josie Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Birthday treat to myself https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/dragonfly-fretless-5 The build quality is good, it's smooth and tight everywhere it should be. The neck is comfortable, overall it's much easier to play than I had feared. It came with the factory spec phosphor bronze rounds, but after a discussion with Gary, the reliably excellent head of the bass department at Promenade Music in Morecambe, he re-strung it for me with chrome flats (at no extra cost). Most people who play a fretless seem to want it to sound like a double bass, but some of my favourite blues bands include a slide guitar, and I'm trying to re-interpret that sound as a slide blues bassline - the flats are perfect. As well as being easier on wear on the fretboard, which is rosewood rather than anything harder. The Fishman electronics and pickup are a revelation after my Vintage acoustic - they give it everything from a deep punchy growl to a much lighter brighter sound, even with the flats. It's also absurdly good looking (someone on another thread described the fretboard inlay as looking like "a tart's handbag", but I love it). Really looking forward to gigging it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 That looks really nice, let us know how it performs in a gig situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I bought the fretted version of this one last summer and it has a great sound with the phosphor bronze strings. But I think when the strings need changing I will get some flats and see what that does for my sound. Although I don't currently play fretless, I'd like to find one in a shop so I can try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) Tried one of these out in a shop whilst shopping for an acoustic guitar... Loved it so much I instantly forgot about buying a guitar and picked up a Yamaha fretless as my first bass! Thank you, Michael Kelly! Edited March 31, 2017 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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