Good sounding cheap arsed fretless

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Link Removed $199, I'd hit it. Lots of alternatives out there...

 

[Standalone]

I have yet to find a fretless bass that is under $500 and playable out of the box.

My 1978 Ibanez silver series fretless Jazz came in well under that, about $350. A few months ago.

The good stuff is out there.

I’ve owned a used Yamaha RBX fretless and it had no life and musicality to it, no matter how well it was built for the price point.

 

[Nanaki]

I recently picked up one of these... excellent bass at the price

think I need the fretted version now too

 

[Gilmourisgod]

There must be a lot of QC variation on the Squire VM fretless, I’ve played at least 5 of them in stores without seeing a “lumpy” fretboard, all were excellent right off the rack, with instant mwah and a decent burpy Jaco tone. The fit and finish seemed as good as you could expect at that price range. I guess it makes sense to try one in person rather than buying sight unseen, probably true for any sub-$500 bass.

 

[Morse_77]

Warwick Rockbass.
I own a Corvette RB 5 fretless active.
Got it brand new off the web. I had to spend some time learning to set it up properly. Soundwise it stands up to any 2k$ fretless you`d care to name.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

Holy cow, that Harley Benton is cheap. Can it possibly be any good??? How fast do they deliver to the US?

They make some nice looking basses, cheap. I seen nothing but positive reviews that either start or end with the phrase "For the money". I'm curios as well. Youtube HP24 or BassTheWorld for a review.

 

[khutch]

There's a mom and pop near me that has an SR375F. I've never plugged it in so I will just assume that it sounds like an Ibanez (which is fine by me but opinions will vary of course). It plays like butter however!

 

[mark beem]

So, I want to get a cheap but good fretless bass. I don’t have much of a budget now, but I can get some gigs that require it (jazz, ballad, cocktail hour type stuff). I’d like it to be something that is nice enough that I can use it for a few years, with nice attack, fatness, mwah, and such. I haven’t gigged much with fretless so I’ll want it to be lined.

There seem to be a few price levels from what I see: $250, $400, and $600. The cheaper the better, but I don’t want something that sounds or plays cheap.

What should I look at? I see mostly Squiers, MIM Fenders, Ibanez, Yamaha, and Warwick.

I’m mostly looking in the TB classifieds, prefer to go used from a TBer if possible.

I was very surprised at the tone from the Ibanez GWB35. I’ve seen them used in the $500 ~ $600 range

 

[micguy]

I also grabbed a Mighty Mite ebonal P neck and it's terrific feeling/playing.
View attachment 2958078

I have a bass with that neck and a Warmoth body - kind of a strange ratio of body cost to neck cost, but it works really well. Yes, the neck is pale, but I use that to my advantage - the position markers on the side as the neck is made are small and tough to see, so I did big blck ones in Sharpie, and then clear coated the neck, so I have very visible markers now. On the stages I play (they can be very dark) that's a huge advantage. Shifting positions on a fretless in the dark without clear markings will end your career as a fretless player fairly quickly.

I think the neck on the Squier is very similar to the Mighty Mite, other than being lined - both ebonol fretboards, plenty of mwah. On the Squiers, just ty a few before you grab one - they can/do have dead spots (they're pretty much Fender necks), and on a fretless, that can be frustrating if you get one where they're particularly bad.

Whatever you do, you want a fretless to have a bridge pickup - the mwah lives much better there, and if you just have a neck pickup, it won't be as prominent.

 

[Roland GR 88]

I just got a fretless MTD Artist. Sounds great, seems well made, nice active eq and very light. I would put it well ahead of the Squire VM for comfort and feel due to the small neck and p/u placement.
And it cost me $150.00 which was nice.
Plus it's made with the Buzz Feiten tuning system - says so on the neck - so it's impossible to play out of tune.

 

[SteveCS]

Holy cow, that Harley Benton is cheap. Can it possibly be any good??? How fast do they deliver to the US?

My daughter's school has 3. Two are badly set up, but one is not and it plays very well. Even the nut slots are nicely cut and the fret ends are good. No fretless version so nothing to add there, but yeah, they seem nice enough...

On the suject of defretting a Warwick as suggested elsewhere (by others) I would not do that. Wenge is not a good fretless fingerboard due to the very open grain. The cost of getting it playable with an epoxy coating would far outweigh the 'cheap-arsed' part of the requirement, IMHO. All factory fretless Warwick have ebony fingerboards - why compromise?

 

[JRA]

As a person that primarily plays fretless, I always advocate spending some money. I have yet to find a fretless bass that is under $500 and playable out of the box.

you are probably more 'picky' than i am --- regarding playability --- as i have found all of the cheapies playable out of the box (haven't owned them all, but have played many...in the stores, friend's instruments, yada yada). of course i have never picked one up and found it to be 'even close' to setup for me. but that's an easy piece of work, IMO.

i think fretted instruments are far more 'intricate' regarding setups: the 20-24 or so "fences" can really lead to some frustration, IMO.


OP: the cheapest way to get into a great fretless, IMO, is to get a quality fretless neck for a "neck swap." there are a lot of advantages to swapping necks. and i agree with the members below who have experience with the mighty mite necks. apparently, they are consistently nice necks:

My #1 right now has a $100 Mightymite ebonal P neck on a random parts jazz body. I love the neck. Maybe I got lucky but it is better than most of the Fenders I have had.

I also grabbed a Mighty Mite ebonal P neck and it's terrific feeling/playing.

replaced the whole neck with an unlined Mighy Mite ebonol neck and I was much happier

 

[Dave the Bass]

I love my VM fretless....took some experimenting with different strings to get the sound I wanted, the LaBella black tapewounds are perfect.

 

[ATLbassist]

I'd say an SX fretless. Put in some extra shielding during the setup and maybe swap pickups, and you're good to go. TheLink Removed looks a little slim though.

I found an SX fretless P on my local Craigslist last year for $100 and it was great. The only reason I sold it was because I scored an 80s Peavey Foundation, which would also be an excellent fretless on the cheap side (and more tonal variety than just a P).

 

[Standalone]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Fretless P Bass Fiver - No brand - $250

Memphis Brand $250 [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
(Some say Memphis are underrated and had some really good stuff, might be worth checking out)

Yamaha BB350F [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] $225

Ibanez - $235 or trade for a cabinet [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

$360 Pointy era Ibanez EX (these are excellent in their fretted versions, good basses for $300ish.) [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

There is of course a Squier for $200 listed too. Also a Hohner B2a fretless if you like headless, too -- Those Hohners are good instruments.

Good luck!

Edit: Neck Thru Carvin 2+2 $475.... [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] Not cheap but looks very nice. All the above should have a little negotiable wiggle room on price.

 

[swarfrat]

I'd like another fretless, but I'm kind of thinking unlined the next time around. Cheap fretlesses are out there, but not many unlined ones.

 

[DavC]

i have the fretless VM body for one of my parts builds ... no problems , of course it has new guts .. !

had a used VM ebanol neck for a while ... most of the 'round wound string ' scratches polished out ... wet sanded ...
neck was fine and is lined for us non full time fretless players ...

build one .. !!

 

[Cinzel]

I'm somewhat also looking for a cheap fretless to get started. I see a lot of talk about the VM Jazz Fretless, but what about the VM Precision Fretless? Does anyone have experience with them?

 

[silvertone]

I got a Squire VM Fretless in SF last month for $60.
I like it a lot - bu the pickups lack the same level of bottom as my way more valuable vintage Modulus Fretless Bassstar.

I bought black nylon tape-wounds for this but I don't dig 'em on this fretless as much as the chrome flats on the Bassstar.

 

[Manticore]

Why not just buy a fretless neck for one of your existing basses? Necks are inexpensive.