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Advice Needed on Custom Building a LH Fretless Bass

Leftybassist4

Leftybassist4

Dec 28, 2011
47
12
#1
I have been shopping for a fretless, left-handed bass guitar for over a month without much luck. I currently play a 5 string active Ibanez with Nordstrands, and a Gibson Thunderbird. I used to have a cheap electric upright, but it has fallen apart. So, I am really jonesin' for a fretless. The options I have so far are:

1) Ordering an Indonesian Sire Marcus Miller ($700-$800). Options here are the body wood (alder or swamp ash), and style (P bass or J bass). I am thinking an alder jazz would sound best fretless? Build time 2-3 months.

2) Ordering an American made, G&L L2000 (~$1800) or SB-2 (~$1500). L2000 has the double humbuckers with all the push/pull, series/parallel, blend, pre-amp goodness. SB-2 has the neck P and bridge J pickup combo. Other options are rosewood or ebony (+150) on the fingerboard.

3) Other custom shops recommended for fretless? I've poked around on the internet, most I find are in the +$2500 range, which I think is out of my budget.

4) Wait for a six string, LH, fretless, Korean made Wolf bass to show up again in the US. ($600).

The G&L is right on the line of what I'm willing to pay to add a fretless to my collection. I really don't know much about fretless though, and am in need of advice on tone woods, pick-up selection, number of strings, pairings, etc. I am up for placing an order soon, but I have ZERO opportunity to play my options beforehand (don't even start with the "go down to your local music store and give them all a try" speech ). Anyone's experience and advice with fretless and/or the brands I'm looking at buying from would be appreciated.
 
#2
As a fellow lefty? Warmoth is your friend. I ordered a neck, body, and various bits and pieces for a "mini-me" short scale clone of my '78 Precision Bass. Beautiful bass when it was put together, and plays like a dream. And, including having it put together by the luthier at Cowtown Guitars here in Vegas, it set me back just about $1500. The trick with Warmoth is Iron Self Control. Decide what you want (and take your time, too); write it down; and do not deviate from it. It's real easy to start out with a budget and the best of intentions; then get sucked in by all those options; and wind up with an $800 neck and an $700 body. Which is perfectly fine, if that's what you want - and you can afford it. But, if you sit down; plan your bass out; and stick with the plan? You'll be a happy camper. The bass will have a very low re-sale value (Warmoths, alas, always do), but you will be happy...:thumbsup:
 
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#3
I could not think of 3-4 more different basses than you listed. I think personally I would parts-bass together as cheaply as possible to (1) see if you even like it; and (2) minimize losses if you don't. How about starting with Fender/Warmoth/Allparts bodies and necks through either Reverb, eBay or the Stratosphere first?
 
#7
I'll check out Warmoth, but it puts me in the same boat: Say I go with Warmoth or Kiesel, is swamp ash or alder a better tone wood for fretless? Does a P/J split offer a nice clean sound for fretless? Will humbuckers be too much? Ebony or rosewood on the fingerboard? Maybe there is no consensus to these questions, but I want to know more about how things may pair together to produce a nice, clean "mwah" tone.
 
#9
I just bought a 90's American G&L SB-2 fretless. I didn't expect to buy anything when I walked into the store, but this bass sounded too good to pass up. The pickups are string, have great punch, and the neck was effortless to play on. In the past, I have played a fretless L-2000, and while it sounds good, those MFD pickups are a better match for fretted ones.

I owned a Sire P7 fretless 5 string recently as well. The Sire is a great bass, without a doubt, though I felt it was full and authoritative sounding, it doesn't pull off the articulation that the G&L has (a nut or hardware upgrade could be the key to unlocking that on the Sire).

Tonewoods on a fretless bass can be tricky, but mostly follow the same logic as their fretted cousins. I would definitely avoid using only bright tonewoods that obscure fundamental tones in favor of overtones. A mix between brighter and warmer in various combinations is preferable. The strings make a hell of a difference. I go with La Bella flatwounds: best of all worlds and effortless to glide up and down on.
 
#10
Leftybassist4 said:
I'll check out Warmoth, but it puts me in the same boat: Say I go with Warmoth or Kiesel, is swamp ash or alder a better tone wood for fretless? Does a P/J split offer a nice clean sound for fretless? Will humbuckers be too much? Ebony or rosewood on the fingerboard? Maybe there is no consensus to these questions, but I want to know more about how things may pair together to produce a nice, clean "mwah" tone.
Click to expand...
Check out sound samples of a Fender Tony Franklin Fretless PJ. (though Tony himself likes to use a bit of overdrive in his Fretless signal)
Also, there are but a fistful of L2000/L2500 Fretless videos floating around. They sound tremendous... If I could do it all over again, I'd probably have both L2500 fretted and Fretless basses, and calling a day.


typically, ebony is the preferred Fretless fingerboard wood due to its resilience when not coated with epoxy. EBMM uses Pau Ferro as a Fretless fingerboard wood, which I have experience with on a 94 Fretless Stingray I owned. It was glorious. But some people don't like it for its looks when rosewood is a choice.

I currently put a Fretless parts bass together using a Warmoth maple neck with ebony fingerboard. I like it.
"Mwah" has a lot to do with how the bass is set up. Low action with a straight neck.
 
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