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TO GO FRETLESS OR NOT?

#84
Years ago, I bought an Aria "Beatle" bass (1420) had it converted to fretless and played it for about 2 months before I decided fretless wasn't for me. Wish I had never done that. I feel like I ruined a perfectly good bass and lost money when I sold it. Just my 2¢
 
#87
Jjacks651 said:
I am in a project band that has a couple of songs that the bassline was definitely recorded on a fretless bass. I don't have one in my collection of 3 electric basses. Is there a decent, under $500.00 fretless bass out there? Or should I take one of my current basses and buy a fretless neck for a conversion?

What I have right now are: Fender American Vintage reissue "75 Jazz Bass: New(ish) MIJ Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass; and a New Fender Vintera Precision Bass.

Personally, I don't want to change any of them, each has it's own feel, and sound. The only neck I am not in love with is the Vintera, it's finish on the edges is a little rough? I'd like to round the fret edges and even possibly the fingerboard top a little. Both my Jazz Basses have beautiful slim necks that play like butter. The Aerodyne with the P-J pups is killer punchy and rings with pure intonation and clarity in the higher registers. The Vintage reissue is just amazingly Jazz Bass perfect in every way. I guess I am convincing myself to not change any but to find a fretless to add to the collection.

Any suggestions around the size of the stimulus check?

Thanks,

John
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You should probably just go with a neck for the one you play the least. That way, if you dont bond with fretless, you're not out a whole bass. You could always just throw the fretted neck back on, and sell the fretless neck on ebay...or here.
 
#90
I believe its already been said, but if you`re not planning on investing the time on a fretless but you want a useable fretless, Glarry`s are cheap and will suit the purpose and you find them anywhere from Craigs, ebay, and direct from Glarry, and you`ll still have cabbage left over.
 
#91
Lots of great advice in this thread already, so I just want to chime in to say that Yes! I think you should have a go at playing fretless if you are interested in it. It is very fun an rewarding.

I second the idea of shopping for a fretless neck to put on your Vintera P bass to test the fretless waters. But I don't think you can go wrong with an MIM Fender Jazz Fretless either if you don't want to modify your P bass. Shop used and try before you buy to make sure everything is in good order, I'm sure you can find a good deal eventually.
 
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#92
You should. It's a whole other voice with far more control over the nuance of the notes. Having good intonation is a constant consideration, it's a lot more involved than playing a fretted.
 
#94
John Webb said:
I bought a $109 SX P bass and put a fretless neck from TB on it and some flats....use it for tunes that benefit from that sound....
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I bought a fretless SX P bass for about the same price for about the same reason. Everything about it sucked, including the neck. The neck and/or fingerboard was warped enough that there was no way to get the entire thing both playable and buzzless.
 
#95
GretschWretch said:
No; the side markers are where the halfway point between frets would be, just like on a fretted bass. If you intonate by using your octave harmonic vs. stopped note, your correct pitches will not be on the side dots.
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Warwick Corvette fretless. I just checked on a strobe tuner. My Octave harmonic is dead on E and the 2nd fretmarker is dead on G.
 
#96
SteveC said:
I'm always torn by this. I understand getting a cheap a$$ instrument until you know if you'll like it. But a cheap a$$ bass may give you the wrong impression as well - especially fretless. Why not spend a little more for something decent that will give you a good playing experience. If you do indeed decide it isn't for you, you can sell it with maybe more success than a really cheap bass? Maybe not. But if you like it you will already have a decent bass to continue with.
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This.

I battled a few cheap fretless. It was fine. Nothing special. Not inspiring.
Then, I took a leap of faith when I scored a killer deal on a Pedulla Buzz and all of a sudden fretless made sense.
Sounded great. Looked great. Played better then anything I'd experienced up until that point.
Took me a while to get used to it, but I WANTED to get better at it, which was certainly not the case with the others before the Pedulla.

Plus, as you mentioned, I got to play it for several years until I moved on to something else.
 
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#97
grimjim said:
Warwick Corvette fretless. I just checked on a strobe tuner. My Octave harmonic is dead on E and the 2nd fretmarker is dead on G.
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I'm happy to hear it. But what you and several other posters seem to have missed is that my remarks about mispositioned dots referred to Glarry fretlesses and only Glarry fretlesses. Besides, I would expect a bass of the caliber of a Warwick to have everything "just right."
 
#98
GretschWretch said:
I'm happy to hear it. But what you and several other posters seem to have missed is that my remarks about mispositioned dots referred to Glarry fretlesses and only Glarry fretlesses. Besides, I would expect a bass of the caliber of a Warwick to have everything "just right."
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My bad, I misunderstood. My comment was not Glarrycentric.
 
#99
grimjim said:
My bad, I misunderstood. My comment was not Glarrycentric.
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No need to apologize. There is no one single approach fits all when it comes to these dots. My fretlesses that were such from the factory have the dots for a fretless where they should be, the Glarry being the exception. A defretted bass presents the same dot mislocation problems as a Glarry. For me personally, the most maddening instance is with a Gibson Ripper, whose neck supplies no reference points.
 
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#100
GretschWretch said:
I'm happy to hear it. But what you and several other posters seem to have missed is that my remarks about mispositioned dots referred to Glarry fretlesses and only Glarry fretlesses. Besides, I would expect a bass of the caliber of a Warwick to have everything "just right."
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When I was in the Marines, one of my sergeants said, "Don't give orders than can be understood. Give orders that cannot be misunderstood." The reason everyone missed that your remarks dealt only with Glarry is that you failed to point out that your remarks only dealt with Glarry.
 

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