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Wal Bass Club.

#5,064
Kurtis Marleau said:
I received a reply from Paul I believe it was and he told me that if I was serious about getting one of these instruments that it would be about a 20 month wait before it ships overseas to Canada. If that is the case I'd like to look in the used market before waiting almost two years.
Is this wait normal? Obviously its worth it but a lot can happen in two years and I'm worried about a drop in communication somewhere along the way.
How many of you collected your Wals from the shop vs used?
Any info is greatly appreciated! :D
Click to expand...

I don’t believe build time quotes have been under twenty months since over a year ago. I ordered my Mk1 in December of 2013, and it’s set to be completed in May of this year, so pretty much exactly the seventeen months I was quoted. I spent the last year making periodic £500 payments and watching the values to save a little on the exchange rate. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy it if I didn’t have the opportunity to spread payments out over a year. Sometimes it does take a little time for Paul or Phil to respond to emails but I imagine that has a lot to do with the volume of work that appears to be happening. I am sure there are a lot of guys here who will tell you to go ahead and get a preowned one and I am certain they are completely right in saying they are awesome. I just couldn’t go that route because I’m one of those guys who has to be the first to climb the proverbial mountain when it comes to musical instruments.
 
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#5,065
Hi Guys,

my Wal in use:)

live in studio:



and some pics :)

10704111_746772522057805_6921815800492093310_n.jpg
10846145_725490144186043_7332827273778871620_n.jpg
10857836_725489730852751_1679750924867281513_n.jpg
 
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#5,068
image.jpg
Got my MK-III back from Mike Lull. Truss rod fixed. Hardly notice the work.

He pulled the entire wood from the nut to the first fret, replaced the anchor point. Wal uses brass which is too weak. he put in a steel piece.

Action is waaaay low. Plek job really set it up nice.
 

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#5,071
ColonelZulu said:
He pulled the entire wood from the nut to the first fret, replaced the anchor point. Wal uses brass which is too weak. he put in a steel piece.

Action is waaaay low. Plek job really set it up nice.
Click to expand...

Congrats on getting your new baby back. I know it came to you that way, but as with any setup job on any bass, it's more important to pull the neck into flatness by hand and then tighten the truss nut, rather than cranking away and using the truss nut to pull/force the neck into flatness.
 
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#5,072
ColonelZulu said:
View attachment 546576

Welcome home.
Click to expand...

For those who didn't know, I got this one here knowing it had a messed up neck. I sent it to Mike Lull back in Nov. He seemed to be the only guy willing to take the job. Now it's back in my hands. So hard to be patient.

Now I have some time to get used to a 5 string again.
 
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#5,075
It seems alot of club numbers got lost from Oddio's initial list because when he died the info went missing. Seeing Hopper and others not on the early list made me go research all the old club threads, but at least looking at nice Wals made it worthwile. But seems Oddio also skipped over at least a whole page of postings. So I am plugging these missing numbers in the order I found them to the gaps in the early list, and only a few folks had their number in their sig which kinda helped. And the page he skipped (13 members!), well those folks are going to get numbers late in the list now, and hopefully not upsetting members too badly, but it was never done right the first time. -Mike

Here is what I've been able to come up with:

1. Oddio
2. lbpark
3. bbocaner
4. Vegas532
5. Hippiesandwich
6. Idiezman
7. Brian Barret
8. Zombywoof5050
9. Hiperi0n
10. Jaymi
11. RonC72
12. Deksawyer
13. M5yates
14. The Hammer
15. tom5string
16. brothernewt
17. knarleybass
18. Anointd
19. cetera
20. cebe
21. incubus2432
22. Caca de Kick
23. Otter
24. evilgus
25. 4001
26. Toolmybass
27. pennex1
28. matthewfoote
29. AceWhip
30. Drop-D
31. WalWarrior
32. PazzoBasso
33. whodom
34. djaxup
35. kulit17
36. Pj,Rj,Hj
37. oli@bass
38. MC1970
39. eligilam
40. bigsnack
41. bassplace
42. Jam119
43. Zenter
44. Erkindanger!
45. Mojo-man
46. AndrewDavis
47. ZuluFunk
48. spiritchaser
49. marcos epm
50. Ricketboy
51. mesajoe
52. RenorCordic
53. Musicman 1901
54. Papersen
55. zazz
56. JAACA
57. Modlad69
58. sorgas
59. philbone
60. Nedsbassman
61. j.kernodle
62. Bass42
63. kubikixfactor
64. AlexBTATS
65. Tjluke
66. FrankChurchyard
67. Maedros
68. jimfist
69. Nibs208
70. hotrodjohn
71. Laneb
72. Melquides
73. Frankzelf
74. lordradish
75. hunterred43
76. bassballs27
77. bdgotoh
78. Surfbr
79. Walmark
80. Walfretless5
81. b-for-beatles
82. janforth
83. brconflict
84. spitskin
85. lang3735
86. Rickenbackerman
87. sgl
88. DigitalMan
89. Jeremy Paul Carroll
90. bass38
91. gargouill
92. kozyko
93. Mastabass666
94. BWorm
95. Marcin Łatko
96. Blundomatik
97. Hopper
98. Rusty
99. Nofrets5
100. AndroWal
101. bt1300
102. frigo
103. danweb22
104. Pjmuck
105. musomuso
106 Cuzin Locust
107. jro
108. Derek Smalls
109. Pushifier
110. Kevan
111. yzz
 
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#5,076
WHEW! Just did the 20-year capacitor replacement (with the newer 35 V ones). SUCCESS! I'm not the most experienced solderer, but it worked out, no problems. A few questions...

Does the increased voltage on the capacitors (old style - 25v, new 35v) affect tone at all?

When using my XLR on the bass in the studio, it was noisier than hell... is this normal? If not, what should I think of looking at/replacing?

Lastly, I have 8 more 4.7uF 35V capacitors (I had to buy a ten pack). Considering I won't have to do this again for another 20 years, I don't want to let them go to waste. Anyone about to do a cap replace? PM me with your name/address. The first 4 will get a pair.
 
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#5,077
I just installed M4S Light tuners on my 1986 MkI. There is good news and bad news:

GOOD: The bass balances so much better, and is much easier for me to play. I spend most of my playing time sitting down, so the swap out has made it much easier on my left hand, since I have to spend far less energy holding the bass up with my thumb. One of the old tuners was basically frozen stiff, so swapping them out has fixed that problem too!

BAD: I wrapped a pair of pliers with painter's tape to loosen the old tuners. All was well until I loosened the A string tuner. I heard a faint "crack" as I loosened that one, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Flipping the bass over, the neck finish had spiderwebbed around the bottom of the old tuner :( I don't think I have a problem that's deeper than the finish, but I'm almost afraid to know for sure. The bass stays tuned to pitch, and I played it for about an hour and didn't notice anything. Still, that was a scary moment!
 
#5,078
bigsnack said:
I the neck finish had spiderwebbed around the bottom of the old tuner :( I don't think I have a problem that's deeper than the finish, but I'm almost afraid to know for sure.
Click to expand...

The old thick gloss finish spiderwebbing from the tuners is so common, of mine, all but two had done it, and so many pics out there of so many more.
Where did you get your Lights from?
 
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#5,079
Ah thanks for the vote of confidence, I was scared to death!

I actually ordered the lights directly from Schaller. I had to get my credit card company to put a temporary travel exception on my card, otherwise the charge would be automatically declined on a fraud warning. After that, the order went through and I got the tuners in just under 2 weeks. The bass really does feel completely different, I'm so glad I did it.
 

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