With the weather warming up I think it's about time for another family photo with the white picket fence
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With the weather warming up I think it's about time for another family photo with the white picket fence
Okay I have to ask, when were your instruments built? Paul finished my Mk II in late 2015 and at the time, he said he was not able to offer fretboard LED's. I love the look of your green burst.
Cheers,
Sims led's were offered during the Pete era.
Clearly, there is some bad moods between Paul and Sims, he wont deal with him.
You can ship your bass all the way back to Sims in England and have them installed. But if you have a new bass nearing completion, Paul will not send it to him.
Clearly, there is some bad moods between Paul and Sims, he wont deal with him.
You can ship your bass all the way back to Sims in England and have them installed. But if you have a new bass nearing completion, Paul will not send it to him.
Exactly what caca said. Both those basses are Pete era basses. If you want LEDs, it'll cost about $1400-1600 when it's all set and done with cost of the mod and shipping back and forth. The drawback IMO is custom charges.....:***:
Could potentially be a huge headache
Hmmm.. Thanks for the info. I would be a little sketched having anyone mod a Wal other than Paul or Philip ya know? I posted this pic a while back, I'm guessing the reason Paul doesn't offer LED's currently is they build necks in batches, and then pick from this rack of ready to go necks. I imagine installing the wires/LED's properly in the neck lamination process really affects build time and efficiency. He said he lets the necks cure for a significant amount of time before use which makes sense. Still, I'm hoping he'll say yes to LED's on a new build if I offer him a small stack of cash and tack on an extra year for the build time.
I'm pretty sure the reason Paul won't deal with Sims is because Sims new bass is a pretty blatant look-alike copy of a Mk2, reguardless the sound is different, the 4 string headstock shape is the same.
Ya, i'm not certain its a cash thing. Doing LED's isn't a thing Paul wants to get into - to my understanding at least. He will do Luminlay inlays if you want, but LEDs he seems to not care as far as adding it as on option for him to do.
As far as being sketched out, i wouldn't be totally concerned. Martin's no stranger to Wals. Not sure if you read this blurb from @TrevorR but its good read in regards to Martin's partnership with Pete for LEDs:
A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: Wal players discuss their basses - Martin Sims (Sims LEDs)
I have 6 total basses with SIMS LEDs - three basses with full front and side LEDs, and three others with side only LEDs. All look awesome and i don't see any degradation on the neck or bass itself. 4 of the basses i have were already fitted for it. My Sadowsky was an option I added on and Roger had sent it out to Martin during the build process. So I only had one instance where I was directly involved with Martin.....whole process was smooth except for the return shipping and customs. The retrofit on it looked great! I'd do it again for one of my Wals without LEDs, but I think if I were....It would be during a Euro trip. I'd coordinate with Martin to drop off the bass at the beginning of vacation and pick it up towards the back end of it before i fly back.
Anyhu, already thinking of another build are ya @Ccarson26 ?!?!?!
Ya, i'm not certain its a cash thing. Doing LED's isn't a thing Paul wants to get into - to my understanding at least. He will do Luminlay inlays if you want, but LEDs he seems to not care as far as adding it as on option for him to do.
As far as being sketched out, i wouldn't be totally concerned. Martin's no stranger to Wals. Not sure if you read this blurb from @TrevorR but its good read in regards to Martin's partnership with Pete for LEDs:
A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: Wal players discuss their basses - Martin Sims (Sims LEDs)
I have 6 total basses with SIMS LEDs - three basses with full front and side LEDs, and three others with side only LEDs. All look awesome and i don't see any degradation on the neck or bass itself. 4 of the basses i have were already fitted for it. My Sadowsky was an option I added on and Roger had sent it out to Martin during the build process. So I only had one instance where I was directly involved with Martin.....whole process was smooth except for the return shipping and customs. The retrofit on it looked great! I'd do it again for one of my Wals without LEDs, but I think if I were....It would be during a Euro trip. I'd coordinate with Martin to drop off the bass at the beginning of vacation and pick it up towards the back end of it before i fly back.
Anyhu, already thinking of another build are ya @Ccarson26 ?!?!?!
Thanks for the link.. Yeah I saw the History pages a while back but I didn't see the Martin Sims page. I would just be super concerned how he would physically route the wires/install LED's into a Wal neck that is already completed? He obviously does great work if Roger is sending his necks to him, still sounds concerning. I was down at the Alembic factory summer before last, and they showed me how they install and route the lighting system into their neck under the fretboard before its glued down. I'd be sweating bullets if someone was doing that kind of surgery on my Wal ya know? I'd love to see pics of your collection. So you have a Sadowsky, a few Wals, any other brands? And yes I probably will be placing another order with Paul before too long, probably a Mk II 5. There's no telling how many more years new Wals will be available. I thought I had missed the chance to get my hands on one back in the 2000's when the transition was taking place.
Roger, and from what I remember hearing, Warwick custom shop sends a completed neck to Martin to get LEDs retrofited. If you were to get LEDs on an Alembic or a status bass, both companies would charge an arm and a leg since they would lift the fingerboard and route a new channel. However, SIMs does it a different way. He does not remove the fingerboard.... there's an article somewhee online that explains it, that I'll try to find....but ya, that's kind of his niche speciality.
Ya I'll post a new family pic soon like @IngloriousOz requested. I have contractors working next week to build a new 18 x 20 deck in my backyard, so I'll use my new deck with white PVC railing as by back drop.
@kulit17
@Caca de Kick Do you guys know when the push/pull on/off pot was changed to switch on the pick attack feature? My bass doesn't have an on/off switch. Was just curious when the on/off feature was discontinued. Cheers,
@Caca de Kick Do you guys know when the push/pull on/off pot was changed to switch on the pick attack feature? My bass doesn't have an on/off switch. Was just curious when the on/off feature was discontinued. Cheers,
Yes here is an example of a 81' mk1 (frI'm FB). This is how the volume pot looked with the ones that had the on/off switch during that very short time period. It still had the pick attack for push/pull, but if you go pass '0' you'd here a click, switching the bass 'off'
@Ccarson26 here's that article:
Martin Sims
I know @Toolmybass and @BWorm got some side LED action going on a Wal as well
Here's a picture of the preamp in my '82 mk1 which has the on/off switch with push/pull for pick attack.
Wal folk - what is your favorite instrument cable/cable end to use on the 1/4 output? I'd kill to be able to use a right angle here, even with @kulit17s awesome mod video my mogami + neutriks hang too far out for comfort.
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