The Fretless Club (Part IV)

Beautiful. Has that BraveHeart kinda vibe to it. Great use of effects with some pretty advanced technique.

 

939 JimmyThunder



It looks like the new TB offers the ability to change usernames, which makes it harder for me to determine if I'm handing out a club number to someone that has one from an older name... I don't know how to combat this, but from now on if you are posting pics, please let me know if you are requesting a number or already have one.

Thanks

... This wasn't aimed at you specifically JimmyThunder, I've seen your avatar and username for a while and realized it was a genuine request. I noticed this new TB feature but didn't think of how it would affect the club until I was looking through my list of existing members.

 

Can I join? I have a year-unknown (possibly 90's) Fernandes Fretless J bass

 

Love my Les Paul Triumph - as far as I know, it was a special order factory fretless



Number Please

 

Very nice! I see yours even has the optional and ultra-rate geiger counter upgrade.

 

New club members:

940 RandomBox
941 Stizz

 

I am currently redefining a mid-90's super-cool Peavy B-Quad 4 fretless which is featured here: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/peavy-b-quad-4-transformation-creative-content.1081976/

I will post pics on this thread when it's completed.

here's before shots -

View attachment 429991 View attachment 429990

 

Hey JIO, I checked out the thread, and am now watching. Amazing work as always. That bass looks amazing! Can't wait to see it when you're done. Is this your first fretless?

 

I like what I see
Whats the scale

 

All but the top left is fretless
Top left to right
Peavey Dyna Unity
Peavey Dyna Unity (Factory fretless and D-Tuner)
Cort Action Junior (Active EMG pick up)
Brice 5 string (Waiting on electronics up-grade)
Birdsong Cortobass #285
I have a number thank you

 

30 1/2" scale

 

Nice

 

Got this guy on Tuesday. Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz. Holy moley, it kicks butt. Sooooo much more than I was expecting from a $400 Squier.

Can I join the club?

 

Has anybody seen that new Ibanez Portomento 5 string Fretless with the extended fingerboard up to the neck pickup (30 fret)? Two tone dark to the brown mahogany sunburst neckthrough with a piezo bridge. Passive 2 band with volume volume P volume bass treble P tone controls. Comes strung with Di'A flats. Man that thing was really really sweet playing. Saw it at non local GC for me. Man. Just under 1K. I will be back to mess with that somemore!

 

Hey Fretless Wonders,

Check out the Linc Luthier 4-string fretless I have for sale. You'll love it.

 

I have seen the 4 string model at my local CA House. It is sweet. I have a GWB 35 and would definitely consider another Ibby fretless. Would like to play with the 5 string. I typically prefer ebony fingerboards on fretless, but that one looks pretty nice too.

 

My fretless journey

I’ve had the fretless bug for a number of years, but hemmed and hawed and delayed getting one because I was afraid to sink a bundle on something as nice as my 5-string Pedulla Thunderbass only to find out that I hated fretless or totally sucked at it. So late last year I decided to pick up a used Schecter Stiletto Studio 4-string as a “starter” – only a few hundred bucks, seemed like a no-brainer. I could always re-sell it and not lose much if things didn’t work out.

Well, I was surprised to find that I picked it up pretty well in only a few hours! For a budget bass I was really impressed with the way the Schecter sounded – lots of nice “mwah.” In fact, liked it so much I decided that I wanted to do a lot more fretless, not just use it as an “occasional” thing as I had originally intended.

So the hunt was on for a suitable 5-string. The Pedulla 19 mm 5-string neck is the only one I’ve ever felt really comfortable with, so that narrowed down the options. As most of you probably know, Pedulla’s premier fretless is the Buzz , but I don’t particularly care for the way it looks. The Thunderbass is more to my liking, but fretless Thunderbasses are not too common. So I figured I’d have to find a regular one that I liked and have it converted. A few months ago I was able to score a pristine 2007 19 mm T-bass with a gorgeous bubinga top on ebay for half the price on a new one. (However there was a significant issue with the frets [more on that here, for those interested] – fortunately that didn’t matter since they were coming out anyway.)

I picked up my new baby a few weeks later from my luthier, and it sounds great! I thought I’d start with the Pedulla stings that come stock on the Buzz basses. Talk about depth and warmth for days - so much so that about the only way you can get a good “mwah” happening is to pan to the bridge pickup and roll the bass knob back. Do that and it “mwah’s” like crazy. With the bass control flat and the pan pot straight up it doesn’t get a lot of “mwah,” but it’s still an awesome rich tone that just * sounds * awesome! By comparison my 4-string Schecter “starter” fretless, while definitely getting some nice “mwah,” sounds rather “nasal” and sterile.

And it looks great too! You just don’t see a lot of bubinga Pedullas. My luthier recommended using a wood filler for the lines instead of the common white styrene plastic. He wanted to use ebony, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see the lines. I’m a fretless noob, I need the lines! So he used maple instead, and stained it a dark brown that matches the bubinga. The result is a subtle effect: The lines are there, but they don’t jump out at you like white plastic or unstained maple would.

So can I join this esteemed club and get a number? Here are a couple of pics, including a neck close-up. Below them is a picture of both fretlesses, although I expect that I’ll be selling the Schecter soon.

​

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Administrator, Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Tobias Club
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly

 

Great looking basses everyone!

New members:

942 Moley13
943 WayneP

 

Nice!!

 

Thank you kind sir!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt


Administrator, Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Tobias Club
Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly