Just watched Jaco's documentary

Not even past the 30 minute mark yet...


Sorry, J bass.


Edit* 7/1/2016

Here's a sound clip of a 30 second funky fretless-utilizing groove that I made up. It's a single take, don't hate.

Gear: fretless Fender MiM Jazz Deluxe (2005), Markbass Compressore, and a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI into a crappy Presonus interface.

FretlessFunk.wav

 

Of course it was. It is (was) an all original pre-CBS Jazz.

 

I'm not certain "transformed" is the right word. Think more... "mutated" or "altered"... Recalibrated? I play flats on this bass, so it's actually already in a playable state and sounds alarmingly good. But I am not a surgeon, and welp... She be ugly, to say the least.

I'm still deciding whether or not to laminate it with something.

 

And yes, it obviously needs to be sanded more, I just couldn't wait to play it.

 

Jokes aside, it's somehow the best sounding fretless I've ever played, despite looking like a homeless person raided it to use the frets as nails for his cardboard house. I would also like to add that I've been thinking about doing this for a long time.

The bass is a 2005 Fender Mexican Deluxe that I paid 500 for in '05. It's been my main practice bass since I got it. It's my most comfortable instrument and I love the neck, so I figured rather than try to switch to fretless with a neck I don't like already, why not make the switch with a tried and true friend. It was a risk, but it worked out beautifully (sound wise).

Later today I will post some sound clips. It has some seriously classy mwahh oozing out already.

 

As much as I want a great finish, do you have any suggestions for cleaning up the wood filler a little bit? Towards the 19th fret, I don't think I can do much, because there was a bit of chipping, but after about the 16th fret there was almost no chipping, so I'd like to get it more uniform looking. I was worried about over sanding it, because I don't know much about how that might screw up the intonation or something.

Funny enough, these are D'Addario Chromes, which I would have given a 7/10 tonally if you had asked me pre-defret. However, now that there is no metal for them to clank and buzz against (they have a very undesirable metal on metal tone to my ear) they sound magical. I've noticed through EQing for the past few hours while I play, that mids and low mids seem to produce the most pleasings mwah, and these strings are very mid forward.