The construction quality of this bass is simply top-notch, as good as anything I've played. My previous Wals have been excellent in this regard, but this one seems even better. The neck nock joint is so tight you can't slide a piece of paper into it. The control cavity is clean and well-shielded. The hardware is high-quality. The woods are beautiful. The fretwork is excellent. And you've got to appreciate folks who make their own pickups, electronics, and hardware. All in all, just a beautiful peice of work.

The new, sleeker Mach III body corrects the only complaints I had about my older Wals. It's lighter, more compact, balances better and hangs better on a strap, and eliminates the old blocky neck heel. There is still a trace of a dead spot on the 7th fret, but it's so rare to find a wood-necked (or composite-necked bass, for that matter) without a bit of a dead spot somewhere that I can hardly fault it for that. Not everyone will appreciate the depth and slight V contour of the neck, but I've gotten very comfortable with it.

To me, the new Wals have one of the more elegant shapes out there, but it's not particularly distinctive in the way the older ones were. I'm not sure if I like that better or not. The shedua has some mild figuring, but is not as striking as some tops I've seen. The angled headstock looks a little odd on a 4--it made more sense on the 5. Still, I really like looking at it. ;-)

Wals, particularly the shedua ones, have a growly, kick-ass tone that's perfect for rock. Nothing else I've owned cuts through the same way. The shedua is even more aggressive than the other Wals I've had, while still being very full--makes my Demeter pre sound like an SVT! OTOH, that agressive tone can be a bit difficult to tame--it's not going to be to everyone's taste. The tone controls allow for pretty radical tone shaping, but somehow that basic Wal sound comes through no matter what you do.

In short, this is the most refined of the Wal designs. It's an extremely high-quality instrument with a unique voice. Not everyone's cup of tea, but for those that want "that sound", nothing else will do.

Construction	98%
(Nothing's perfect! )
Appearance	90%
Playability	98%
(Not quite as fast as my Curbow, but plays and balances wonderfully)
Sound	95%
(100% if you're playing rock!)
Value	90%
(Hard to say that a $3k instrument is an exception "value", not matter how goo
d it is)
Overall	95%