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Wal bass owners...

Musicman1901

Musicman1901

Jun 1, 2012
2,190
2,183
Rochester, NY
#1
Hello everybody, I am interested in purchasing a Wal and had a few questions for those who own wals... First off what is the process of buying like? Do you need a down payment then you sit on the waiting list until your name comes up? How does the shipping go. I have never shipped internationally before and am nervous to start with a 5000 dollar item. Lastly were there custom charges for bringing it in from England. Overall i guess im really wondering if its worth the hassle to order new or if I would be better off buying a used Wal. That being said about how much do used Wal mkII's usually go for? If anybody is selling one or knows of somebody trying to sell one please let me know what your asking for it. Thank you so much everybody!
 
#3
I dont have one, yet, but I did talk extensively to Paul Herman about ordering one. You do have to give them a down payment. Then it takes approximately 1 year to have it produced and delivered (or at least thats how long it was at the time). And shipping and import charges as well. Paul can tell you exactly how much that would be. When my time comes (soon...) I am going to look for a good used one first and if I cant get what I want that way, I will go the new route.
 
#4
Starting price on a MkII with no options is £3850, which translates to $6250 right now. That's before shipping and Customs fee. Paul declares full new value on shipments so figure another ~900 bucks when the Customs/shipping bill arrives.
The last time I talked with Paul (couple months ago) the current wait time 19 months.
 
#6
Caca de Kick said:
Starting price on a MkII with no options is £3850, which translates to $6250 right now. That's before shipping and Customs fee. Paul declares full new value on shipments so figure another ~900 bucks when the Customs/shipping bill arrives.
The last time I talked with Paul (couple months ago) the current wait time 19 months.
Click to expand...

True...I ordered a month ago a Wal mkII: £3850 wait time 19 months...
 
#7
Well, I had 2 wal that I bought used, Paul herman took between 2 to 6 month to answer my emails... I personally don't get that. I am not saying it's a habit, and maybe i was unlucky, but for such a legendary company to have no customer service, is nothing less than shocking... And yes sorry, for me, to have an answer after 2 month, is NOT customer service. Yes I understand the guy may be overloaded with work.. but that's not a reason...

just my 2 cents... :)

cheers
 
#9
I don't get it.....I mean I do but I don't. I simply couldn't sit there and wait years for my bass to be built.... I am scratching my head thinking.....if Wal are in such high demand then feed the supply and get more people to help hammer them out in greater numbers.....like Sadowsky. Is it that the owner can't be bothered ?
 
#13
Go for a new one. The sooner you order it, the sooner you'll have it.

You've waited this long already, what's another year and seven months??

Only drawback is that it looks like when it's all said and done, you're paying around $7,000.00......but after a downpayment of probably around half??...you then only need to come up with the other $3,500.00 in 19 months...

I ordered my MK 1 Geddy Lee bass on 4/3/93 from The Bass Centre in Studio City, CA.
Ordered to the same specs as Geddy's bass (as close as humanly possible).
Only thing different is I received a yellow logo and not a white one like Geddy has on his.
The bass was $2598.00, the case was another $385.00 (awesome flight case, they wouldn't ship it to me without it...too many UPS damage claims)
shipping to me via UPS $60.00

TOTAL $3,043.00!!!

Received it at the end of July, 1993. Only three months!

Granted, it was in 1993 and that was darn expensie then, but I'm glad I got it because I'd have no way to afford one nowdays.

Pics when you get yours!
 
#14
4001 said:
Granted, it was in 1993 and that was darn expensie then,
Click to expand...

Heck yeah that was. I remember being in the Bass Centre store in Studio City probably around '94 and trying out a new black Mk I. $3200 was what they quoted then. I did finally get a black one many years later, but at much higher $...or maybe once you figure the inflation it's about the same.
But it's the same with Spectors and Foderas, back in the early 90's the retail prices were half of what they are now too.
 

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