Fretless Conversion - somebody stop me

[Lesgo]

A bit of background: I am just getting back into playing after a roughly 10 year hiatus. I sold my gigging rig in grad school, then a couple basses when I had my first kid. Now I'm hitting a bit of an early midlife crisis in my early 30s (wife, kids, house, job, etc) and I've joined 2 bands. Gigs begin next month. I have put together a capable rig, bought and restored an old beat up MIM Precision, and I'm nearly finished putting together a parts bass (NPBD thread coming soon). I am going to be a 2-bass man for a while. The problem is, in my previous life I was gigging exclusively with a defretted Squier Affinity Precision. It was my first bass, and I defretted it and upgraded the pickups on a whim while in college, because I wasn't using it. It became my primary instrument after that mod. However, that bass is currently in parts strewn about my work table, because I'm using it as a donor for the Franken P.

Now that I (will soon have) 2 fairly high quality instruments, I figure one of them should be fretless. I love the sound, and I feel like it inspires me to approach the music fairly differently. Having a fretted and fretless may help me stay fresh.

I know some here are against defretting instruments -- I would like to hear more about that argument. In my mind, the perfect instrument is a vintage Fender Precision with an unlined, fretless maple fretboard. This is unattainable for me due to cost. I've listed my options in the poll. Would love to hear any feedback.

 

[bholder]

Cheap and good replacement necks are available, I don't know why you wouldn't just get an unlined fretless neck rather than defretting a fretted one and still not having what you want.

So I couldn't vote, mine would be "none of the above, get a fretless neck instead".

 

[Lesgo]

Cheap and good replacement necks are available, I don't know why you wouldn't just get an unlined fretless neck rather than defretting a fretted one and still not having what you want.

So I couldn't vote, mine would be "none of the above, get a fretless neck instead".

Great point. Edited it. What's an example of "cheap and good"?

 

[bholder]

Great point. Edited it. What's an example of "cheap and good"?

I think Mighty Might necks are reasonably priced and reasonably well respected, but others here are more expert than I. Warmoth will make exactly what you want, and make it very well, but they're kind of pricey.

 

[CosmoReverb]

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[ctmullins]

Buy the neck you want (maple/maple unlined, good choice, like JPJ) and bolt it to your Squier body for now. Buy what you really want, forego a few dinners out if you have to. Buy once, cry once. You won't regret it, and the modular Fender platform means you can do it in stages.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The Mighty Mite necks are pretty good, though the finish work can be spotty, fine for a Frankenbass. I'd get a lined rosewood FB, unfinished maple just gets grungy looking IMO, but to each his own. You can buy ebanol FB necks too, that stuff is pretty bulletproof even with round wounds. The Squier VM fretless Jazz is a great off the shelf mwah-master for less than $300, another option you should consider.

 

[jamro217]

Check out Musikraft necks.