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Beginner Fretless bass?

#21
Peepaleep said:
Unlined necks are not suitable for beginners? How has anyone learned to play double bass, violin, cello, viola, etc?
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+1

This is spot on. My first fretless was unlined. Only took a short while to adapt to this new layout.

Fretless for me.... ok this is gonna sound corny.... set me free. Without frets I was more prone to adventure. I let my guard down and played more out of feel and ear rather being tight and rigid worrying about clean fret press and release. Cheers to you mate for giving fretless a go!
 
#23
MD said:
Respectfully, I have to disagree.
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I think he should have said 'not ideal'. Maybe other's will disagree, but I think that if I was making the switch from fretted to fretless I would definitely go for lines first. Not that it would be impossible to learn without the lines.

+1 on the Vintage; I played one at a local shop and was blown away, a fantastic piece of kit!
 
#24
I have had a few more costly fretless basses and did not really get into it. Tried the waters again and got the squier. At first I did not like it but had it setup by a pro who knows how I like my basses setup. This made a big difference and really enjoying it. Amazing how the quality of cheap basses has escalated.

have read that you should replace the pots. Have a set sitting in the shop waiting for a spare minute.
 
#25
George Mann said:
As for the current Rondo-sourced offerings, they are unlined necks, and therefore not suitable for beginners IMO.

Otherwise, they are great.
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Actually i've been playing upright now for a few months (with a great teacher and everything), but i also play electric. So the lines don't mean a thing to me, and some times they even hinder me. I'm sorry i forgot to mention that haha. I just figured i could get a cheaper fretless because i'm sick of my 6 string right now.
 
#31
Ok, So i looked into the ESP and it looks great, I would love to be able to balance my eq on the bass and maybe with a volume knob mod, i could really like it a lot more.

One more question though, Should i get a 6 string fretless instead? Seeing how i play 6 string fretted, maybe i should make the jump to the fretless version? and if i should which would be a good fretless 6 string to get?
 
#32
DiabolusInMusic said:
-1 on the Squier VM fretless, I got one for a cheap fretless and I regret it. They aren't very good. The fretboard lines are not properly leveled at the factory so in order to make it playable you have to take a radius block and sand the neck down. I have seen this issue on all 10 or so I have played personally. They also are too high at the nut to get a good setup. The pickups weren't my thing either and they do need to be shielded but that was the smallest of the issues

I personally recommend you look elsewhere unless you are comfortable doing work on it yourself.
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I was going to +1 this because I misread it thinking he was talking about the SXes.

I owned an SX jazz fretless (and a cheap yamaha fretless), and I couldn't get a decent setup on either. I believe it was due to the nut, but could have been many factors. No matter how much I tweaked and adjusted either of those basses, as soon as the action was at a comfortable height I'd get buzzes and other weird sounds. Almost like a chorus like sound. I was completely unsinspired by both. Never played them. Bought a fretless warwick, and couldn't put it down. But I know you're looking for a less expensive bass, so... we come to the squire....

Unlike diablos experience, I've picked a couple of these up in stores and came real close to buying, even though I wasn't looking to buy anything. The necks felt awesome to me, like much higher end basses, lots of mwah, good action... they were a lot fun to play.

So, since we've had such opposite experiences I'm going to guess that either one of us are nuts (which is quite possible :)), or these basses (like most) are a totally hit or miss thing. I'm going to go with the latter, and therefore suggest that you either try to find a fretless in a store that speaks to you, or order one with an excellent return/exchange policy. My final note on this is that I've owned several SXes and I'm not a fan. I think people rave because for $100 it's kinda hard to complain, but my feeling has always been if they dropped $250 - $300, SX lovers would be singing a bit of a different tune.
 
#34
Oh yeah... I never played one of these but I was always curious about them. They used to sell a lot on amazon, I think for a little bit cheaper, but it seems now they've been discontinued. Or at least I didn't find any other than this. Ya might wanna check it out. I love the way it looks, and it's a PJ. Invalid Link Removed
 
#35
Gintaras said:
Am I missing something or aren't we talking about the same bass. There is only one fretless Squier and it is the Vintage...

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Hi there. Yes I see the confusion..


The Squier fretless is from the Vintage Modified series.

The 'other' Vintage fretless everyone is referring to here is made by the company called 'Vintage' and the model is the V96 Icon fretless (Icon, as it is made to look like Jaco's bass of doom) Comes with bomb proof Wilkinson hardware and 60's spec pups.

Hope that clears things up.
 
#36
MD said:
Bottom line....
If you can hear/sing a major scale. Can hear the difference between a Major third and a minor third, lines don't mean squat.
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If I may add to this, if someone listens to fretless or singing but can't hear when the intonation is off, I would ask them to please not play fretless unless they plan to work on hearing/playing with correct intonation.
 
#37
My first fretless was a Squier VMF. It was decent, but the fret lines made it impossible for me to learn to play fretless. I know there are people who say "use your ears, not your eyes", but that takes time to develop. I still can't do it very well without using both.

For me, it was more about the lines, than the lack of them. When playing a fretted bass, your fingers apply pressure between the lines. With fretless playing, you apply finger pressure on the lines. This Jedi mind-fake caused me all kinds of trouble. When I got my unlined...that all resolved.

Another important element of my fretless play was immersion. I didn't play any fretted basses for months while I became accustomed to the blank plank. At first, I played it like a fretted bass, and it sounded like one. As I gradually learned the nuances, it sounded more like a fretless and with better intonation.
 
#38
Oh lord no Joe, I don't believe the hype about SX fretted basses, even the SX guys hate SX fretless basses. No way am I taking the SX plunge.

If you want to read more about the Squier VM fretless jazz, find the most disappointing bass I have ever played thread. The last time I checked the thread (quite a while ago admittedly) the Squier VM fretless seemed to be the most disappointing bass. Go to your local shop, before you even play it run your fingers along the board, you will feel a pronounced fret with each line.

I'd like to believe there are decent ones out there though, I just have yet to see a single one. I do keep looking though, just like those "better than MIA Squiers" and "perfect 34 scale B strings" that seem to be more elusive than a white unicorn.

If you do go for the Squier, play it first, not everybody hates them. I got mine from MF and I am in Canada so it wasn't worth the hassle or money to return it. It was the first bass I bought based solely on reviews, I will never do that again. (Even though this other vintage one look appealing)
 
#40
DiabolusInMusic said:
Oh lord no Joe, I don't believe the hype about SX fretted basses, even the SX guys hate SX fretless basses. No way am I taking the SX plunge.

If you want to read more about the Squier VM fretless jazz, find the most disappointing bass I have ever played thread. The last time I checked the thread (quite a while ago admittedly) the Squier VM fretless seemed to be the most disappointing bass. Go to your local shop, before you even play it run your fingers along the board, you will feel a pronounced fret with each line.

I'd like to believe there are decent ones out there though, I just have yet to see a single one. I do keep looking though, just like those "better than MIA Squiers" and "perfect 34 scale B strings" that seem to be more elusive than a white unicorn.

If you do go for the Squier, play it first, not everybody hates them. I got mine from MF and I am in Canada so it wasn't worth the hassle or money to return it. It was the first bass I bought based solely on reviews, I will never do that again. (Even though this other vintage one look appealing)
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If you'd ever like to get rid of the the Squier Fretless, I'd gladly take it, plus, I'm almost local :)
 

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