Boy oh boy, have you been speakin’ my language. I’d been on the hunt for the past 2 years trying to find a fretless that actually made me sound good. I’ve had 10 different fretless basses, and can speak to that positives and negatives (IMO) of each.
Squier VM Fretless. Ebonol board, passive. : Excellent fretless, my first. Once sorted ( strings/setup) provided years of fun, but it did weigh 9 1/2 lbs and I had a good friend that wanted to try fretless. I gifted it to him, ( Love that guy) Great inexpensive starter into the fretless world, Maybe not what you're looking for.
Sadowsky MetroExpress JJ Fretless: Arrived from Spain in 2023 as a 2020 leftover. I could tell why. It was a wreck. Like all the SMX’s, needed extensive setup, cosmetic and electrical work to be giggable. Once sorted, worked great. But I had a falling out with CHinese Sadowsky’s and sold it. I regret it now. It was a pretty great bass, but not for anyone unable to do lots of fixing. Currently priced far over their value new, and often require another $200 to upgrade the electrics. Not recommended.
Sire Z7 Fretless: 2025. Just got it two weeks ago. Weight was prohibitive to say the least . 1oz below 10lbs. Absolutely stunning bass. Gorgeous. Set it up, and sounded like a fretted bass. Virtually no mwah, no bloom. You know how som Fretless’s don’t sing? This was like that. Very disappointing, especially since it was inexpensive, and stunningly beautiful. Returned in 4 days.
Warwick Corvette fretless: German made. Similar to the sire. Ungodly heavy. Was passive, I put a pre in it, and blacked out the hardware, and flipped it. Again. No Bloom, poor mwah. Prohibitively heavy.
Ibanez Portamento: great player, excellent mwah, great bloom, killin sound ACOUSTICALLY. Just could not get behind the electrics. I even swapped in Nordstrands, but the Pre with the three separate volumes, gave me tons of tones. None I liked. Not one. I blame my shortcomings as a fretless player as to why it didn't provide the sound I was hoping to hear in my head. Your experience may differ, but it’s a pretty incredible instrument for the price range. Just didn’t work out for me.
Elrick NJS5 Czech made: Czech NJS models are on par with Spector Euros and Sadowsky Metrolines. They are absolute top tier instruments. This one sounded like the fretboard was made of aluminum. So Bright. So metallic. Such a disappointment. Absolutely beautiful instrument. Not a lick of warmth to be found.
Ibanez SRH500F : Feather light. Under 7 lbs. Piezo only. Extremely limited sound. Played fantastically. Sang acoustically. Mwah, and bloom present, but not overly. Ibanez makes some fantastic lower cost fretless models, but for some reason the electrics are the shortfall.
Squier Affinity MOD to Pseudo Tony Franklin: While waiting in the sire ( which was supposed to be delayed till Dec 2025 but showed up suddenly) I decided to try and just make the bass I’d heard in my head. Tony’s YouTube videos reflected close the sound I wanted to capture, so I built this from a $175 FB Marketplace Affinty PJ. Turned out stunning AND SINGS!!. From the first note it was apparent I’d gotten a good neck off eBay. Flamed roasted maple with a rosewood unlined board. Put DiMarzio Model P & J’s in, new hardware, and a tone monster pre. And, It appears to be good enough. For now, but before i built that, I had picked up a…..
Ibanez GWB35: Got this from GC used as a bit of a basket case. Kicker was, it played incredibly well, had one of the nicest ebony polished boards I’d ever seen, and had mwah and bloom for days, But the truck liner finish and weak electrics ( like all lower end Ibanez apparently) had to be addressed. I did a full refinish, Bart Electrics, a removed all the Willis hardware. Now it’s really getting used. And If I were to recommend any fretless, it would be the GWB35, BUT you’ll want to swap in the BART pre. Makes a world of difference. The OEM Ibanez radiused pickup seems to be doing the job, but down the road I may swap in the Willis Bart pickup.
Regarding some other suggestions, The G&L is an interesting choice but is known to be heavy too. The Crews Maniac looks incredible, but may be a hard bass to source. There are some pretty cool suggestions in this thread.
I hope you feel this was helpful. Not here to hijack, simply impart my own experiences so as to help you find your perfect fretless. But the quick answer is, I’d go with the Willis, with a Bart Pre dropped in as an affordable choice
But if money is no object the Warwick Thumb fretless with the MM pickup is pretty spectacular too.
