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High-End Fretless Acoustic Basses

Lobaw

Lobaw

May 14, 2007
349
9
Seattle, WA
#1
I've been on the hunt for a high-end, 4 string, large body, fretless acoustic bass that has a very upright sound. I've seen a lot of threads discussing different basses, but nothing about what's currently available in this market range, short of going to a boutique builder for a one-off. I've tried the usual basses: Rob Allen, Rick Turner, etc. and they all sound great, but they're not what I'm looking for.

So, I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for a production bass with these qualities.

Thanks!!
 
#4
What I had in mind was a large body acoustic. I guess it would be a full acoustic, with a piezo of some kind.

I was under the impression that there were several production basses that had these qualities, but fewer are being made today. I'm just running into a dead end locating anything other than the boutique basses - which, of course are very nice.

Here's one bass that I like quite well, but it is a one-off:

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Check out the video located second from the bottom on Ralf Gauck's artist page. I know that it's a one-off, and if I ultimately need to go in that direction, I'm hopeful that I can find a builder closer to Seattle.

Thanks, again, for the help.
 
#6
While ABGs aren't quite my thing, if I were to get one, I'd probably hit up KR Guitars. He's hasn't built an ABG yet, but has built acoustics and basses.

I got this about two weeks ago. Well, I guess it's almost a bass since it's a 27-25" scale tuned low B to high E. I'm currently working out the logistics of a 28.6" scale 12 string tuned B-B that I can easily capo the 5th fret.

kr01.jpg


kr03.jpg


Regardless of maker, I highly recommend a forearm bevel for comfort. I really dig the B-Band pre with the UST (piezo) and AST (soundboard pickup).
 
#8
Thanks for all of the responses. They were very helpful in finding other posts and threads I missed, when I posted this thread. And there are some really nice acoustic basses out there. I guess the take home message is that I'll need to have a bass built, unless I can find one of the older high quality production basses.
 
#10
I've seen a Ribbecke Halfling bass for sale. Also some Fylde ABGs, though I think all of them had frets.

Vinny Colletti has a very nice looking fretless archtop bass for sale with a big body, but it does have a magnetic pickup at the end of the fingerboard so I'm not sure how much it's meant to be used acoustically. A few months ago I asked him about this - he has one in stock and was willing to cut quite a deal on it.
 

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