Wal Triple Neck

bjlevine · #1 01-27-2009, 08:42 AM

At some point, my Yes tribute band (Ascension) is going to start on the song Awaken, which means I need something like Chris Squire's Wal triple neck bass.

I have two ways to go on this. One is two take two precision basses and a telecaster guitar, cut up the bodies, plane them down and glue them together. The other is to just cut out a body from a single piece of wood. The first would mean that I wouldn't have to deal with routing out the body cavities or neck pockets. The second means that I would have a more precise solid body to work with.

So, any recommendations (other than having myself checked in somewhere)?

erikbojerik · #2 01-27-2009, 09:20 AM

First Rule of Lutherie - for a complicated instrument, it is always easier to start from scratch than to modify.

Do you actually know if the upper neck is a guitar scale? It is not strung as a guitar, it looks like a 3-stringer with octave strings.

OK I can see the need if he is actually using that instrument for that song - but if you're not shooting for that level of visual authenticity, do you actually need two basses and a 3-string double-course to play that one song?

Holmann · #3 01-27-2009, 09:21 AM

option B. neck placement on multi neck guitars is closer to the edge of the body. chopping up bodies & gluing them together will leave you with too much meat outside the outer necks- body would be huge.

bjlevine · #4 01-27-2009, 09:58 AM

"Do you actually know if the upper neck is a guitar scale? It is not strung as a guitar, it looks like a 3-stringer with octave strings."

The upper neck was originally a 6 string guitar, but Squire modified it to be like the A, D and G strings of an eight string bass, but it still has the guitar neck spacing.

And yeah, we totally go for audio and visual authenticity in our performance. And believe it or not, Squire actually makes full use of that bass on Awaken.

erikbojerik · #5 01-27-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjlevine

And yeah, we totally go for audio and visual authenticity in our performance. And believe it or not, Squire actually makes full use of that bass on Awaken.

OK man - you gotta build it! Should be fun - are the basses tuned differently?

tbone409 · #6 01-27-2009, 03:27 PM

fyi, the necks are shortscale as were most early Wal basses (which were based of mustangs)

bjlevine · #7 01-27-2009, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikbojerik

OK man - you gotta build it! Should be fun - are the basses tuned differently?

No. One neck is fretted, one fretless and the third is an 8 string (minus the E). Good pointer about the scale. Probably cuts down a little on the overall weight, too.

Taylor Livingston · #8 01-27-2009, 03:58 PM

If you build this bass, you have to go whole hog and sport the puffy shirt and prog-rock-noodlin'-scowl.

bjlevine · #9 01-28-2009, 02:59 PM

Oh, I have the scowl down. And my outfit is more of the 70's motif:

BobOnBass · #10 02-12-2009, 01:56 PM

What is that cool thing at you feet? Could you post a pic of it? Looks like Neil Young's pedalboard, only white.

Btw, hope you're gonna start a build thread.

Bob.

**john turner** · #11 02-12-2009, 01:59 PM

i would build it from scratch. would be a fun project, i think.

bjlevine · #12 06-24-2009, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobOnBass

What is that cool thing at you feet? Could you post a pic of it? Looks like Neil Young's pedalboard, only white.

Btw, hope you're gonna start a build thread.

Bob.

Glad you asked. That's a custom analog bass pedal synthesizer that I build, loosely based on Squire's design. Smaller than an organ pedalboard and weighs in at under 5 lbs. More info at www.basyn.com

DerHoggz · #13 06-24-2009, 11:18 AM

This is gonna be sweet, nice synth.

kesslari · #14 06-24-2009, 12:03 PM

Nuts. Y'all are nuts.
And I mean that in the best possible way...

Cool synth, and best luck with the build! post pics...

no1likesme · #15 06-24-2009, 12:10 PM

It could be pretty easy to just buy two short scale P basses and a tele from Rondomusic.com and use the neck/hardware. That way you only need to build a body.

bjlevine · #16 06-24-2009, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1likesme

It could be pretty easy to just buy two short scale P basses and a tele from Rondomusic.com and use the neck/hardware. That way you only need to build a body.

I was pretty much leaning that way, though I'd like to find something with that "Guild" style headstock for the fretted neck.

fretlessman71 · #17 06-24-2009, 12:51 PM

You could just PM Chris and ask him what he wants for it....

joeyl · #18 06-24-2009, 12:54 PM

since we are on the topic of Wal, I am surprised that not many luthiers have made copies of that awesome Mach I and II body shapes

R Baer · #19 06-24-2009, 12:56 PM

I bet you could pull this song off with just a six string bass and a chorus pedal.

abarson · #20 06-24-2009, 01:15 PM

You could get a couple of these paddle head bass necks and then carve the head any way you want.
http://cgi.ebay.com/EDEN-Paddle-Bass-Neck-Maple-Rosewood-Right-Lefty_W0QQitemZ260334034547QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuit ar_Accessories?hash=item3c9d1e1e73&_trksid=p4634.c 0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A30