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The World's Most Beautiful Fretless Basses ...

#121
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#123
I had to sell this Bolin NS fretless, and I really miss it. Terrific bass and I had several comments on it's looks.
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I also really wanted to buy this Benavente several years ago, but couldn't come up with the $$. It had wonderful tone and playability, and I love the look.
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#127
Always thought this fretless Curbow 7 at the bottom looked great. In the meantime here's still the sweetest fretless I've ever played and I think it looks great too:cool:


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This is easily the strangest...
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#130
rob2966 said:
I kinda like my Rob Allen :)
...I also really like that all black Valenti I have seen floating around TB, someone really should post that one...
Rob
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This one? I dearly love this bass. It's a working bass, and I'm no lawyer.


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#134
Truly a lovely lot of fretless basses posted here by everyone...loving them all! :hyper:

Particularly digging the Ken Lawrence, white Conklin, curvy light Adamovic, spalted Skjold & what I think is the Conklin at the bottom of Brad Johnson's post.
 
#139
Rebop said:
Most of the boutique customers were regulars and would come in weekly to see what was new and spend serious scratch on a wall hanger (PRS Dragons and such). I would also make a lot of small talk with them and they tended to be accountants, lawyers, doctors and real estate types that obsessed over 'tone' and 'tone woods' (one guy even spent a few thousand dollars on a couple of vintage tubes, telefunken I think). So yeah, most of the boutique customers in my experience were not 'players', but there aren't many of those here in Fort Lauderdale anyways. The guys I know around here that are truly awesome, play the junkiest crap I've ever seen.
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Completely believable. Real working who make their entire living from music very often see instruments as a tool. I think it's the same with any profession. A home hobbyist woodworker is more likely to have high priced tools than a professional woodworker in may cases. To the pro, the tool is just a job to get the work done. They will have a well made pro quality tool, but not necessarily the high end custom tool with all the bells and whistles that the accountant who works with a tool for his own pleasure will have.

It's not an absolute, it's just a trend. I'll bet anyone who works in the music instrument business will notice it. The collectors and hobbyists are the people who keep the high-end guitar and bass builders in business! And there's nothing wrong with having bass as a hobby and spending $5000 on a coffee table with strings if that's your thing.

Also, real players understand that the subtleties of "tone" are about 95% gone in the context of a full band situation, and playing technique is everything in a real playing situation.
 
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#140
I can't sit by in silence to this nonsense about real players playing junky instruments. This is rubbish.
As a professional player, I know many of the cats around town who play full-time on most of the sessions and gigs.
The best players in town play quality gear like Sadowsky, Ken Smith, custom basses etc...these are the cats that are constantly busy AND get some of the BEST paying work in town. Sure, some of these cats may also have a $500 Skyline or 80's Kramer bass but that's in addition to the more expensive gear they own.
I've also seen a lesser amount of full-time players who play crappy basses or other crappy instruments. These are the guys who always cry poor and are always borrowing **** on the gig. I've seen these guys get fired from gigs because they never fix their broken equipment or they have horrible tone. I've seen, first hand, OVER and OVER band leaders saying "I'm not calling this guy back because he's got cheap, horrible sounding equipment". These players, though full-time, are usually the ones who get the lesser desired, lower-paying gigs. Of course, there are exceptions to the above statement, but as a rule, full time guys don't play junk.
I repeat ....Most, but not all, of the guys I know holding down quality gigs play quality instruments.
Go to any Cirque de Soleil show and you'll see the bass player with up to 3 quality basses in his area..i.e. an F bass ( $3,000 +), Lakland 55-94 and an electric upright.
It is true that most electric bass guitars that cost over $10,000 are purchased by lawyers and such. Those instruments are the either the anniversary models or have a ridiculous amount of inlay on them..etc. However, most top working pros are still purchasing instruments that range on average from $2,500-$5,000. These are high quality yet practical instruments designed to deliver quality tone and quality workmanship and reliability. Most pros I know, including myself, play such instruments.
 
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