 years have passed and the speed of processing has increased exponentially since then! I rarely use the midi on it these days but it's still a nice Wal so my logic back then has held true. Also, re the comments about just using a keyboard- yes that's valid but I'm much more fluent when improvising on bass than I am on keys. Plus it's just plain good fun playing strings, Fender Rhodes drums or trumpets on your bass! Cheers Ed

To be clear, the USA Subs were made from Stingray parts, on the Stingray production line by the people who were making the Stingray bass. That more or less makes it a genuine Stingray in my eyes and the example I own certainly lives up to that reputation. The only differences between the Sub and a Stingray were the solid colour (black) neck finish, solid colour (textured) body finish, cheap scratchplate and poplar body with no contouring. The pickup coils are wired in series like the Sterling bass at that time. I really like mine - it has that feel of a real quality instrument the moment you pick it up and at the price they command at the moment, I may well add a 5'er and a fretless version over time. Cheers Ed

It's an advert, trying to sell something - I would expect some kind of enthusiastic hyperbole. The bass is not going to attract a buyer if it's described as "absolutely average" or "the worst bass I've ever owned" Like all sales speels, treat with a pinch of salt. On the other hand, I do always wonder about the "best bass I've ever owned" ones. If that's really true, why would you be selling it? Ed

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1378918480' post='2206529'] Still, I can't believe I want to buy some sort of keyboard thing and I'm quite excited by it. [/quote] Taurus pedals are different - everyone's excited by Taurus pedals! Well I am, anyway. Ed