Double Bass EUB vs. fretless bass

[Hendricks97]

I have a Korean Warwick 6 string fretless bass that I enjoy playing but never really loved. I walked in to Guitar Center and they had a NXTa 5 string for a great price so I went ahead and put a down payment on, but cant pick up until the 28th. Im debating trading in the Warwick for the remainder since Im not sure it will get played much after having the NXTa. Any suggestion on what to do here?

 

[Francois Blais]

Wait until you get the NXTa and take some time to make up your mind on the Warwick.

 

[Hendricks97]

I used to play upright a lot back in college, but not since. I will be re-learning arco after being away from it for so long.

 

[jthisdell]

The two are certainly not interchangeable. I'm assuming you have other basses and the fretless is not your main bass.

I have played an NXT4 for the past 4+ years and it works well in genres where a DB would be more suitable, in my case bluegrass and gypsy jazz. Although it is hard to get it to sound like an acoustic DB it plays very much like one with similar sustain and decay. IMHO.

 

[Groove Doctor]

Will you get a better price on the Warwick if you sell it privately??

 

[Hendricks97]

I have plenty of other basses, but currently the Warwick is the only fretless. Im currently not in a band or playing out anywhere (hoping that changes soon) so there is nothing that Im doing that would require one over the other, but Im hard pressed to come up with anything that the Warwick would be better than the NXTa.

I have no idea what either the trade in or the outright sale would be, so Im not sure financially which would be better and by how much

 

[donotfret]

I play a fretless bass and an NXT. Both 5 string. They are very different instruments with a very different sound and feel. The NXT can't replace a bass guitar nor an acoustic double bass.

I've just changed to the "traditional" (i.e. shortened double bass) strings and now find it harder to get a bass guitar sound out of it. If you're considering arco playing you will almost certainly change the strings as well sooner or later.

As has been suggested before, I think it's the best idea to keep the fretless bass until you know everything you can or cannot do with the NXT, especially once you've strung it with something suitable for arco playing.

 

[Zbysek]

I haven't played my fretless since I bought NS NXT several years ago...

 

[damonsmith]

I used to play upright a lot back in college, but not since. I will be re-learning arco after being away from it for so long.

That will be the breaking point. I love having a bass guitar, but, my music at this point needs the bow.

 

[Ric Vice]

I have a Korean Warwick 6 string fretless bass that I enjoy playing but never really loved. I walked in to Guitar Center and they had a NXTa 5 string for a great price so I went ahead and put a down payment on, but cant pick up until the 28th. Im debating trading in the Warwick for the remainder since Im not sure it will get played much after having the NXTa. Any suggestion on what to do here?

They are IME very different animals, I have a Clevenger EUB and a Lakland 55-02 lined Fretless. As Francios mentioned you should likely wait until you have a chance to compare the two. A
Fretless Bass Guitar's fingerboard radius is very flat compaired to the NTxA, the neck on the Stienberger is in a vertical plane, while the Warwick is in a horizontal plane. Very different feel.

RIc

 

[Pat Harris]

I'm in camp "Keep It." I've got a Muckelroy fretless bass guitar and an NS CR4M. Neither have frets, and that's where the similarities end. Each has its own distinct voice and musical application.

 

[Hendricks97]

All the new posts are about 3 months late. I did trade in the Warwick and haven't actually missed it at all. I got about 400 more than I paid for It, so I couldn't pass that up

 

[SAlcott]

There was a year or so in the late 70s where I played fretless bass guitar and double bass, often on the same gigs. I found after a while that the two very different string lengths (34" BG, 42" DB) made it hard to play either one in tune. I went back to fretted BG and stuck with it.

 

[crocau]

Since you wrote that you never loved it, you should sell it. Personnally, after years of fretless bass playing, I bought an NSD and it quickly became my main instrument. When I need an electric bass, a very simple Fender Jazz does the job.

 

[Les Fret]

I love both fretless bass and upright. I don't own an electric upright though.

Fretless bass is different altogether but it can do things that an upright can't and visa versa. Since I play upright I don't use it as much as before. But I would never sell my fretless bass. Most of my heroes play fretless bass as their main instrument. Like Pino (80s era), Percy Jones, Mick Karn and Jaco.

 

[bherman]

Decision made but it sounds like you made the right move for you. I'm going through the same thought process, I have a Turner Renaissance fretless 4that I love but ever since I got an Eminence URB the Turner has lived on the wall, unplayed. We'll see what happens.....