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Your fretless experience?

#82
Definitely get a fretless. It's such a more expressive way to play. You hear every movement of your hands.

I prefer lined (as a point of reference) but side dots aren't hard to adjust to either. For some reason I just never got use to looking at a finger board without at least lines. It just looks unfinished.
Most fretless players are just the opposite. :)

I do struggle on whether to keep a high end fretless though. I have a Warmoth Gecko that I built about 10 years ago and it sounds really good but it's not as nice sounding as a Roscoe or Zon with the Diamondwood or Phenolwood finger board. Those sing so nicely. Tons of mwah and growl.
My Gecko is close to the Pedulla sound though. I sent the neck to Bob Groat in CA about a year ago and had him level the board and coat it with polyester. He did a great job and it's close to the Pedulla sound (which is really nice too!).

I've had 3-4 Roscoe fretless basses over the last several years but end up selling or trading them to get another nice fretted (primarily because of the fact that I still have the Gecko fretless and it's sitting in the case). I guess in the end I don't use the fretless quite enough to justify having the really nice high end one.

Good luck with your decision!
 
#83
I play in a cover band and tried to copy a fretless sound on a fretted bass but finally decided to get a fretless. I didn't want to put a large expense into something that I might not connect with so I decided to try the cheaper basses out and wound up getting a Squier vintage modified 'fretless' jazz bass, I had to learn the proper vibrato techniques rather than the pull method I created using the fretted bass but its working out very well and sounds great...still can not believe the quality that the Squier has! Now I'm thinking about grabbing a Spector Euro fretless to add to the collection.
 
#85
I have been playing bass guitar since I was 11. In the early '80s I played upright in college for a year or so just for the experience. Never touched a fretless anything again till about 2009 when I found a smoking deal on a 70's Fender unlined rosewood board neck attached to a import P body. I really enjoyed the challenge and the sound! So much so I built another 70's Fretless P bass. I'm no Jaco I aim for more of a Boz Burrell style. Fretless is a great voice to have in the arsenal, I don't use it for everything but it is a nice option. Lined or unlined? Hey that's you call, no right or wrong choice. My fretless babies.
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#87
Just got back from church and I'll reiterate about what a great value that ESP LTD fretless is! If you want to start out with a lower priced model and see where that takes you, I'd recommend this one!
I think that the harping on no lines is mainly one of aesthetics - I find the lines on the fretboard help me to see what's going on and the points of reference on the top allow me time to think before playing. It aint rocket science (folks) but requires due diligence and attention. :D
 
#90
I played fretless for a while and had a lined neck. I don't have the opportunity or need to play fretless that often, but sometimes it's really nice to have one handy if you need to have that sound. I'd love to own another at some point, and when I do you can bet it will have fret lines. My advice is the opposite of some of what you've gotten here. My intonation would be, um, questionable if not for the training wheels as I've heard some full time fretless players refer to them. They worked for me and lined fretless necks sound the same. Get one with lines.
 
#91
Original OP:
6stringvince said:
I've been thinking about a first fretless (I've been in the planning stage of a build), but I can't help but wonder if it's not just a GAS attack, I'd hate to waste a bunch of time and money on something I might not stick with, especially with a fretless build, probably hard to get your money back on a sale.
Just wondering what the majority consensus is on your own fretless experience, has it been fretless for ever, or been there, done that, and no thanks?
Thanks for any input
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Next post:
Teacher said:
Here's my advice: build it without markers. Try to get used to it. If you don't like it, fret it.
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This is so TB. We go so quickly from someone asking generally about the utility of fretless to the tired old biotch session about markings on the fingerboard.:eyebrow:
 
#93
OP, it's definitely a good idea to have a fretless around (two of my 6 basses are fretless). One of the early posters suggested a fretless neck on an existing bass - that, or a budget first instrument would be an economical choice.
You'll end up spending more on better instrument soon enough...

P.s. I love having the extra tonal options that a fretless instrument offers!
 
#94
After two years of DB I bought a fretless Carvin 4 strings with lines, then a years after that I obught a Carvin 6 strings fretless with lines and 7 years latter ( like at the start of december ) I bought a Carvin 6 strings fretless unlined. I never once regret it.
 
#97
brad houser said:
having done both, I prefer unlined.
Observation: I live in Austin Tx, gig all the time, and for the last 10+ years fretless bass just doesn't sit right in Any of the bands I'm in. Ironic, considering my fretless sound has been on the radio for years (Edie Brickell and New Bohemians). I could force that sound into one of my bands, but that still wouldn't make it sound right. kinda like an actor playing a role that doesn't fit. I read an interview years ago in which the famous bassist talked about "casting" a bass sound into each song , like a director casting actors into a movie. lightbulb moment. many times I've seen a roots rock/ Americana/ songwriter band with a guy on the throaty bridge PU with too much treble on a boutique bass. ends up sounding like Rodney Dangerfield trying to do comedy in a serious drama.
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It is another tool in the tool box, if a fretless sound is right for a particular song or over all sound its always nice to have one. Im an unlined board fan too.
 
#98
pacojas said:
hi,.. good luck with your fretless, OP! if you try hard enough it may be a real character building venture. i for one dislike the fretless bass. i don't like playing them or listening to others play them. there are one or two people other than Jaco that i enjoy in spurts. i find the tone and technique that many people use lacking the variety that almost any fretted player does effortlessly. the vocabulary of most fretless players seems redundant to me. sure, great players abound and i'm nothing short of amazed at their talent/skill level, but even Michael Mannring gets old to me in less than 10minutes!:(
please understand,.. fretless just ain't for me, but i admire any great bassist, regardless!
BTW, i'm not just anti-fretless,.. i dislike "slap & pop" with even more fervor!
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I would tend to disagree here and say a good fretless player has more sounds on tap than one playing a fretted bass; there is not at all only the cliche, bright mwah you can get from a fretless. Depending on how you fret, use vibrato or not, which pickup you use, how you EQ, go active or passive etc, you can get most sounds you get from a fretted bass all the way to the particular sound I think you associate with fretless.
 
#100
I drove an hour to a GC today to pick up a Squier VM fretless, I figured I'd try this before an expensive build, but I was hugely disappointed, the action was super high and it had tons of string buzzing and rattling going on. I've owned a couple of VM's, a P and a Jag (my current go to bass), both been great, but this was no comparison, either a bad one, or badly set up.
Back to the drawing board...
 

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