Wal is a brand of
electric bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
manufactured by Electric Wood Ltd. in
High WycombeHigh Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was started in 1974 by electronics expert Ian Waller and
luthierA luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
Pete Stevens. Wal basses are known for their exotic wood selection, custom electronics, superb playability and excellent quality.
History
Early custom basses were purchased by leading bass players from the London studio circuit, such as John G. Perry, who purchased the first Wal bass. Another early instrument, a triple necked bass, was purchased by
Rick WakemanRichard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
for his bassist, Roger Newell, to use at the
Journey to the Centre of the EarthJourney to the Centre of the Earth is the second album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released through A&M Records in May 1974. The album is a live recording from his second of two sold-out concerts on 18 January 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall in London...
concerts. The bass was later given to
Chris SquireChristopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire , is an English musician, known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.-Before Yes:...
of
YesYes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and is now on loan to the
Hard Rock CafeHard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
. Later, a short run of semi-custom models (designated the JG series after the owner of the first model,
John GustafsonJohn "Gus" Gustafson also known as Johnny Gustafson is an influential bass player who has had a thirty eight year recording and live performance career...
) featured hand-tooled leather scratchplates. Owners of these models included
John EntwistleJohn Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
,
Mark DavisEmmure is an American band formed in 2003, originally based in Connecticut, but now residing in Queens, New York. The group has a total of seven releases...
, Stayton Heyward,
Paul SimononPaul Gustave Simonon is an English musician and artist best known as the bass guitarist for punk rock band The Clash. Recent work includes his involvement in the album The Good, the Bad & the Queen with Damon Albarn, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, released in January 2007...
,
Gary TibbsGary Tibbs is a bass guitarist and actor, who appeared in the film Breaking Glass, alongside Hazel O'Connor....
, Alan Spenner and
Percy JonesPercy Jones is a Welsh bass guitarist, and was a member of jazz fusion band Brand X, from 1974 to 1980, and a reformed version which lasted from 1992 to 1997...
.
The first full production range of Wal basses appeared in 1978 as the "Pro Series." These basses followed the basic design specifications of the JG series (solid ash body, maple, hornbeam and Amazonian hard wood neck and rosewood fingerboard) but replaced the leather scratchplate with a large plastic one. The Pro Series were superseded by the Custom Series in 1983. This introduced the laminated bodies now standard with Wal basses. Various woods such as American walnut, schedua/hydua, padauk and wenge were offered as standard thick laminates over a mahogany core. During the 1980s the range was expanded to introduce 5 and 6 string models and three distinct but similar body shapes - commonly referred to as Mark 1 (the original Custom 4 string style), Mark 2 and Mark 3. Other rare models were also available periodically, including a midi-bass (the MB4 & MB5) and a simplified passive model.
Death of founder, restart
In 1988 Ian Waller died of a heart attack, after which Pete Stevens continued running the business. Stevens worked as a sole trader with little or no additional workforce, causing Wal basses to become in very limited supply. Their scarcity, coupled with their high demand, makes the instruments notoriously difficult to obtain.
In the third quarter of 2007, it was revealed that Pete Stevens, due to health problems, would no longer personally build these basses. The official Wal website also shut down, claiming practical reasons. However, Stevens was optimistic about future production of Wal basses, seeking a luthier to resume production.
On August 20, 2008, it was announced that Wal basses are back in business with a new luthier (Paul Herman, who had already worked at Wal) clearing backorders and getting pending repairs done. Paul Herman launched a new website on October 5, 2009, inviting new order enquiries for the unchanged Custom series of bass guitars.
Notable Wal owners
- Jeff Ament
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- Mark King
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- Chris Bostock
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- Anthony - aka Tony - Brooks [1st 5-string WAL MIDI bass]
- Ian Burden
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- Jean-Jacques Burnel
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- Nacho Cano
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- Justin Chancellor
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- Dean Garcia
- Peter Collins
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- Mark Davis
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- Colin Edwin
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- Andrew Eldritch
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- Flea
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)
- Leigh Gorman
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- Nigel Griggs
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- Martin Hannett
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- Jonas Hellborg
Jonas Hellborg is a Swedish bass guitarist. He has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Michael Shrieve, V. Selvaganesh, Mattias IA Eklundh and Buckethead....
- Jan Hellman
- Stayton Heyward
- Kev Hopper
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- Jeph Howard
- Percy Jones
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- Mick Karn
Andonis Michaelides , better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982....
- Martin Kemp
- Justin Keyser
- James Paylor
- John Taylor
- Gary Tibbs
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- Bob Knarley
- Geddy Lee
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(used a number of custom models)
- Danny Lohner
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- Jennifer Maidman
- Mark Manley
- Solon McDade
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- Paul McCartney
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- Justin Meldal-Johnsen
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- Colin Moulding
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- Jason Newsted
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- Mike Oldfield
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- Paul Raven
- Matt Rendell (author)
- Sam Rivers
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- Hansford Rowe
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- Paul Simonon
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- Robbie Sloan
- Mark Smith
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- Phil Soussan
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- Alan Spenner
- Chris Squire
Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire , is an English musician, known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.-Before Yes:...
- Stan Stammers
Stan Stammers is best known as the bass player for British post punk band Theatre of Hate, Spear Of Destiny and Plastic Eaters co. founded with Robdaly. In 1999 Stammers and Plastic Eaters gained an artist sponsorship from Adidas. Stan uses Wal basses produced by renowned bass manufacturer ...
- Bruce Thomas
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- Daniel Tunér
- Kerem Tüzün
- Özkan Uğur
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- Keith Holden
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- Steve Walters
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- Simon Jones
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- Colin Greenwood
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- John Paul Jones
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- Sean Hawkins
- Twostring
- peter lindemere
External links