The Fretless Club (Part 3)

[BigBeatNut]

Originally Posted by chuck norriss

Ampeg amub1 not completely hollow but almost there.

The Italia Imola is a cheaper version of that, and there appears to be an unlined fretless option. It's debatable whether that's hollow though.

[Mojo-Man]

Really digging my new Tony Franklin Fretless.

But my Bluesman Vintage Guitars 1961-stack-knob Jazz,
With Epoxied fingerboard by HG Thor Labs is still #1.

[Temcat]

Originally Posted by BigBeatNut

The Italia Imola is a cheaper version of that, and there appears to be an unlined fretless option. It's debatable whether that's hollow though.

Interesting. What about the neck dive on it?

[Espresto]

Am I in?

[BigBeatNut]

Originally Posted by Temcat

Interesting. What about the neck dive on it?

No idea, not seen one in the flesh.

Originally Posted by Espresto

Am I in?

I would say so. Nice Natural/Tort is becoming one of my favourite combos.

[RandyMolson]

Originally Posted by skullservant

Here is mine! It's a 1978 Kramer 450B factory fretless. This one seems to be rather unusual because it's still got the fret indicators. My absolute favorite bass!

I am pretty sure Kramer put fingerboard dots on all of their lined fretless.

I like those Kramer lummie ebonol necks too. Mine is unlined.

[RandyMolson]

New members, your numbers will come out this weekend.

[mtb777]

Originally Posted by Matthew_84

I have to ask something. I don't have the money right now to do much about it.. I guess it's more of a rant.

How come I never see any stock unlined fretless hollowbodies? Hollowbodies are rare enough, lined fretlesses even rarer, but I don't think I've ever ran into an unlined hollowbody. Am I not the only one that wants something like this? The closest thing I can think of is Rob Allen, but they are way out of my budget, and I don't even know if that could be classed as a hollowbody.

Try tracking down a Tacoma Thunderchief. They are usually unlined. I've got an unlined fretless 5! very woody sounding.

[mtb777]

Originally Posted by skullservant

Here is mine! It's a 1978 Kramer 450B factory fretless. This one seems to be rather unusual because it's still got the fret indicators. My absolute favorite bass!

I played one of those for a while. Great playing basses with the aluminum and wood neck much like the Travis Bean basses and guitars. Lined fretless.

[skullservant]

Thanks everyone!

The neck is so fast because of the ebonol, I love it. And the jangle of the strings and definition is so unreal. Nothing shakes the walls quite like my 450.

Randy, LOVE your Kramer. Never seen one quite like it, did you do some mods to it? IE- the Jazz pickup and swapping the middle pickup? I've seen a few with just a middle Kramer pickup with the crome cover which looked very similar

[Matches]

Last year I bought a Tony Franklin signature bass. It is by far my favorite bass and I play it constantly. I had some modifications done
and added a BA II, Quarter Pounder pups, and had a polyester coating applied to the neck. I can't see myself parting with this bass.

[Gabriel51]

I bought this fretless Dean while waiting for the right fretless Spector a few days ago and I was impressed so I thought I would share my experience with this bass.
First thing I noticed how similar the neck was to my Rebop and then discovered here on TB that it is made in the same Korean factory as the Legend, I also noticed how well it is made for it's price point so I decided to just keep it.
I epoxied the neck with a quality two part epoxy because I run round wound strings on everything and rounds eat up Rosewood.
So I thought I would tell you guys about this in case you may be looking for a inexpensive way to fretless.
I paid 200 for it used (not a mark on it) and I think they go for about 500 new?
It's a 35" scale, 5 piece neck with real Gotoh tuners and Dean electronics, the pups sound like Hz's with a good sounding pre.
I have a spare Tone Pump to put in it but it sounds great like it is. (posted in the spector thread also)

[BassBus]

Nice looking machine. Very F bassish.

[RandyMolson]

814 TCaetano
815 thebbconspiracy
816 skullservant
817 kokorollc
818 Espresto
819 Matches
820 Gabriel51

[RandyMolson]

Originally Posted by skullservant

Randy, LOVE your Kramer. Never seen one quite like it, did you do some mods to it? IE- the Jazz pickup and swapping the middle pickup? I've seen a few with just a middle Kramer pickup with the crome cover which looked very similar

Thanks, and you are correct this is souped up! The OEM single coil was swapped and the jazz pickup at the bridge is added. Both are active EMGs. Jack was moved to side of body to make room for second volume pot.

[skullservant]

Neato! I bet they make a great bass sound even better. It looks beautiful, I love the black guard on the light wood.

[mtb777]

Ken makes some truly incredible stuff that usually out of the box and just really organic. A true craftsman. Always had been a pleasure watch the construction of his projects on his FaceBook page. Very nice stuff.

[kulit17]

my newest acquisition. this is my second fretless I have owned. With my first one, I gave it up easily trying to learn and play it - but with this acquisition, I'm hoping to add fretless bass playing into my repertoire. just to make it official i'd like a number.

[RandyMolson]

821 kulit17

[jweber76]

Could we see a shot of the whole bass please? Looks awesome!