This ad is for a 2006 WAL MKIII 5 String bass, hand made in England by Pete Stevens. It has a very rare, one of a kind Sequoia "Giant Redwood" top that the customer supplied to have this bass made for him. It is a 24 fret instrument with Rosewood fingerboard and a gloss finish.
This bass has a nice balanced feel , is relatively light,compared to my MKII's and has a great WAL tone. I have wrestled with selling this bass several times but finally decided to. Mostly because I prefer a MKII to the MKIII , but there is an issue I would like to disclose about this bass as I don't want any potential buyer to be unhappy with the purchase.
A bit of history about this bass....I was sold this instrument by an unscrupulous seller that didn't disclose the issue with this bass. I believe that seller caused damage to this bass by re-stringing this bass "E A D G C" and tuned it above standard pitch causing extremely high tension on the headstock and neck causing it to twist. He shipped the bass to me unstrung, probably to hide the issue and it wasn't until I restrung it normally "B E A D G" that I saw the problem. It still played fairly well but he promptly changed his phone number so I couldn't reach him.
I contacted Mike Lull of Mike Lull's Custom Guitar Works because he has a good reputation working on WAL Basses. I sent this instrument to him and he corrected the problem by planing the fingerboard, re-fretting and Plecking the frets in a CNC Pleck machine. The side markers had to be moved down (see photo) and the headstock still has the twist, however it is not an issue( just cosmetic) and hasn't gotten any worse since it was been repaired about a year and a half ago. I looked into replacing the neck through Paul Herman at WAL and it is expensive, however I would do it if I really wanted to keep this bass...I prefer the MKII or MKI series to the MKIII. I also know a luthier that would make me a neck for half the price as WAL but still would rather just sell the bass at this point as the repair cost me quite a bit. I don't play the bass anymore as I prefer the MKII's and other basses that I need, specific for the shows that I do.
The only other issues are there are 2 minor dings in the clear coat (shown in photos) and some clear coat checking in the upper corner of the bridge. The Bass plays beautifully and sounds tremendous. The bass is missing a few screws on the back plate and comes in the original WAL branded dog bone case. Any questions or additional pictures I will answer but this is a final sale item....I have disclosed all issues and can't be shipping the instrument back and forth for people to try out....of course a local sale allows you to see the instrument before purchase.
