On Saturday, August 5, 1995 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, BSC wrote:
> From August '95 interview in BASS PLAYER magazine:
> "To do this song, we took a cassette of John's, not multitracked,
> but exactly like *that*," he says, pointing at my little Sony
> recorder. "It was him and piano, interlocked. You couldn't pull the
> fader down and get rid of the piano--they're there. And I mean--
> not being boastful--with [producer] Jeff Lynne, we did a really good
> job. We recorded it here: me, George, and Ringo. I played the Wal, and
> what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way,
> because I didn't want to 'feature.' There are one or two moments where
> I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. There's
> one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C
> of the 5-string--and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I
> like, rather than just bassing out and being low, low, low. I play
> normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It
> actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff,
> but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment."

There's a photograph of McCartney playing his 5-string Wal, onstage with Stevie Wonder, in the Stories Behind the Songs book.

Those basses were extremely popular in the UK in the 1980s, and they caught on for a time in North America after Geddy Lee embraced them. The Los Angeles branch of the Bass Centre boasted about carrying Wals.

Then they ceased to be popular, seemingly overnight. AFAIK, McCartney never used one again after that Threetles thing. Geddy Lee switched back to his old Fender Jazz bass.

Used Wals occasionally come up for sale in the $10,000 range.

On 5/06/2022 12:11 am, Norbert K wrote:
> On Saturday, August 5, 1995 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, BSC wrote:
>> From August '95 interview in BASS PLAYER magazine:
>> "To do this song, we took a cassette of John's, not multitracked,
>> but exactly like *that*," he says, pointing at my little Sony
>> recorder. "It was him and piano, interlocked. You couldn't pull the
>> fader down and get rid of the piano--they're there. And I mean--
>> not being boastful--with [producer] Jeff Lynne, we did a really good
>> job. We recorded it here: me, George, and Ringo. I played the Wal, and
>> what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way,
>> because I didn't want to 'feature.' There are one or two moments where
>> I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. There's
>> one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C
>> of the 5-string--and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I
>> like, rather than just bassing out and being low, low, low. I play
>> normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It
>> actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff,
>> but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment."
>
> There's a photograph of McCartney playing his 5-string Wal, onstage with Stevie Wonder, in the Stories Behind the Songs book.
>
> Those basses were extremely popular in the UK in the 1980s, and they caught on for a time in North America after Geddy Lee embraced them. The Los Angeles branch of the Bass Centre boasted about carrying Wals.
>
> Then they ceased to be popular, seemingly overnight. AFAIK, McCartney never used one again after that Threetles thing. Geddy Lee switched back to his old Fender Jazz bass.
>
> Used Wals occasionally come up for sale in the $10,000 range.

Wal was 'just' one brand (an early one) of many niche basses that are
commonplace and as popular as ever, if not moreso.

4, 5, or practically however many strings you can imagine ~

geoff

On Sunday, June 5, 2022 at 12:11:08 AM UTC-4, geoff wrote:
> On 5/06/2022 12:11 am, Norbert K wrote:
> > On Saturday, August 5, 1995 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, BSC wrote:
> >> From August '95 interview in BASS PLAYER magazine:
> >> "To do this song, we took a cassette of John's, not multitracked,
> >> but exactly like *that*," he says, pointing at my little Sony
> >> recorder. "It was him and piano, interlocked. You couldn't pull the
> >> fader down and get rid of the piano--they're there. And I mean--
> >> not being boastful--with [producer] Jeff Lynne, we did a really good
> >> job. We recorded it here: me, George, and Ringo. I played the Wal, and
> >> what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way,
> >> because I didn't want to 'feature.' There are one or two moments where
> >> I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. There's
> >> one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C
> >> of the 5-string--and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I
> >> like, rather than just bassing out and being low, low, low. I play
> >> normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It
> >> actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff,
> >> but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment."
> >
> > There's a photograph of McCartney playing his 5-string Wal, onstage with Stevie Wonder, in the Stories Behind the Songs book.
> >
> > Those basses were extremely popular in the UK in the 1980s, and they caught on for a time in North America after Geddy Lee embraced them. The Los Angeles branch of the Bass Centre boasted about carrying Wals.
> >
> > Then they ceased to be popular, seemingly overnight. AFAIK, McCartney never used one again after that Threetles thing. Geddy Lee switched back to his old Fender Jazz bass.
> >
> > Used Wals occasionally come up for sale in the $10,000 range.
> Wal was 'just' one brand (an early one) of many niche basses that are
> commonplace and as popular as ever, if not moreso.
>
> 4, 5, or practically however many strings you can imagine ~
>
> geoff

Yeah, they even built a doubleneck -- one fretted, one fretless -- bass for Jonas Hellborg. I wouldn't be into something so unwieldy.

I'm a bit surprised McCartney went for a 5-string, especially when he admittedly only used the B string for that one chord.