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Need a help for fretless bass decision

JohnnyTog

JohnnyTog

Jan 24, 2015
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#1
Hello everyone, I would like to consult about fretless bass which I like to buy. I have one bass (MMEB Stingray 4) and I would like to buy a fretless bass. Where I live I have only few choice for fretless, they are; ibanez srf700 or 705, ibanez sr500f and cort B4FL, prices are srf700-795 USD, srf705-845 USD, ibanez sr500f-475 USD, and Cort B4FL-399 USD, the prices are for brand new basses, I was thinking buying a srf700 before but I searched on web and I see that there are more available fretless basses in my area, I just want you learn your ideas for fretless basses and for example, cort B4FL is half the price of SRF700, do you think is it worth to buy SRF700 or should I buy Cort or SR500 instead of this. Any recommendation would be help. Sorry for language mistakes.

Thank you !
 
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#2
I had only played the B4FL in local music store, never played the SR500F, but I own the SRF705.

All have the same two magnetic Bart MK1 pickups, but the SRF700 & SRF705 can give more tonal options due to additional piezo pickup under the bridge. And these two are neck thru basses, and to my finding, the SRF705 is relatively lighter than B4FL.

Worth noted, if OP isn't used to play fretless, then B4FL might be the hardest to begin with, since it relies only on the side dots to mark the fretting positions whereas the SRF has dots and side lines (which I've found to be sufficient and preferred since the fingerboard looks truly fretless) and the SR500F has full lined fingerboard.
 
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#3
Cannot say anything about the SRF705, but the SRF700 that I tried at a store played really well. Very comfortable neck. The controls may prove a bit confusing, and some people have complained about the electronics being hit or miss. The bass is not forgiving to technique deficiencies, be prepared to play very precisely.

B4FL is more simple and straightforward in terms of controls. The neck is not as nice, just OK. The bass is heavier overall. I don't think that the dots vs. dots+lines difference matters really much in the long term.

My 0.02 Russian Rubles.
 
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#6
Aidil said:
I had only played the B4FL in local music store, never played the SR500F, but I own the SRF705.

All have the same two magnetic Bart MK1 pickups, but the SRF700 & SRF705 can give more tonal options due to additional piezo pickup under the bridge. And these two are neck thru basses, and to my finding, the SRF705 is relatively lighter than B4FL.

Worth noted, if OP isn't used to play fretless, then B4FL might be the hardest to begin with, since it relies only on the side dots to mark the fretting positions whereas the SRF has dots and side lines (which I've found to be sufficient and preferred since the fingerboard looks truly fretless) and the SR500F has full lined fingerboard.
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing your opinion, I always find TB members very helpful :) From your comment, I can see the best bass from these are SRF700-705, I like neck thru bass very much by the way and that piezzo sound ! But under your assessment; cort is heavy and hard to play because of absence of lines, ibanez sr500f has a fretlines and dots and same magnetics, and it is cheaper than srf700 like %40, it looks most logical decision is Sr500f, 475 USD is good price for brand new sr500f, looks like cort is deleted from my list.
 
#7
Temcat said:
Cannot say anything about the SRF705, but the SRF700 that I tried at a store played really well. Very comfortable neck. The controls may prove a bit confusing, and some people have complained about the electronics being hit or miss. The bass is not forgiving to technique deficiencies, be prepared to play very precisely.

B4FL is more simple and straightforward in terms of controls. The neck is not as nice, just OK. The bass is heavier overall. I don't think that the dots vs. dots+lines difference matters really much in the long term.

My 0.02 Russian Rubles.
Click to expand...

Thank you :) do yoy have any idea for SR500f ?
 
#8
No offense to Cort or Ibanez, they are excellent manufacturers but I would strongly suggest to buy second hand. If the Stingray is your main bass, you will appreciate a quality built fretless sibling
Lots of bargains in the price range of 500 to 800 USD. It depends a bit on where you are located.
Warwick Corvettes, Thumb B.O, Fender Jazz MIM or MIJ, MM SUB or sterling ,... If you are tired of it or want to upscale you won't loose big bucks.
 
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#9
duckman said:
No offense to Cort or Ibanez, they a
Click to expand...
duckman said:
No offense to Cort or Ibanez, they are excellent manufacturers but I would strongly suggest to buy second hand. If the Stingray is your main bass, you will appreciate a quality built fretless sibling
Lots of bargains in the price range of 500 to 800 USD. It depends a bit on where you are located.
Warwick Corvettes, Thumb B.O, Fender Jazz MIM or MIJ, MM SUB or sterling ,... If you are tired of it or want to upscale you won't loose big bucks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment, I have cheked Warwick and the other brands and models in my area, first and second hand options, there are no availability for these models, fretless isn't popular and dealars doesn't want to bring fretless'. You are right about near built quality. Playing fretless is not a problem I can find more cheaper options but I want to catch a nice build quality with a nice tone, just because I am willing to pay more than %70 for SRF700 instead of SR500f just because for built quality. I need to convince for that if it is not worth for SRF700, I go for SR500F. I don't want to play cheap, poor quality bass, after EBMM Stingray. So my main question turned into "Is SR500F enough for my needs or it is junk?" and "Instead of SR500F, should I pay %70 more and get a SRF700?". I have read lots of good reviews for Cort B4FL, but I can't be sure about playing fretless without lines can be hard. So I deleted it from my list.

I found Fender MIM models in my area but its nearly costs about 1200-1300 USD, it seems out of budget because I can buy an AM-Fretless fender near that price when I go abroad not near future but in a year but I just like to buy fretless until new years eve because there are lots of discounts at the music stores I don't want to miss it.
 
#11
reverendrally said:
The Cort and Ibanez are likely made in the same factory, by the same techs. So whatever you like. If you have to go new the Cort is a killer for the price. Barts and a 3 band are pretty great.

But like @duckman said, 2nd hand gives you a LOT more options.
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Thank you for information, but unfortunately there is no 2nd hand market near my area. I am thinking of buying a SR500F.
 
#12
I just ordered an Ibanez SRF700. I have played the 705 at my local Sam Ash but I just don't like 5 strings. I was very impressed with the quality of the build, the very comfortable neck, and the light weight which is lighter than the MIM PBass I just sold. I think you will find a lot of love on TB for Ibanez. It is a tried and proven beast. :D
 
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#13
Dana R Gregory said:
I just ordered an Ibanez SRF700. I have played the 705 at my local Sam Ash but I just don't like 5 strings. I was very impressed with the quality of the build, the very comfortable neck, and the light weight which is lighter than the MIM PBass I just sold. I think you will find a lot of love on TB for Ibanez. It is a tried and proven beast. :D
Click to expand...

Thank you, so SR500F is 475 USD and SRF700 is 790 USD, the range is 315 USD, is the price between them worth to have a SR700 or there is not much diffirencies between them and should I go for SR500F, what do you think ? If you know and experience with SR500F or Cort B4FL, can you share it please :)
 
#15
Squier VM or CV.....any models...pull and fill the frets, instant lined fretless! And you can easily raise quality of the bass
by adding on quality aftermarket bridge/tuners, pickups etc. IDK, that's probably what I would do in this situation....
maybe a nice P/J and make it a fretless, change the bridge for a gotoh 201 and the EMG Geezer P/J pups, see if I can
live with the tuners and take it from there.
 
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#18
JohnnyTog said:
Thank you for sharing your opinion, I always find TB members very helpful :) From your comment, I can see the best bass from these are SRF700-705, I like neck thru bass very much by the way and that piezzo sound ! But under your assessment; cort is heavy and hard to play because of absence of lines, ibanez sr500f has a fretlines and dots and same magnetics, and it is cheaper than srf700 like %40, it looks most logical decision is Sr500f, 475 USD is good price for brand new sr500f, looks like cort is deleted from my list.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong... the B4FL is not hard to play. It's just I had no idea how skilled are you in the fretless department (no pun intended) or did you come from playing upright bass which usually had been trained to play notes with ears. So, if this is your first time entering the fretless world, then B4FL side dots only may not be sufficient for you.

Comparing the SRF700 vs SR500F, is like when I compared the SR505F vs SRF705. You've already known from my previous post that the SRF won my heart with reasons such as the piezo and neck thru. Other than those, subjectivity always took part. To my eyes, the brown burst flat of the SRF seemed more pleasing than the brown mahogany of the SR505F and the plain SRF fingerboard was preferred than the lined SR505F fingerboard.

One more thing... the B4FL and the SR500L came with D'Addario XL Nickels round wound strings, whereas the SRF700 came with D'Addario Chromes flat wound which costs nearly double. All those 3 fretless basses have rosewood fingerboard which were not hard coated, so rounds will surely be leaving string marks on the B4FL and SR500F fingerboard faster compared to flats on the SRF. I used rounds on my first fretless bass, which more or less had chewed the uncoated rosewood fingerboard although as result of not so intensive usages, thus I've changed them to flats anyway.
 
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