Fender Jazz Bass Special Fretless MIJ Black | RIT Music
Look for one of these if you want a reasonable unlined bass.
Look for one of these if you want a reasonable unlined bass.
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Production Fretless, NO LINES
- Thread starter monkeyland
- Start date
cool beans! i think you are confused: i asked that question of someone else. or i'm confused: in which case, i apologize for the confusion.
in any case = we don't like lines!
I play unlined.
I use the side dots.
I still look at them AND my fingers
Do you use side dots?
Aren't those a crutch?
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Every pro player I know who plays fretless is a proponent of lined fingerboards. Why make things more difficult when you have to hit a solid upper neck note on starting downbeat or a big jump in a dim venue? Or if you are playing a solo with no harmonic accompaniment to which to reference? An occasional check-in on position helps make sure you haven't sagged in pitch so you don't sound ridiculous when the band comes back in.
They mock my unlined fretless. I'm not pro. There are lots of times I wish I had lined fingerboard. Next fingerboard I'll line it.
But for those who think unlined fingerboards look better, I agree. Just in my case I would look good while sounding worse.
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Neither am I.
Although I do tend to think there is a measure of respect from all when they gaze at this.......
From bass players, yes. Everyone else just cares if if sounds right, and they are probably watching the guitarist anyway.
I used to own one of those from the mid-80s and sold it. I couldn't get over this unmistakably cheesy feeling I got from it, like I was playing a plastic toy instead of a “real” Fender bass. Was I crazy?
A little bit. But I remember thinking the same in the 80s. Bass player in our high school jazz band had one (a Squier version, I think). I kind of turned my nose up at it because it didn't look like a tobacco sunburst J or P bass and was a Squier. But then again, there he was playing and there I was not playing.
There's nothing wrong with those MIJ Contemporary series basses or guitars. Change the knobs and they look pretty cool to me now.
They had basswood bodies, right? And the one I had was finished in this metallic off-white that ultimately I didn't like. The tuning pegs felt plasticky to me. It lacked that substantial feeling that I look for in a Fender.
I never owned one, but I played a fretless that I thought was killer. I know that rocker, Duff McKagan, loves his.
To each his own.
I'm not arguing against fretless basses; I am merely saying that those MIJ Fender fretlesses were not my cup of tea. I think I would enjoy an MIA fretless P in Antigua c. 1978 with a maple fingerboard more.I never owned one, but I played a fretless that I thought was killer. I know that rocker, Duff McKagan, loves his.
To each his own.
I knew you weren’t arguing against fretlesses. I just said that the MIJ Fender Jazz Special I played felt really nice and sounded great to me.
Sure, side dots are great for quick reference. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put anyone down that likes lines at all. I personally just get tempted to stare at my hand all the time when I have lines. I play better when they’re not there, and just learn to trust my ears and muscle memory. I wouldn’t label one as better than the other.
Ahh well in that case - I'd say it feels like 5 string P bass- but a modern P bass (the like where a 4 string would have a 1-5/8" nut- but a 5 string obviously). The bass truly is very ergonomic. My hands never feel fatigued when I play- even for long stretches. And speaking of P or J. The neck pickup does a really good P bass tone and the bridge does an even better J bass IMO. I mainly use both pickups together and sometimes just the bridge. I play in a P&W band, and as nice as the solo'd neck pickup sounds to me, it doesn't seem to fit as well for the music I'm playing as the other options. I also really like that there is a pickup selector and not a blend knob or VVT. Each of the pickup options seem to really sound unique and usable due to this. There is a blend for the piezo to mix with the magnetics, but I tend to keep it turned to full magnetic. Also the eq is very potent. It doesn't take much adjustment off of the center detentes to make very noticeable change in tone.
I think the Bass of Doom had "scars" rather than lines, caused by Jaco filling in the fret slots with plastic wood before he epoxied the fretboard.
Interesting. None of the pro fretless players I know play lined, nor to my recollection has the subject of the lack of lines on my fretless boards ever come up in discussion.
Hmmm... These are great questions for the millions of DB, Cello, Violin, Viola, etc. players that have somehow managed to successfully perform often extremely intricate pieces, very often in dim light, with unmarked fret boards for the past several hundred years.
I was joking about the mocking. Mostly. I just more than once asking about it was met with a shrug and the comment, "Why make things harder?" or, "monitoring sucks sometimes and you need them" or, "you need to get some lines on that bass." Pragmatic working bassists, I guess.
Hmmm... These are great questions for the millions of DB, Cello, Violin, Viola, etc. players that have somehow managed to successfully perform often extremely intricate pieces, very often in dim light, with unmarked fret boards for the past several hundred years.
Yeah, I'd agree with that. But I think that's a bit of a different game for 99.x% of bass guitarists. I have come across a few classically-trained string players whom have questioned the intonation of what I would consider stellar fretless players. I think what they are hearing is that many fretless bass players play essentially equal temperament, especially if they are just transferring their fretted positions. I read once that Pastorius practiced on fretted bass so as to not wear out his fretless fingerboard, but would practice right on top of the frets to build transferable muscle memory. Markers make a little less sense in orchestral setting if needing to play with just intonation. Besides, orchestral players are probably too busy reading flypoopie on paper to look at their fingers.
Though you do sometimes see discreet position markers on the side of orchestral instrument fingerboards. I know Edgar Myer Jr.'s primary bass has markers on the face, so not unheard of even if the exception.
If someone doesn't need fretlines to play at a world class level, that's super impressive. But honestly, how many fretless players who can really play at the level of even an average pro orchestral musician? It's a different game. I'd wager more fretless players really need lines than don't and I don't disagree with the practicality of fret lines if it makes playing more fun and fewer trainwrecks for all us mediocre players.
