But I love sunburst Fenders--especially the three colour ones.
Maybe that's because my Mustang (Guitar) came in that finish
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Fretless Fenders - WTH....
- Thread starter AlexanderB
- Start date
Maybe that's because my Mustang (Guitar) came in that finish
I haven’t seen a fretless bass guitar on a stage in nearly ten years. And I was a sound guy for several years in there. I saw hundreds of bands in that time. One fretless. In a psychedelic heavy metal band no less.
Fretlesses are extremely low demand instruments. A company as large as Fender isn’t going to offer much variety when they do make them.
Right now fretless bass players are fortunate to have Lake Placid Blue available on a P Bass. With a matching headstock. Grab one while you can. Go for a Franklin signature and add a better looking guard. Ignore the extra pickup. I ignore the J pickup on all of my PJ basses. Works fine. Sounds like a P.
Fretlesses are extremely low demand instruments. A company as large as Fender isn’t going to offer much variety when they do make them.
Right now fretless bass players are fortunate to have Lake Placid Blue available on a P Bass. With a matching headstock. Grab one while you can. Go for a Franklin signature and add a better looking guard. Ignore the extra pickup. I ignore the J pickup on all of my PJ basses. Works fine. Sounds like a P.
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- Feb 5, 2013
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- Endorsing Artist: Used Fender Lead Sleds and Hartke cabs with bent grills
You think Fender is bad? Ibanez only offers one lined, standard electric fretless in only one color and they basically stopped production on that one model earlier this year. Last info I got was Spring 2021 for another batch to hit stores.
So I make my own. That way I can have any color or model they offer with frets in a lined or unlined fretless.
So I make my own. That way I can have any color or model they offer with frets in a lined or unlined fretless.
D
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Warwick make great fretless basses as do Sandberg, and Thomann's Harley Benton brand is great for budget fretless options. Btw that bass configurator page on Sanberg's site is pure temptation which I am going to give in to sooner or later... an unlined fretless Panther Special in bubinga looks awesome.
Bass players are a relatively small market for a company as big as Fender. Fretless bass players are a TINY market for them. Trying to guilt Fender into more color choices simply won’t work.
Buy the bass with the neck you like, grab a body the color you want from Stratosphere. Swap the pickups if that’s important. Voila - a custom bass for a reasonable price. It’s 2020; whatever bass you buy or assemble will never be “vintage” in the sense that a pre-cbs instrument is - make what you want. It’ll be OK.
Buy the bass with the neck you like, grab a body the color you want from Stratosphere. Swap the pickups if that’s important. Voila - a custom bass for a reasonable price. It’s 2020; whatever bass you buy or assemble will never be “vintage” in the sense that a pre-cbs instrument is - make what you want. It’ll be OK.
Fender's #1 fretless for years was no other than the Jaco sig. I guess that didn't even sell enough to stay in production. Now it's the Tony Franklin.
this is the proactive approach to getting what you want, OP. otherwise, you're left to whine about what fender won't make... just for you.
your experience with the luthier-made five-string fretless makes me think you're not sure about what you want in the first place, but if you know what you want from an instrument = you can gather the right parts and get them assembled for a custom instrument. if you're worried about resale = you may not be ready for the 'proactive' bit --- you're still guessing.
good luck with your luck!
It's a shame that you have ruled the Tony Franklin out, because I have one, and it is my #1 bass right now. Being unlined, hasn't been an issue, as I have gotten used to the feel of it, and done pretty well with intonation.
BTW. If it's still for sale, how much are you asking for that 5-string fretless, and why don't you like it?
BTW. If it's still for sale, how much are you asking for that 5-string fretless, and why don't you like it?
The Jaco Artist is still in production. I bought two of them this year. QC was the only problem - I repaired the first one (2 stripped out neck hold down screws, probably the fault of soft spots in the wood in the heel) and had Sweetwater replace the second one altogether (fingerboard so defective with humps and dips it was unplayable, replacement was perfect, though).
But once I finally got good ones,
, they're absolutely outstanding basses with really impeccable build quality. They're like real 1962 jazz basses - even the tuners get sticky and hard to turn just like on a genuine old Fender .So mine are keepers. And since they're lined, they're almost like having a fretted bass. In good lighting, and low loudness of the gig, I could probably play it fine in a live situation....
L
When did Fender QC become a problem? The last Fender i bought had a lifetime warranty, so it has been a while.
I was disappointed in Fenders color options as well, so I went Sire. FOR THE MONEY its a great bass, roughly equivalent IMO to a MIM, but the cost cutting to make it active etc is obvious in the hardware and knobs. The neck feels great, and the pre amp is very clean and powerful, so again, for the money, I have no complaints.
I can say that it's pretty dismal this year. So bad that I'm no longer buying Fender instruments for the time being.
I've written about my experience elsewhere, but to sum it up: I bought 4 Fenders this year - 2 Tony Franklins and 2 Jaco Artists - and only one of them didn't have a defect so bad that it required tools to fix or a full exchange:
LPB Tony Franklin: improperly milled fingerboard, wood is very thin in the middle. I didn't catch this until it was too late to exchange it with Sweetwater. So I work around it by slightly overtightening the truss rod with an extra washer under the TR nut to get the relief flat enough.
Burst Tony Franklin: had a nasty high spot in the fingerboard in about the last 1" of the heel, which required leveling with a radius beam.
Jaco Artist #1: Two stripped out neck holdown screws. Repaired with the toothpick & superglue trick.
Jaco Artist #2: original instrument's fingerboard was so badly deformed it was unplayable. I had to exchange it with Sweetwater, but the exchange instrument was perfect (this is the one that didn't require repair or replacement from brand new).
My theory is it's probably the pandemic. I'm sure Fender is having personnel issues with the lockdowns and having to furlough workers and so on. So my working hypothesis is they're just under unusual strain in their manufacturing and they're letting a lot of stuff go out the door that they might ordinarily not.
I would imagine that once we get past the pandemic and things start to return to a more normal condition, I bet things will improve at Fender.
L
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Simple DFM and throughput.
Assume they stop production to make a fretless because they HAVE TO offer a fretless because of perceived market gap. Between models there is a period of time where the manufacturing is paused. Same as any factory. They offer a fretless because it is viewed as a competitive disadvantage if they do not have in their catalog. Not because it is a profitable item.
Forgive me if I am assuming your position incorrectly.
But your assumption is that a unitary margin is the same as an operating profit. If a fretless bass sells to the dealer for $700 (for example) it costs the factory probably $250 in material and labor and operating costs amortized. But let’s assume in the time it takes to change the run schedule to accommodate a slow runner unit they could complete 3 more Strats which also include that same internal margin markup.
Would you take that deal? It’s like When a big auto maker has a very limited run sports car. They do it to press the market and put their competitors on notice. But it is not profitable. Basically Fender makes a fretless for marketing purposes.
I hear the comment and I like my Fender fretlesses.
A really smart money move would be to offer fretless as Mod Shop or Custom only and drop the unsupported and slow selling lines.
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this is the proactive approach to getting what you want, OP. otherwise, you're left to whine about what fender won't make... just for you.
your experience with the luthier-made five-string fretless makes me think you're not sure about what you want in the first place, but if you know what you want from an instrument = you can gather the right parts and get them assembled for a custom instrument. if you're worried about resale = you may not be ready for the 'proactive' bit --- you're still guessing.
good luck with your luck!
Thanks!
The luthier made insteument is not quite up to my expectations, with regards to sustain, even tone and growl, and the pickups are a bit too microphonic as well. I have played better fretless basses at 30% of the price.
The thing is that Fender has sold the black fretless models "for ever", but now in their "all time high", they are so greedy they completely remove it from the portfolio.
I have owned and played Warwicks, including fretless, and I don't like them at all.
Sandberg are fine instruments, and I have never seen a bad one, or even one that was not "above OK", unlike Fender.
My most likely options are:
- new Sandberg
- Fender MIM fretless neck for my 80s MIJ Squier Jazz
- Warmoth fretless neck for the same bass
- have my extra, stock neck defretted for the same bass
I am in Sweden, not too keen on international shipping, but thanks for asking.
If I remember correctly, the neck is a bit more substantial on the Fender, which I prefer.
I also want passive VVT, and I like the slightly "dirty" pickups in Fender American Standard Basses 2008-2012(?). The Sires sound too modern and polished, to me.
