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Wal Bass Club.

#6,301
geshel said:
I've never heard that the pickup spacing was different.
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I just found my notes of my measurements of my 4strings. Measured from the edge of the bridge to the row of pickup poles closest to the neck:
Mk1 = 140 mm
Mk2 = 130 mm
Mk3 = 132.3 mm

Then measured forward poles on front pickup to rearward poles on rear pickup (pickup spacing):
Mk1 = 111 mm
Mk2 = 103 mm
Mk3 = 103 mm

So in actuality, the Mk2 4 string pickups are closest to the bridge. The Mk3 not too much different, but even tho the two basses have the same spacing, that means both pickups on the Mk3 are about 2.3mm further away from the bridge than the Mk2.

I still haven't measured my 5strings for comparison, mainly because my Mk2 5 is a prototype bass and the pickup placement is totally different as well as the pickups themselves are narrower, so its totally different than the newer bass.
 
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#6,303
jwr said:
So I just noticed that the new Wal Basses are now down from about 6 plus k to 5977.71 for the MK1 line.


The British Pound is now worth .77 to the 1 USD. Insane.

I wonder if companies like Wal will start upping prices to compensate for the loss?
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looks like you were right and Wal had yet another price hike. Mk1 pricing is now £4890. hope you guys who were thinking of a build had put the deposit down before this price hike went into play.
 
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#6,304
Question for you Wal owners. I'm a prospective future Wal owner, and I've been doing a lot of research on the preamp design, the different models, and just going through lots of old threads about them.

It seems to me that of the relatively small sample size of Wal basses I've seen in FS threads, quite a few of them have had neck problems. Broken truss rods, flexing under pressure, etc.? Is there any perceived fragility to the neck design of these basses? Has anyone here had any problems personally?
 
#6,305
I've owned many Wals, and never had any difficulty with the necks, nor do I recall seeing many ads for Wals with neck problems. Can you point to any examples? I don't think Wals are subject to any precific neck problems that are different from any other older instrument.

thehornedone said:
Question for you Wal owners. I'm a prospective future Wal owner, and I've been doing a lot of research on the preamp design, the different models, and just going through lots of old threads about them.

It seems to me that of the relatively small sample size of Wal basses I've seen in FS threads, quite a few of them have had neck problems. Broken truss rods, flexing under pressure, etc.? Is there any perceived fragility to the neck design of these basses? Has anyone here had any problems personally?
Click to expand...
 
#6,306
mikezimmerman said:
I've owned many Wals, and never had any difficulty with the necks, nor do I recall seeing many ads for Wals with neck problems. Can you point to any examples? I don't think Wals are subject to any precific neck problems that are different from any other older instrument.
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Thanks for the reply. Here's two I saw today. I believe there was 1 other listing for one that had a neck issue I saw the other day. So 3 out of maybe 20 listings I've seen.

Wal MKIII 2006 Sequoia Red Wood

SOLD - Wal MK-III 5-String ,200
 
#6,307
^This
IME with all the Wals I've had owned, not one had neck issues. Necks are pretty solid to a point where making adjustments between seasons is hardly/if not required unlike other brand basses I own. Doing rounds on the Wals I own too, they keep in tune out of the case.

As far as the small sample you may have seen. i would say its more of a "user error" type thing more than anything perhaps from previous owners - either by stringing their basses above standard pitch, doing a modification and "shaving" the neck to a point where it affects the stability of the neck, or carelessly adjusting the trussrod to a point where it breaks. I really would have to disagree that its a neck design issue.
 
#6,309
kulit17 said:
^This
IME with all the Wals I've had owned, not one had neck issues. Necks are pretty solid to a point where making adjustments between seasons is hardly/if not required unlike other brand basses I own. Doing rounds on the Wals I own too, they keep in tune out of the case.

As far as the small sample you may have seen. i would say its more of a "user error" type thing more than anything perhaps from previous owners - either by stringing their basses above standard pitch, doing a modification and "shaving" the neck to a point where it affects the stability of the neck, or carelessly adjusting the trussrod to a point where it breaks. I really would have to disagree that its a neck design issue.
Click to expand...


Thanks. It was just an observation, so I wanted to get current owners' feedback before I invest $6k in a Wal. You say that Wal necks seem to be more stable than most basses between seasons. If that's the case, I wonder if truss adjustment could be more sensitive. If the wood is stiffer than most necks, the same amount of adjustment on the truss rod would create more tension. So, if someone went to adjust the truss rod as they would a Fender, let's say, then perhaps it would be more likely to damage the Wal. You would have to take the adjustment slower if the neck is stiffer. That could explain the prevalence of user error, perhaps.
 
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#6,311
Just like any other bass, you're not supposed to crank on the truss to pull the neck into shape. You flex/bend the neck to the desired straightness with one hand and hold it in place, and then with your other hand adjust the truss nut to lock it into place. That goes for every bass you adjust, not just a Wal. So yeah, the ones that got fixed, I chocked up to user error.
As for seasons, the ones I do adjust it only takes about a 1/16th of a turn.
 
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#6,312
thehornedone said:
Thanks. It was just an observation, so I wanted to get current owners' feedback before I invest $6k in a Wal. You say that Wal necks seem to be more stable than most basses between seasons. If that's the case, I wonder if truss adjustment could be more sensitive. If the wood is stiffer than most necks, the same amount of adjustment on the truss rod would create more tension. So, if someone went to adjust the truss rod as they would a Fender, let's say, then perhaps it would be more likely to damage the Wal. You would have to take the adjustment slower if the neck is stiffer. That could explain the prevalence of user error, perhaps.
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I don't really think it's any more stiff or stable than any other modern multi-laminate neck, and it doesn't have graphite reinforcement so it's less stiff than some. But of the 3 ads mentioned, one was damaged due to a "jealous wife" and there was all kinds of other damage to the bass as well. In another, the person indicates that the previous owner seems to have tuned the bass to E-C with strings guaged for B-G, so the neck and headstock were warped.
 
#6,313
mikezimmerman said:
But of the 3 ads mentioned, one was damaged due to a "jealous wife" and there was all kinds of other damage to the bass as well. In another, the person indicates that the previous owner seems to have tuned the bass to E-C with strings guaged for B-G, so the neck and headstock were warped.
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Of course, I'm just observing it at an aggregated level. I never seemed to see basses listed with truss rod or neck issues until I started shopping for Wals. You have to figure that every other Fender, EBMM, Spector, etc. out there is subject to the same amount of abuse as a Wal, if not more. Then again, if you snapped the neck or damaged the truss on your run of the mill Precision Bass, you'd just throw the neck out for a new one, which isn't possible with a Wal, so maybe that's the real reason for my observation.
 
#6,315
When did the prices increase?

Standard prices start at:

Wal 4-string Mk1 - £4890
Wal 4-string Mk2 - £5110 (5 string version optional)
Wal 4-string Mk3 - £5110 (5 and 6 strings versions optional)
 
#6,316
I agree with kulit17, Caca de Kick, and mikezimmerman..
kulit17 said:
WPA (wal public announcement)
paypal conversion rate: 1 USD = 0.744102GBP
good time to send a payment ;)
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I juuussst saw that this morning as well good sir. Annnndd then I saw the price increase on the Wal site. I'm thinking thats the reason for the price increase.. The whole brexit currency fluctuation thing :***:
 
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