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Which luthiers are known for their fretless?

#41
If we're posting pictures:

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#45
yanlin1985 said:
which luthiers specialize in fretless and are known for their fretless bass quality?
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If I was going to get a Custom fretless I'd probably either go with Clement bass out of Florida or assemble a warmoth parts build. If you haven't heard of Clement bass it's mainly a one man (Tom Clement) operation down in Florida. Prices have gone up like everyone else's over the years but he's still pretty competitive price wise. Lots of body styles ranging from traditional jazz bass like shapes to very modern ergo and singlecut shapes. Even has a shape that looks a lot like a single cut fodera.


A buddy of mine here in town who grew up across the street from me had one when he was primarily playing fretless and it sounded and felt great. I keep up with Toms builds on FB and he's also a super nice guy. Imo he does great work. Like every builder there are some things he doesn't want to get into. For example I asked him about building me a multiscale fretted bass and he said no, but there's a huge variety of body styles. He will build to your specs, let you pick details like string spacing. Electronic wise I believe he mainly just uses Nordstrand and aguilar pickups. But both those brands make good pickups imo and both brands cover a huge range of pickup styles. I believe he mainly uses hipshot hardware (which i dig anyways) Tom will also build headless basses if you want for example a modern natural finish style bass that's headless which not make brands are doing. I know Strandberg for example makes fretted multiscale headless with a natural look but Strandberg doesn't do fretlesses in anywhere near the same ballpark price wise.
 
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#48
When you get into the realm of real custom work any of those guys can make a fantastic fretless bass. Really, the question should be: Other than fretless, what qualities are you looking for? What feel, tone, aesthetics, and style? Do you want a great fretless bass off the line, or do you have some crazy vision that nobody already produces?

Personally, I've found Chris Stambaugh to be an excellent luthier; his style and options match what I want in a custom instrument. I'd suggest you look at the features and style of bass you want, beyond the fretboard, and research which luthiers check all of those boxes.
 
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#49
JonathanPDX said:
When you get into the realm of real custom work any of those guys can make a fantastic fretless bass. Really, the question should be: Other than fretless, what qualities are you looking for? What feel, tone, aesthetics, and style? Do you want a great fretless bass off the line, or do you have some crazy vision that nobody already produces?

Personally, I've found Chris Stambaugh to be an excellent luthier; his style and options match what I want in a custom instrument. I'd suggest you look at the features and style of bass you want, beyond the fretboard, and research which luthiers check all of those boxes.
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Came to the thread to drop Chris's name. Best fretless I ever played was a Stambaugh at the Guitar Center in Boston back when it was on Comm Ave. It's genuinely not even close, easily the best fretless I've ever seen.
 
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#50
Keith Guitars said:
I'd say F-Bass (AC model), Pedulla (Buzz Bass), and Zon are noted for their fretless offerings.

The guys who make "acoustic-like" basses (Rob Allen, Veillette, Turner/Renaissance)
also have a greater-than-average percentage of fretless in their output.

That having been said - most any custom bass company today can make an exceptional fretless.
AND - the most iconic fretless I can think of is still a certain Fender Jazz Bass, owned by a guy from Florida.
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This pretty well nails it. Mike Pedulla, George Furlanetto, Rob Allen, Rick Turner, Joe Zon, Joe Veillette, Harvey Citron are the ones that come to my mind right off.
 
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#54
I forgot to mention it earlier but while his name isn't as well known, but Lowdown Bass (Tim Seisser) makes a truely fantastic fretless. It's not a bargain brand but defintitely competitively priced and a passive, single-pup bolt-on starts at $1600. He made a telebass for me that I adore.

I 'm pretty sure this is the one I played at his place and it -as well as the others- was quite fantastic.
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The Puzzle Piece back is flipping cool.
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This one was sweet as well. I normally don't go for J necks and short scales, but it played wondefully.
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Both are avaialble right now....
 
#55
frankie5string said:
The recommendation of Pedulla basses is pointless unless the OP wants to purchase a used bass.
Mike retired and isn't making basses anymore.
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Here's the original post:
which luthiers specialize in fretless and are known for their fretless bass quality?

Doesn't specify if they're looking to buy and doesn't say it has to be new production.

...and Mike didn't just 'retire'. He passed away.
 
#56
BurningSkies said:
Here's the original post:
which luthiers specialize in fretless and are known for their fretless bass quality?

Doesn't specify if they're looking to buy and doesn't say it has to be new production.

...and Mike didn't just 'retire'. He passed away.
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Shoot. I knew of the retirement. I didn't hear of him passing. Sad.

He definitely created a unique fretless sound with the Buzz basses. I somewhat copied a few of those specs on a Cliff Bordwell bass. Needless to say, the sound is divine.
 
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#57
spade2you said:
Shoot. I knew of the retirement. I didn't hear of him passing. Sad.

He definitely created a unique fretless sound with the Buzz basses. I somewhat copied a few of those specs on a Cliff Bordwell bass. Needless to say, the sound is divine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not currently looking but a 5 string Pedulla Fretless is definitely high on my wish list.
 
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#58
BurningSkies said:
Here's the original post:
which luthiers specialize in fretless and are known for their fretless bass quality?

Doesn't specify if they're looking to buy and doesn't say it has to be new production.

...and Mike didn't just 'retire'. He passed away.
Click to expand...

Do you have a post that says he died? I don't recall hearing/seeing that.

I see there's a much older Michael Vincent Pedulla that died not longer after our MV Pedulla retired - but the bass-maker wasn't 99 years old.
 
#59
frankie5string said:
Do you have a post that says he died? I don't recall hearing/seeing that.

I see there's a much older Michael Vincent Pedulla that died not longer after our MV Pedulla retired - but the bass-maker wasn't 99 years old.
Click to expand...

I just looked...I think I'm wrong. I swear that I saw some media on it this past year...
 
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