General Wal music magazine adverts from through the years...

General Wal music magazine adverts from through the years...

Throughout their history Electric Wood, the company behind Wal Basses (in effect Ian, Pete and maybe a couple of sleeping partners) took out ads in the national music press. For many years it was just a very bijou Wal add nestling in the paid ads at the back of Guitarist Magazine. Minimalist but with all the info that a keen Wal-hunter needed. However, some where a little more all singing and all dancing. Including those featuring their celebrity endorsers... John Entwistle, Percy Jones and Laurence Cottle.

A few of those adverts are attached below for your enjoyment...

“Chris Squire” Custom Triple Neck Wal feature - "Bassist" magazine 1999

Photo credit: Richard Nixon

The “Chris Squire” Custom Triple Neck Wal

Transcript from "Bassist" magazine 1999. Roger Newell

Inspired by all the revelations in Bassist's Wal Special, I thought it time to reveal the details of one of Rocks Progressive icons - the Wal Triple Neck bass. Built for me, but later made much more famous by Yes' Chris Squire, between us it was used in some of the largest venues in the world, and made its last appearance with Chris on the Union tour featuring Yes's mega eight-man line-up, where it sounded as impressive as ever. Its beginnings were somewhat humble in comparison, though...

The Idea

The man to thank - or blame - for the idea was Rick Wakeman. We met at my local pub in Buckinghamshire, where I often jammed with friends on a Sunday night for a free pint. Rick lived nearby, sat in on keyboards one night and had so much fun, it became a regular occurrence. Much to our surprise, he adopted most of this band for the Journey To the Centre Of The Earth gig, which was recorded and when subsequently released, hit the top of the album charts.

We'd rehearsed the Journey set and performed the Festival Hall show during a three-week holiday from my day job, but a number one album cannot he ignored. Plus, uneasy with the musical direction of Yes on Topographic Oceans, Rick left Yes and hired us...

By the time of the follow-up album, King Arthur, we'd done a lot of touring, particularly in America, and were riding the crest of a progressive and conceptual wave.

Photos of Ian "Wal" Waller and Pete "The Fish" Stevens

That's it really. Just an opportunity to post in one place some photos of two of the best bass builders this country has and will ever see...

Pete "The Fish" Stevens

Ian "Wal" Waller

For more shots of these fine men please continue below...

Bassist magazine feature, January 2000 - "My bass(es) are... Four Wals"

My Basses are...   Four Wals

Steve Weston wanted a Wal. Then he wanted another. And another. Then? Well, we'll let him tell you...

I will never forget the first time I heard a Wal, it was in 1983 and being very ably played by Colin Bass of Camel. I'd had a number of basses over the years, Rickenbacker, Fender, Ibanez etc, but had never quite managed to capture that elusive sound that I wanted from any of them. Anyway there I was watching Camel and I was suddenly being blown away by this amazing bass, loud in the mix without being overpowering, driving, clear and very tight. I decided then and there that I had to have one.

Anyway as it turned out, deciding I had to have one was the easy bit. It actually took me two years of saving, gigging on reduced curry and beer intake (slightly) before I had enough cash to realise my dream, a 1984 Custom 4 string purchased from a reluctant seller in London.

The bass as it was then had a Mahogany body, Electric Wood standard, with Walnut facings and an ebony fretless fingerboard, great looks, and yes, it had that great fretless Wal sound which suited me exactly at the time due to the material we were playing. I later had luthier Pete the Fish at Electric Wood make me a fretted neck so I had some opportunity to change style from time to time. In one form or the other it was my only bass for the next 6/7 years and it never let me down once.