Fretless talk

[Jaco Taco]

I used to have a 4 string Yamaha Attitude plus converted into fretless and kept it passive with an additional J pickup with a separate volume to cop the Jaco tone. I have the fingerboard changed to ebony and without epoxy coating or any finish. I decided to have the fingerboard bare like that of an upright. It was strung with Ernie Ball Flatwound group 4 and had the action set stupid low. It was fun to play until I spotted a Status Electro 5'er with a bare rosewood board and active electronics. Of course it's a completely different animal but the bare rosewood board felt and sounded so different. Although it 's got active electronics, the sound is more organic. It's probably because of the semi hollow body and the piezo pickup. Since I'm also an upright player, I kinda felt at home with it's tone. I installed a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on it and I'm pretty happy with the result. Organic tone with an active electronics to boot. I think this is the perfect fretless for me.

Anyway, I know it's a cliche to have the Jaco thing when it comes to fretless but what are your preferences?

I'll give you a guess.....

 

[Ian Perge]

My Main Fretless is a 2007 Spector Euro Bolt-On 5 DLX FM with an Alder Body with Flame Maple top in "Black Blueburst" (it was, and to a degree still is the "Sister Bass" to my 1st fretted Spector in "Black Cherryburst"... back when I though 2, perhaps 3 with a four-string were all I would need. Hahahaheeheehee... HAHAHAHAHA!!!!) I have Five Euro Bolt-Ons (...and a "Spector Legend Custom" 6-String I got for a song...no, rather a jingle: a "Level 1" Return to "Musician's Friend", no dings. no build issues... that allowed me to graLegendb it as they were removing the entire line from their Stock... And allowed me to purchase quite literally "Their Last Bass" at about 68% Off MSRP! ) as there is no 6-string in the "Euro Bolt-On" line & a Sixer from the "EuroLX" is far above my needs percentage-wise, financially or construction-wise as a Neck-Thru as opposed to my desire for Bolt-On Basses) with either Flame Maple or Zebrawood "full-on" Tops: on over half of them, the Top wood is actually thicker than the Back wood of Alder - pretty much the opposite of "veneer". A 3-piece Maple Neck, 35" scale with the Spector Deep-Set bolt-on 3-piece Maple Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard and an HG Thor Epoxy coating ("Mwah for Days"). I've gutted the Gotoh GB-7s for Hipshot HB6Y Ultralight "Y-Key" Tuners & the stock electronics for Custom EMG-sized & custom-wound Nordstrand Big Singles with Aguilar OBP-3SK/PP so they sound even more like "a Spector on J-Bass Steroids" than a USA NS-2J.

My "Second Fretless" is a defretted 2005 Fender Jazz 24, which was a downsized, 24-fret model Fender made from 2005-2010 much like "Dinky J-Basses" made by other companies... including Fender's "Deluxe Jazz"/"American Deluxe" Line of USA-made 22-fret downsized Jazz & Precision Basses made from 1995-to-2008 before reworking the lineup. I purchased this not 2 weeks after purchasing my Fretted version, liking the playability, tone & options at its price-range on the Used Market and deciding I was going to pick one up, have it defretted by a local luthier friend of mine, and have a 4-string Jazz Bass Fretless in "My Toolbox". He did a wonderful job, and it's great to have the 4-string Jazz with a Hipshot Bass Xtender option

The Jazz 24 has a 3-piece Alder body with a Quilted Maple veneer, Maple Neck with a satin finish, Rosewood Fingerboard and its own version of a "Deep Set" neck joint, connected by long, 6-bolt neck plate. Made in Korea, it came stock with licensed Hipshot Ultralite HB6C Tuners, a Heavy-Mass Bridge with String-Thru-Body or Thru-Back options, real MIA Seymour Duncan Bassline SJB-3 "Quarter Pounder" Jazz Pickups, Duncan-Designed 3-band Active Preamp w/ Passive Bypass on the "Push-Pull" Volume Pot, and "Slap Switch" which removes a large amount of midrange frequencies and boosts the Low & High-Range, which does indeed help in making the change to Slap-style playing a "One Control" change.

In regards to both Basses, overall Tone & String Choices I think of myself as a "Rock Bassist", so I use D'Addario XL Nickel single strings to make my own personal Balanced Tension Set - with the Spector fingerboard coated in epoxy and the Fender's stabilized in numerous coats of Tung Oil, I don't feel the need to be overly cautious in terms of using coated strings or other type of specialized strings. I simply feel that the XL Nickels are well-balanced both sonically (but *do not* want the "piano lows & chime" I prefer on some of my "more aggressive" Basses using "D'Addario's ProSteels") as well as in terms of tension with the set I've put together.

Hopefully in the near future I'll be adding a Mike Lull Modern 5 Fretless to my both my Lulls as well as my fretless basses, but until then I feel I have things pretty well covered between my Spector fretless 5-string and my Jazz 24 fretless 4-string.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Anyway, I know it's a cliche to have the Jaco thing when it comes to fretless .........

Jaco is no cliche.
That man,for all he did,is the sole reason why the fretless bass is so popular today.
And countless bass magazine and assorted articles where his name is and was constantly mentioned.

He and his bass set the world on fire.

 

[Flaked Beans]

Completely unconventional, but this works for me...

It's strung with LaBella Deep Talkin' SS flats and I keep the tone knob at about half.

What are the specs of that bass?

 

[boyet]

Jaco is no cliche.
That man,for all he did,is the sole reason why the fretless bass is so popular today.
And countless bass magazine and assorted articles where his name is and was constantly mentioned.

He and his bass set the world on fire.

I NEVER said that Jaco is 'the' cliche. I am referring to the things that are associated with him when it comes to fretless, eg. the Jazz bass, coated board, Fender, Roundwound Rotosounds, 4 strings...etc.

 

[smo]

Love me a Maton JB4. (it's a P/J)

 

[Djadja]

I have a fretted bass... but I never play it.

Here's my primary bass - a fretless Bee Bass Groovebee with a coated fingerboard and Kalium roundwound strings.

 

[Photobassist]

What are the specs of that bass?

Specs:
Body Wood: Black Limba
Fingerboard: Rosewood "17 frets"
Pickup: Bartolini X4 Bass Soapbar
Electronics: Passive: Volume, Tone
Scale: 16″
String Spacing: 17.5mm
Tuners: Hipshot Headless System
Height: 20-1/4″
Width: 10-7/8″
Thickness: 1-7/16″
Weight: 5 pounds

 

[Lia_G]

I like coated boards, but I really dislike the Jaco tone. No disrespect to him at all - he was an incredible player and innovator. That tone just doesn't do it for me. I like Pino, Mick Karn, etc.

My current main bass is a Sterling RAY34CAFL strung with Thomastick flats, and I love it. Getting ready to replace the pickup with a Nordstrand Quad Coil and put in a series/split/parallel switch.

I'd love to have a G&L L2000. Or the L2500 for a five, though I really prefer fours these days. They are so versatile.

 

[Basshappi]

My only fretless is a Squier P-bass Special that I had defretted. It is okay but is lacking in many aspects. I have almost all the parts for a Warmoth Jazz fretless build, that one will have a unlined maple board. My fretless string of choice is Elixer nanowebs.
If all goes well I will commission Tom Clement to build a fretless for me later this year.

 

[JIO]

Just completed this fretless prototype. My body design coupled with a mid-80's 22 fret fretless Westone neck. Aurora rounds, low action, passive 500k stacked V/B w/Novak Bi-Sonic Darkstar. 9lbs/2oz, balances well, great feel - sounds big. Side dots for each position are a nice touch for players like me who mostly play fretted basses. Because there is only one pu (in a classic P position) there's no fretless scoop tone. It has a deep, rich tone with enough fretboard vibration to sound fretless.

 

[Morris2103]

I've had my fretless for a month now and played it pretty much non stop. Just before I picked up one of my fretted basses and noticed I could play licks way faster and smoother than I ever could before. Has playing the fretless helped? Has anyone else had this?

 

[kesslari]

This is my Zon. Everything about it is perfect for me. I've had it 5 years and it has completely killed all bass GAS for me.
Set neck
Guancaste body with bubinga top
Extended cutaway
And the sound... Check the link in my sig for that.

 

[bassbrad]

I got my first fretless in 1978 a Pan copy of a Jazz Bass, that I butchered by filing down the frets, a few years later I finished the board with polyurethane. Then I found a Fender factory fretless neck that mated to the Pan body and polyurethane finished the board. I used Kaman Performer strings that were Teflon coated. I then picked up a Peavey Foundation FL for cheap and that became my main fretless for a while and I still have the bass strung with that Kaman Performer coated strings.
The Pan was traded plus $500 for a truly spectacular Pedulla Buzz that was later sold for money for car repairs and dental work.
My main fretless is a Squire Vintage Mod Fretless Jazz strung with D'Addario XL.

I like to be able to get Jaco tone but my main sound darker and rounder.

 

[kopio]

My fretless is a Squier VM Fretless. I've got Fat Beams on it, and just installed an Audere preamp. I'm liking the sound of it with the new Audere even more than before. I plan on getting a set of Bartolini split coil pickups for it and then take it to a luthier for a really good setup. It's got quite a bit of mwah, but I'm definitely not a pro at setups (and it does make a huge difference). It's probably my favorite bass to play. And yes....playing a fretless will make fretted bass playing seem much easier...at least it does for me!

 

[Watchootognbout]

Here's my Tune TWB63WN six string fretless.

I defretted it myself and put in styrene plastic inserts for fretlines.
It has an uncoated rosewood fingerboard and I always use roundwounds.
And despite that,they don't eat the fingerboard.
But then,I'm not an aggressive player.

Some time in the future I may have the fingerboard removed and have an unlined fingerboard applied.
I just recently found out that that can be done.

I will not disavow Jaco's influence.

 

[imdkoz]

I just picked this and recently added a black Badass II. I've never had an unlined fretless before but this bass plays and sounds great.

 

[JimmyThunder]

My taking up the fretless was not at all inspired by Jaco, in fact I never really went out of my way to listen to fretless players, or bass soloists at all (except Wooten). I just really, REALLY hate the 'clank' of metal strings on metal frets, so I figured out the best way to guarantee never making that sound was by putting nylon tapewound strings on a fretless bass. Been almost a decade of playing that setup exclusively. I also strongly favor the neck pickup with tone rolled all the way off....I never solo or 'mwahh' and rarely slide around, yet everyone still says "you must really love Jaco."

Here's a build in progress, please excuse the flatwounds as they were what was on hand at the time of the photo

 

[Scoops]

Here's my family

I have 8 different pup configurations (active/passive/mfg), 4 are active pups, and 6 different type of Finger boards, 6 different types of wood for the body, and 4 different types of wood for the neck. Each one is uniquely different. They are on rotation, and I learn alittle about each one, each time I play them. I have one fretted P bass that has been dormant since 2001

enjoy

 

[arbiterusa]

Phenolic is the way to go for fingerboards. Learned about that when I bought my Steinberger in 85. That being said, these days I'm gigging a stable of Cort B4FLs with rosewood fingerboards. Don't like rosewood fretlesses but for some reason on these basses it works just fine.

Roundwounds, I'm a rocker. With a phenolic board anyone listening will think it's fretted.

These days I am playing a Zon Sonus Special 5. It has very tastefully dark lines and the phenolic board. It came from TB'er Gard. The only issue for me with this instrument is that the line material is so dark that the reference points on the fingerboard edge in the lower positions are a little tough to see in low stage light. Otherwise, it's a sufficiently great player that I doubt I will look elsewhere.

Those are my adventures and where I have ended up.
View attachment 778566

I've played Zons. Only bass where'd I'd say it's the equal of my Steinberger and maybe even better. And that one is AWESOME.