What was your first fretless bass? And, how long were you playing bass by the time you lost the frets?
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What was your first fretless bass?
- Thread starter MAJOR METAL
- Start date
After hearing Unorthodox Behaviour in the summer of '76 I took my 1973 7ender Telecastor® bass and ripped the frets out with some dikes (very gently) and went about learning all of Percy Jones' bass lines from the album.
I started playing bass in February 1971 with a mint condition late '60s 7ender Jazz Bass I got for $175. That bass got straight traded with a local bassist for the February '67 Rickenbacker 4005WB (Jetglo) that I had a gigged extensively with until I sold it in August 2011.
I started playing bass in February 1971 with a mint condition late '60s 7ender Jazz Bass I got for $175. That bass got straight traded with a local bassist for the February '67 Rickenbacker 4005WB (Jetglo) that I had a gigged extensively with until I sold it in August 2011.
A Carvin AC40 was my first fretless.
Great neck, suoer lightweight, but I didn't like the piezo sound,or the slab body.
I had a beloved Rickenbacker Cheyenne ii professionally defretted, and never bonded with it as a fretless.
These days I have a Tune wb4f that I've modded with a Lace thinline hb pickup.
Great neck, suoer lightweight, but I didn't like the piezo sound,or the slab body.
I had a beloved Rickenbacker Cheyenne ii professionally defretted, and never bonded with it as a fretless.
These days I have a Tune wb4f that I've modded with a Lace thinline hb pickup.
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- Dec 21, 2007
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My first was a lovely walnut Spector, but it was a 4 string and I was enamored of 5's. Now pretty much all I play is fretless.
My first was a 90s Carvin LB40 I picked up used in 2001 or so. Still have it, still play it.
I got my first bass in 1980, then my first fretless (a Fender Precision) about a year later. About three years after that (1984) I discovered Brand X and promptly ordered my first Wal fretless, which got stolen in 1985, so turned right around and ordered another Wal fretless built in Dec 1985 and I took delivery of it in January 1986. About 7 or 8 years later I had Pete (The Fish) at Wal make me a fretted neck for it, and I swap them out occasionally. I sold the Fender fretless Precision a couple of years after I got the Wal, and it seems that TB'er KoaFodera has found it somewhere and is presently in the process of buying it (as evident by the serial number he mentioned in a couple of other threads here on TB).
I still have the Wal, and I just recently put the fretless neck back on it after playing it fretted for about the past two years. As much as I like the Wal, I now wish I'd never sold the fretless Precision.
I still have the Wal, and I just recently put the fretless neck back on it after playing it fretted for about the past two years. As much as I like the Wal, I now wish I'd never sold the fretless Precision.
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First one I bought was a early 2000s fender jazz in 2019. It was fun to play with and I've had several other four string fretless basses/necks, including one I defretted. I don't play four strings much anymore and am working on making a five string fretless now.
I'd been playing for >20 years at that point.
I'd been playing for >20 years at that point.
In 1977 I had the frets pulled on my Travis Bean bass. Primarily because of the Jaco effect. It was my only bass for the next 2 years.
My first was a parts bass consisting of a Japanese Jazz copy body coupled with a Mighty Mite precision neck with unlined rosewood fingerboard and white binding. It was my first bass and I did the fretless conversion within a week of starting to play. This is from August 1985:
I started playing bass around Autumn 1993. I had an Aria Pro II Integra (the cheapest version) with an Ebanol fretboard. The bass sounded like a wet turd.
A dude I met at school told me about Jaco and his exploits with the bass guitar, and I had started a subscription to Bass Player magazine over that winter.
Around Spring 1994, I was using a borrowed Peavey Dynabass Unity Koa (sounded much, much better!). So the Aria had surgery.
I honestly don't remember whatever happened to that bass, but it doesn't matter because by late Summer 1994 I had purchased a brand new Stingray, and then a matching Stingray Fretless in 1995.
A dude I met at school told me about Jaco and his exploits with the bass guitar, and I had started a subscription to Bass Player magazine over that winter.
Around Spring 1994, I was using a borrowed Peavey Dynabass Unity Koa (sounded much, much better!). So the Aria had surgery.
I honestly don't remember whatever happened to that bass, but it doesn't matter because by late Summer 1994 I had purchased a brand new Stingray, and then a matching Stingray Fretless in 1995.
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EdwardofHuncote
I Still Dream of Jeannie
- Aug 21, 2013
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- I privately own and operate a local musical instument repair shop.
I started on upright bass years ago, so it wasn't that much trouble to make the transition to fretless bass guitar. I briefly had a Godin A5 fretless before my Rick Turner 'Renaissance' arrived. It was one he had built for the 2013 NAMM show to show off gloss finish on quilt maple figure. I got it straight from Rick... one of my most prized possessions.
No one's gonna like me after this post.
Back in the late 1980s I made it a point to shop the two Boston pawn shops religiously.
One day I was walking through the door of the one on East Berkeley st and saw her hanging there...a blue stereo Rickenbacker factory fretless. $325. I put down $100 cash and came back on payday with the rest. Even in 1989 it was a crazy deal. She was wearing three strings. Someone had rode her hard and put her away wet.
I put a lot of work into that bass. Was a love/hate relationship.
The entire story would be a thread unto its own.
Back in the late 1980s I made it a point to shop the two Boston pawn shops religiously.
One day I was walking through the door of the one on East Berkeley st and saw her hanging there...a blue stereo Rickenbacker factory fretless. $325. I put down $100 cash and came back on payday with the rest. Even in 1989 it was a crazy deal. She was wearing three strings. Someone had rode her hard and put her away wet.
I put a lot of work into that bass. Was a love/hate relationship.
The entire story would be a thread unto its own.
I have never had one, I am just here to say that I love the underlying implication of the title that of course people have more than one bass 
i went from fretless (DB), to fretted EB, and then to fretless EB in about 3 years or so. i started bass in '75, so by '78 or thereabout, i was playing a fretless EB.
these pics are reversed (chronologically) but they show a couple of the FSOs i was into when i was young(er):
not my first, but very much like it (it was a P with a burst and IIRC: tort!
)
and later (although this pic is earlier than the one above), my first G&L (early '80s):
I had been playing for a couple years when a friend needed a fretted bass and only had a couple fretless so I swapped my low end ibanez for his low end yamaha. Sold my last fretless (a 78 p bass) around the time I started playing upright.
First fretless was a Michael Kelly Dragonfly 5. I had ~10 years of playing experience at that point. I was living in a hotel for a summer internship and did not want to take an amp so bought an acoustic bass. Used it as an opportunity to also start learning fretless.
Sold the MK after that summer and bought a Tobias Growler fretless. Loved the Growler and kept it for several years. Eventually sold it because it was only 4 strings and I prefer 5. I went a few years without a fretless then picked up a fretless G&L Kiloton 5. The Kilo 5 will stay as long as I am playing bass.
Sold the MK after that summer and bought a Tobias Growler fretless. Loved the Growler and kept it for several years. Eventually sold it because it was only 4 strings and I prefer 5. I went a few years without a fretless then picked up a fretless G&L Kiloton 5. The Kilo 5 will stay as long as I am playing bass.
Mine was an SX fretless P-bass I bought used around 2006, when I had been playing steadily for four years, which were preceded by almost ten years without touching a bass. (Before then, I had played sporadically from 1984-1993.)
The SX wasn't very good, but it taught me I liked fretless P-basses, so I built a fretless P from Fender parts including an MIM fretless J neck. It was a very cool bass and I enjoyed playing it on my own, but I never used it with my bands, so I parted it out and sold it, around 2008. I haven't had a fretless since then, and unless I need one for a particular project, I don't expect to get another.
The SX wasn't very good, but it taught me I liked fretless P-basses, so I built a fretless P from Fender parts including an MIM fretless J neck. It was a very cool bass and I enjoyed playing it on my own, but I never used it with my bands, so I parted it out and sold it, around 2008. I haven't had a fretless since then, and unless I need one for a particular project, I don't expect to get another.
I don't have an original picture of it, but it was a deep reddish brown version of this Galveston bass. Last had it in 2008. It was fun to play, but I had my eye on another bass.
I picked up a used T-40 fretless back around 1983? As you know, T-40s have an unusual wiring scheme. There was no manual and this was pre-internet. I had a heck of a time figuring out a pot setting that resulted in a good sound. Once I found it, I was afraid to touch anything. I eventually traded it to pay for a repair on my violin. These days I have a Squier VM modified.
My first (and so far last) was this Pedulla MV. Bought it when I was playing for about 3 years, got some money, and this was the bass that was sounding way best in whole music shop. At the time (ca 1997) these were nicely unknown and cheap. I found nothing lacking on the bass for almost 25 years. I don't use it much anymore though; for fretless jobs, I prefer double bass nowadays.
