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Why shouldn't I buy a fretless

#41
JumboFriendly said:
This is not the right forum to have people convince you to not buy basses or bass gear. The "sound financial decision and responsible spending" forums are... well, hell if I know. I'm sure they're out there somewhere, though.
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So I see, most of you advise me to buy a guitar a little bit off the budget I can justify spending on a fretless :)

I think I'll go with the VM Squier, as far as tone goes I'd like more of a Jaco sound and I think a Jazz Bass would be the way to go. Plus : if I ever stick to fretless and don't want to come back, a Jazz bass will be closer to the tone I'd need for my band (stoner/metal).
 
#42
How about this one ? Good/bad ?
 

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#43
Hoodee said:
So I see, most of you advise me to buy a guitar a little bit off the budget I can justify spending on a fretless :)

I think I'll go with the VM Squier, as far as tone goes I'd like more of a Jaco sound and I think a Jazz Bass would be the way to go. Plus : if I ever stick to fretless and don't want to come back, a Jazz bass will be closer to the tone I'd need for my band (stoner/metal).
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You're doing the right thing. Jump in, come to your own conclusions.
 
#47
I've build meself a nice fretless bass, no lines or dots, nothing, played it for a few months and then picked up my fretted bass, a Warwick Thumb NT4.
It felt a bit like a childrens bass, that warwick, with all them lines (frets) to make playing easy.
I became a much better player on a fretless.
Now I play without looking, I watch TV while playing.
There no need to look at yur bass, there's nothing to see.
I play by the ear now.
The "real hardcore bassist" play's fretless, IMO.
 
#48
SirGrotius said:
To talk you out of it, I'd point out that there are few successful songs featuring a fretless bass. There's something more aggressive, obviously, having a fretted instrument. Plus, fretless can sound sort of whiny and nasal, which is annoying! :hiding:
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Jack Bruce, Roger Waters, Percy Jones, Tony Franklin, John Paul Jones and others would disagree with this.
 
#49
Hoodee said:
Here's the drill : I have some cash to spend on stupid stuff, my main target is a second bass, a cheap one, so I can leave my main bass at the studio and don't have to carry it around all the time, just so I can practice at home. I want it to be fretless...

Why shouldn't I buy one (knowing that for 12 years I've been playing guitar and I just recently switched to bass) and what to buy in the unlikely event it's a good idea to have a fretless for practice purposes :)
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I was casually looking for a bass recently and the sound I really was going for can be heard on most Gentle Giant music and 'Don't You Ever Wash That Thing', from Zappa's Live At The Roxy, And Elsewhere. It's basically the growly Precision sound but those are good examples. I have always been a huge fan of the sound of fretless, but that's not what I was looking for at the time. Guess what I bought- yup. It's an Ibanez SR 400FL and it was less than $200, used. I figured that if it didn't work out, I wouldn't lose any money. Something about it just seemed like a puppy in a pet store window.

If I had made a list of my likes and dislikes re: a bass, this one would have had most of my dislikes. I never liked long scale basses, having played standard guitar for 45 years. It just wasn't comfortable, even though I have big hands. The bass I had been playing is an SD Curlee with a bad truss rod, which I bought because I wanted something for the times I wanted to play bass but I found that playing a badly set up instrument wasn't productive. I usually like wood bodies without much finish and I thought I liked narrower string spacing. This one has normal spacing and the body has a black plastic coating over some kind of wood with a maple/Pau Ferro neck. It came with GHS Pressurewound strings, which I found that I like. With the controls set the right way, it can sound like a piano but that's just one of the useful sounds I can get from it.

I have improved on this much faster than I ever though possible and, while I had played a few fretless basses before, I was never able to be as accurate as I wanted. Once I got the intonation dialed in (it wasn't set up well, at all), I'm hitting the notes without needing to slide into them unless I want to, I'm actively working at playing better & practicing and I haven't played my other guitars in months. I have also been watching a lot of bass lessons on YouTube- there's a lot out there.
 
#50
One reason not to go fretless would be that this might be a one way ticket. You'll not want to go back and your hearing will be getting better. You will not want to play with that guitarist and his sloppy tuning anymore:)
 
#51
Aziraphale said:
One reason not to go fretless would be that this might be a one way ticket. You'll not want to go back and your hearing will be getting better. You will not want to play with that guitarist and his sloppy tuning anymore:)
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Man, first fretless basses steals girlfriends, now this...

Seems a fretless will do so much harm to my hearing, my playing, all those new possibilities, that beautifull tone...Why would anybody want that kind of instruments then ?

What evil mastermind invented those instruments?
 
#52
AltGrendel said:
Make it a real challenge, get an unlined fretless.
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That's what I did. No lines.
Trial by fire...hahaha

I actually bought a $229 squire fretless at GC and tinkered with it for a weekend at home.
QUICKLY found that the ebinol fretboard did not do it for me, nor the tonal range.
It had the cheat lines which was good for a fretless newbie...
BUT it had to go back.
So back it went.

I then looked and looked for the right fretless that would be a "keeper".
Found a great deal here on TB, on an as new mint G&L ASAT Fretless UNlined with ebony fretboard.
Have to say MY GOD WHAT A BASS!!
TONS of tonal control!!! :hyper:
This is truly a fun change from the fretted world.

I cannot see myself jumping ship to fretless altogether.
BUT, it is a lot of fun to the mind and ears sitting around playing this baby and learning the fretless thing.
Very pleased I grabbed one and began the learning process.
Lines would be easier...But with the side marker dots you can get away without the lines fairly easily.

Good luck with the fretless ambitions :bassist:
 
#53
Summer of 2010 I saw a listing on CL for an SX P+J fretless for $95. I went to check it out, and I really liked it, so I bought it... figured for the price I didn't have much to lose if it turned out not to be to my liking. It felt good in my hands, neck was straight, and it was actually pretty much in tune. When I tried it out at practice, everyone liked it, but it was still missing something.

So, I ordered some medium guage Detroit flatwounds (personal preference), did a quick set up, and holy crap... that bass came alive. Instead of it just being another bass for me to tinker around with, it became and still is my everyday bass. I play in the praise band at my church, and this bass sits so well in the mix. I keep the J pickup turned completely off, I just love the P pickup...

Are all the SX fretless basses like this? I have no clue. For all I know I just was blessed to get a good one. I will tell you this though, I have some basses that cost several times what this one did, and this one is the one that I will keep... All cheap basses are not alike, but this thing sings in my hands. I'm a much better player now as a result, I hear things much better now, and I'm much more confident in my ability. This was the best $95 I've ever spent.
 
#54
Starting to understand the fretlass appeal with the worn frets on my 75 pbass.

Personally I love hitting the middle of each note.

If I wanted to play fretlass would have played a double bass in the late 19th century
 
#55
MNAirHead said:
Paul Simon - Call Me Al
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He he but that's Pino Palladino! I own a Musicman Stingray 4, 2007, that I had defretted a year ago. (Being a 30 year fan of Palladino!) I since bought a local custom made Jazzie, and a Sandberg California JJ4, completing the company with a fretless Warwick Corvette Std 5 (which I LOVE) I tend to become somewhat a "different" bassplayer on the fretless. To me the fretless is more expressive because of the dynamics and the fusion in sound between good quality materials. My fiesta red custom made Jazzie has lines, and I too can't see them when playing *lol* I never thought of that!!! The Warwick has 5 strings and absolutely nothing on the fretboard, except dots on the side. I find the dots on the side helpful, but not for accuracy as much as for "planning" where to wander on the fretboard in 2-3 beats. A quick glance and I dont lose my way so easily.
I played from 1982-ca 1995, and didn't play a bass for all those years. I took it up again last winter, and I find my approach to the bass is totally different today (thank God) and the fretless, I suspect, COULD easily become my main bass in a few years time.
I'd say buy a decent one at least. Not a crappy low end one with plastic-like fretboard and a body made from a Burmese front door! *lol* Good luck!! Bass on!
 
#57
Mokebass said:
Starting to understand the fretlass appeal with the worn frets on my 75 pbass.

Personally I love hitting the middle of each note.

If I wanted to play fretlass would have played a double bass in the late 19th century
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It seems pretty clear to me that you don't understand the appeal of a fretless bass. In both feel and sounds double bass and fretless electric are almost always entirely different.
 

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