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Fretless P
- Thread starter MyMusic
- Start date
Thanks! What's funny is I bought the body on the classified here and asked around about staining it and was told to paint it because Poplar has an ugly grain that doesn't lend itself to stain. And in my typical fashion I ignored the advice and stained it anyway. This is what the body looked like when I bought it on the classifieds:
My first bass guitar was a 1975 Fretless Precision, still have it and play it about once a month at church. Mighty Mite necks are good quality but there are others that are cheaper if you just want to experiment. I have defretted a bass but the nut needs the slots filed and the fall away at the high end of the board (above the 15th fret line) must be sanded so a radius block should be used ime. Here is my choice for an inexpensive playable fretless neck;
SX Bass Neck Ursa 1 MN Fretless - RondoMusic.com
SX Bass Neck Ursa 1 RN Fretless - RondoMusic.com
These are $50 plus shipping from New Hampshire and I have been very satisfied with the quality of Rondo gear. My main gigging bass is presently a $139 Douglas Bass from them and it is well beyond the quality of any Squier Affinity series bass I have played, and compares favorably with an MIM Fender imo. If you just want a fretless to play with to try out on the cheap this may be it. Remember that any neck change may require either neck or body work to fit properly. If you are not handy with wood you may need help. In that case (or if you want to spend enough to get a giggable complete bass cheap) go get a new Squier VM P or CV P bass. You can't go wrong with those, every one I have played was a winner. Just my .03 ymmv
PS Rondo often has decent quality inexpensive fretless basses, I would have recommended an SX bass from Rondo but at present they are out of stock.
SX Bass Neck Ursa 1 MN Fretless - RondoMusic.com
SX Bass Neck Ursa 1 RN Fretless - RondoMusic.com
These are $50 plus shipping from New Hampshire and I have been very satisfied with the quality of Rondo gear. My main gigging bass is presently a $139 Douglas Bass from them and it is well beyond the quality of any Squier Affinity series bass I have played, and compares favorably with an MIM Fender imo. If you just want a fretless to play with to try out on the cheap this may be it. Remember that any neck change may require either neck or body work to fit properly. If you are not handy with wood you may need help. In that case (or if you want to spend enough to get a giggable complete bass cheap) go get a new Squier VM P or CV P bass. You can't go wrong with those, every one I have played was a winner. Just my .03 ymmv
PS Rondo often has decent quality inexpensive fretless basses, I would have recommended an SX bass from Rondo but at present they are out of stock.
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In the early days I saw a fretless Precision Bass in a local Ypsilanti, MI music store, all natural with a maple neck AND, I think, a tort guard. It was a new instrument. That was before 1980.
To this day I think about that bass & where it may be. If I saw one like it, without hesitation, I’d buy it.
To this day I think about that bass & where it may be. If I saw one like it, without hesitation, I’d buy it.
I bought a loaded MIM Fender P body and a fretless Warmoth neck. I love it.
I owned one like this and it was pretty cool! No real input that would be different from any other fretless advice. Go for it and put the time in to practice, it's worth it.
Unlined looks cooler
I have two aftermarket fretless necks. One is a Mighty Mite ebonal and the other is a plain maple board (no lines, dots or side dots). The maple is on an orange Jazz Bass with gold hardware and guard. The ebonal was (until a few weeks ago) on a P bass with a '60's or '70's Gibson mudbucker in the neck position and a Duncan quarter pounder Pup. It was supposed to sound as close to a DB as possible without losing the ability to sound like a P bass. It did.
I have also had experience doing business with "thestratosphere" on eBay. Most of my purchases turned out to be decent quality but the shipping times were often around 45 days. At that price there is an eBay seller in Kentucky selling better quality necks that are near or better in quality to Mighty Mite, but he has limited availability (like Rondo) so it may not be available now.
I have to agree with this. I LOVE my Squier fretless P and it probably gets more playing time than either of my fretted Fenders (P and J) or my fretless Jazz.
A while back someone on here had a 5-string Cavin/Kiesel P that was a single pickup. It was gorgeous and sounded really cool and unique. He did some Mingus clips on it that sounded killer. I’m sure the thread is still floating around here somewhere.
There are plenty of reasonably priced fretless jazz necks that come on the market. The Japanese ones are really nice, but don’t usually have lines, if you want a lined one, try to find a Mexican, USA, or aftermarket one. Best of luck, happy new year!!!
It can't be done. This is a paradox. The results wouldn't make sense… at all.
Chances are the parts will reject each other. The neck will wither and die but, most importantly, there will be non-perceptible illogical radiations affecting everyone in the vicinity.
Don't even try it.
Statistically, a Squier VM fretless - J or P - will need attention. I've picked up and played well over a dozen now and every one had issues with raised lines, 'ripple' in the playing surface and poorly cut nut slots, that is to say not deep enough. Unless extra time/$$ are factored in for getting these things fixed, the VM fretless experience will be far from pleasurable, not representative and potentially highly frustrating. For the price of a new VM, the same $$ will buy a high quality neck and a decent set of tuners, at least it will on my side of the pond... YMMV.
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Is that a KTS bridge?
If so... is it a good one and in how far would you say it makes a difference to steel , aluminium and brass? (only as far as you have experienced of course. NO GUESSING!
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