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The Fretless Club (Part 2!)

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#161
Thank you for clearing this up for me - has been annoying me for ages! Seems so much to learn - and - there I thought I could just pick up a bass guitar coz it was lighter and smaller.

As for the side spots, I kinda find them a bit weird, and try and ignore their existance. It's really weird doing the whole cross thing - guess I really don't understand the whole fret thing - although, I do love my traben ......... - despite it's frets!!!!

I love the look of the basses in this thread - there are so few commercially here - the only one I've seen in a music shop is the one I bought - and they always seem to really enjoy it coming back again.
 
#162
Already a member, but I thought I needed to post pics of the newest member to my small fretless family.

Kinda plain when put beside some of the beauties in this thread, but I like it and it plays like a dream...

hwy1warmouth1.jpg
hwy1warmouth4.jpg
hwy1warmouth7.jpg
 
#170
I have this fretless.. though.. I'm still struggling with it.. not really sure WHY people play fretless.. ;) (aside from all those a### notes (its somewhere NEAR a# Its kinda like NWW on a compass!), I'm not quite as bad as the wishbass guy!

Its a 1979 Greco 'Speedway' (I posted it in another thread.. can't remember where)

IMG_1504.jpg


IMG_1507.jpg
 
#172
Engine207 said:
THAT...

...

...

...

...is one schweeeet fingerboard!!

It seems to be standing up to the rounds pretty well too...
Click to expand...

:) Ta!
Well.. yes and no.. The bass as mentioned is a '79.. but its pretty much mint, there is one small ding in the base of it.. there was just no wear on the board at all, the shop that sent it to me had fitted the cheapo round you see.. sooo.. I'm not sure what its had run on it over the years, I've got flats on it now as well.

Yeah, its very pretty, dark, waxy and shiny!
 
#176
Thanks. The body is Ambrosia Maple. The fretboard is Ipe (with a walnut stain). I did a superglue finish on the fretboard to give it a hard, shiny surface.

DSCN0104.jpg


You can see there how it's kind of glossy. It is a bit glossier now, as I just recently hit it with a buffer.

Not a bad bass for $300, plus another $100 or so in the refinish job. I just put my new D'Addario Chromes on it last night. It feels quite nice. I need to lower the action a little more, as I like it stupid low. I'm new to the fretless world, but I think this is going to be a fun instrument.
 
#178
I think the "splat" bass is the Kewel model: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

It really plays very nicely. I still want to lower the action just a bit. I had 45 guage strings on there (that's what came on it). I just changed my strings last night to round wound 40s. I didn't want to lower the bridge with the 45s and then put on 40s and it be too low. So, right now, it's a little higher than I prefer. Most probably would be fine with it. The neck is pretty thick, but that doesn't bother me, as I have had basses with slightly thicker necks than that. It has sustain for days, which is surprising because it is a very light bass (less than 8lbs). The access to the higher "frets" is great. It actually has a 3 octave fingerboard. I'll never go that high, but the ease of access to the higher ranges is nice. I am still learning fretless and I am not very good up high on the neck. But, I'll probably find it useful at some point.

With all of that said, it took a lot of time to get this bass to play like I wanted it. I did the refinish on it and that took about 20-30 hours. It was a lot of fun (there is a Wishbass thread in this forum where people, talk about the refinish process). I knew nothing about woodworking at all, so this was a slower process for me. You just have to be aware of that when you purchase one of these. They are playable out of the box, but not to the standards of most. It's workable certainly. But not comfortable initially. Now, it plays as nice as my others. It is a little headstock/neck heavy, like my Warwick.

IMO, you cannot get a better bass within a thousand dollars of this. I paid $300+$45 shipping, then about another $100 in strings ($30), a new knob ($5), switch ($5), sandpaper, oil and woodworking stuffs ($45). I am sure others will disagree and that's fine, but I have played a lot of basses and for the money, they are a great buy. It just depends whether or not you want to put in the time to refinish it. You can probably find someone who is selling one already refinished. In fact, Thunderitter is doing a really nice one right now. You can read about it in that thread. I played it at church on Sunday and I got so many compliments on both the look and the sound. They are a love 'em or hate 'em type bass.

Sorry this was so long, but I really like this bass. :D
 
#180
This my fretless J, which was originally a fretted Aria STB-JB. It's been loaded with a new unlined ebony board, bone nut, Nordstrand NJ4SE pickups, copper cavity shielding, CTS pots and Gotoh tuners. The Wilkinson bridge in the pic was also changed with a Badass III.

Can I join the club?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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