Linus27

Cheers everyone, I guess it's going to be a try and see if they tend to vary from bass to bass.

Wider as in a 70's neck? I don't mind wider and shallower is better for me. Just measured my 70's Precision and that is 42mm 👍

I play a 62 Reissue fretless Fender Precision. The neck is slim and feels wonderful. I also have a 62 Reissue fretless Jazz which has a super thin neck, probably a little too thin and flat for my liking but ok. I also have a 70's Reissue fretless Precision which has a chunkier, fatter neck than my 62 Precision but I do like it but it's not as comfortable as my 62 Precision. I played a genuine 78 fretless Precision the other week and the neck was like a baseball bat. I also played a fretted 73 Telcaster bass and again the neck was like a baseball bat. I've also played a few modern fretted Fender Jazz and Precision basses recently and again I've been quite surprised at how chunky the necks have been. The only one that actually felt comfortable was a Squier 40th Anniversary Precision. I like the look of a late 50's fretted Fender Precision, something like a 57 reissue with a maple neck but I'm wondering how fat and chunky a 50's neck is going to be, especially a late 50's Precision. Is it going to be closer to a 62 Precision or chunky like a 70's Precision or even chunkier still. So how does a 50's neck compare to a 60's, 70's and even modern Precision neck?

To teach, do you need to be able to read to pass course work onto to pupils to take away with them? How about qualifications and setting grades? I've always wanted to teach and give something back but always thought that you had to be able to read to pass this on to the pupils.

So just thinking outside of the box as suggested, before I signed my record deal, I needed work for a few months. I signed up to a catering agency who would offer me work each week. The money was half decent and it was actually really good fun. One week I'd work in a fancy kitchen, washing up or loading machines, helping with food prep, then the following week working in the local council making sandwiches and serving, then the week after in an old peoples home helping out the chef with everything and anything and then the week after helping in the kitchen of the local school. Every time I get fed a meal so anything from a school meal to a fancy posh meal and I got to meet loads of lovely people who were super interested in my music etc. The money was half decent as well and I could pick and choose when I wanted to work.

I wouldn't say that the tone from a fretless is tonally different to a fretless bass, they can if you wanted, sound a like. The difference comes from how you play and your technique. If you play a fretless and express the slides and vibrato then yes, you will get a difference but if you play it like a fretted bass then it won't sound overly different. For example, if you played a fretted and a fretless Precision with rounds, tone on full with a pick then they will both sound pretty much the same tonally, the only difference will be some of the expression between fretted notes but even if you kept slides to a minimum then there wouldn't be a huge difference if any tonally.

You are very welcome and interestingly, I think my black Jazz with the LaBella Deep Talkin Black Nylon strings is my best sounding fretless.

Thank you, I think you might be right as I can see the blue light on the right of the amp head that the AG500 has.

Watched a Sinead O'Connor documentary tonight and at the end they played this performance and naturally I was drawn to the bass player but I couldn't work out what his amp and speaker was. Anyone able to work it out?

So the strings on A1, B1 and C1 are LaBella Deep Talkin Black Nylon on a Jazz. The string on A2, B2 and C2 are LaBella Low Tension Flats on a Precision. The strings on A3, B3 and C3 are Rotosound 77 Jazz Flats.

Here are some sound samples of the different strings on my three different fretless basses. The strings in question are LaBella Deep Talking Black Nylon, LaBella Low Tension Flats and Rotosound 77 Jazz Flats. Please note that this was just something I knocked together very quickly off the top of my head with a Tascam digital recorder stuck in front of the amp so its very crude so apologies for the bum notes and not so exciting bass lines The first samples (A1, A2 and A3) are just a quick generic bass line that I was making up on the spot to show the three different strings. The second samples (B1, B2, B3) are the effects I use which is reverb and chorus and something played higher up the neck. The third samples (C1, C2 and C3) is again something being made up on the spot but using an octave pedal. To be fair, the differences are not huge but are noticeable. One of the basses sounded very smooth, balanced and creamy which was a nice surprise whilst another sounded a lot more Precision like than I was expecting. Anyway, hopefully it all works and you can get an idea on the differences. A3 A3.mp3 A2 A2.mp3 A1 A1.mp3 B1 B1.mp3 B2 B2.mp3 B3 B3.mp3 C1 C1.mp3 C2 C2.mp3 C3 C3.mp3

I'm the same but it's also a conscious effort of my part and the band I'm playing in to separate the dynamics. Our singer/guitarist will stay in the high end with his guitar and also adds a lot of vocal harmonies and choir like effects. I play at the other end creating a warm deep rounded bass sound similar to a double bass. I'm a very melodic player but I use a lot of octave to fatten my tone. Our drummer, who only uses brushes then sits in the middle and even has his snare turned off on a lot of tracks and restricts his use of cymbals to stay away from the high end.

I only play fretless and currently have 3 fretless basses. My fretless Jazz has LaBella Deep Talkin Black Nylon strings on it and they are very expressive with tension that's similar to rounds. It even says on the description that they are ideal for fretless and give long sustain. They are great for something like a Jazz or Stringray that is more articulate and cuts through a lot more. My main gigging fretless Precision has La Bella Low Tension Flats which sound really warm but also punchy and expressive. The tension is similar if not a little more to rounds. They are super smooth and shiny. I was considering changing them but I get so many compliments on the tone that I'm just gonna keep them on. Even the first gig I played with them, I got 3 or 4 comp,moments and even my mother in law was at the gig seeing me play for the first time and said after that she has no idea what I'm doing but my bass sounded so big and amazing. My other fretless Precision has Rotosound Jazz 77 Flats on it and I would probably say has the nicest, most natural tone. Warm round, punchy and can clank with the treble turned up. They do however have the highest tension which is why I just use this bass for recording only. When I recorded an EP last year, I tried all my basses in the studio and this one sounded the best, amazing in fact so everything was recorded with it. On some tracks though, I doubled up using the fretless Jazz with the La Bella Black Nylon strings because as I said earlier, these strings are very expressive so together it made quite an orchestral sound, cello like. When I had my fretless Stingray, I really struggled to get a good tone out of it, that was until I strung it with a set of La Bella Deep Talkin Black Nylon string. The bass then came alive and I never looked back and it sounded wonderful. If I get 5 mins together, I'll try and put together a recording of the 3 basses I do have with the 3 different strings so you can hear for yourself. One thing also to consider is to really boost harmonics, a chorus pedal and reverb pedal makes them sound massive.

I had an Ibanez Musician in the 90's after seeing them played a lot in the 80's. I loved it but it was super heavy. I would love a fretless Ibanez Musician in dark stain but they are super rare these days.

Difficult gig last night but also a huge honour to have played. Found out earlier in the year, one of my long term friends called Matt has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only got about 18 months to live. We go way back, something like 32 years and he used to follow one of my old bands and eventually became our roadie. I actually met him in 1991 in the queue to see The Alarm at Brixton Academy and when my other friend introduced us, he told him I play in a band which Matt responded by saying, I bet you're not very good, you'll never play Brixton Academy with your band. Funnily enough, exactly a year later, we found ourselves playing Brixton Academy, not once but twice and my friend Matt was actually there as well. We'd planned to play him a private, intimate gig sometime in October, with family and a few friends. However, he found out he now only has 3, 6 to 9 months left so we brought the gig forward to last night. He had no idea so it was a huge surprise for him as he thought he was just leaving Cardiff to see friends in Reading. We had people flying over from Germany and driving to Surrey from Portsmouth and Cardiff. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was a very intimate gig which was in a beautiful church in Wokingham. We set it up as if we were doing a rehearsal so the 12 or so people were really close and involved and felt part of the band. We had a joint friend play some Alarm songs first and then we played. It was very moving with lots of tears and the family couldn't thank us and everyone enough. A very special gig and not quite processed it all yet.

Welcome to Basschat @CiciBass and thank you for sharing your Ashdown video with us. Have also enjoyed your Andertons videos with Lee although I wished you'd asked me to do the recent fretless one you did 😉

I used to be bass - lead - amp for about 35 years but now I only play fretless and in a band where I play quite a lead role, I am starting to discover pedals and I love it. I'm not going crazy and just have a small pedal board which contains a tuner, octave, chorus and reverb but I have just added a Zoom MS60 Stompbox. This seems to add some nice effects like tremolo which combined with chorus and reverb makes a lovely sound when playing harmonics.

Superb gig at The Mill in Elstead, near Godalming as part of their Millfest event. Wasn't quite sure how well we'd go down but we actually went down a storm and received loads of great feedback. The sound guy who'd never heard us before came up to us after and said it sounded amazing and wanted to know about us and even another bassist said to me after, "from one bassist to another, you are an inspiration". That made my weekend 😁

Excellent, thank you for the tip and I will do.

Thread resurrection, but just want to add that I used a Fender Rumble 500v3 tonight at a indoor Festival with my Fretless Fender Precision and I was really impressed with it. Loud, punchy and great sounding. My octave pedal sounded amazing through it, so much so that our singer complimented it mid song and then to the audience after. The band on after, the bassist was using a Stingray so different to my bass and he also sounded great. Seriously considering one now after tonight's gig.

I only play fretless so this is my simple little board. I've only just got the Zoom so haven't worked out any patches yet but it does have some nice effects that I'm liking.

I've been playing for 37 years and have gone through a whole host of basses, mostly Fender Jazz and Precision's but I have also had Stingray's, Warwick's, Laklands etc. My tastes do change and depending on the project or band I will use a bass that suits it best but its usually a Jazz or a Precision. For the last 10 years I've only played fretless so that brings a whole new range of basses but again, it's only a Jazz, Precision or Stingray. I've also settled down a lot in what I like or want or no longer have a need to gry other basses.

I tried a 40th Anniversary Squire Precision today and it was lovely. I need a fretted in my collection for a possible project so I gave it a try and I really liked it. Really well built, sounded really nice and felt great to play. I'd have no problem buying one. I also tried a 74 Telcaster which was incredible but the neck was about twice as thick and it weighed about 4 times as much. It also cost 9 times as much so I won't be buying it hehe

I use LaBella Black Nylon Flats on my Jazz and Stingray and they are incredible. For my Stingray it totally brought it to life 😁

After 36 years of playing, trying many different makes of basses, I know exactly what I feel most comfortable playing and that is either a Fender Jazz or a Fender Precision which includes Stingrays and the odd other similar bass. I know how they sound so its down to finding the best version of that bass possible and the colour or look that suits my preferences. Fender Japan tends to be my preference as I prefer a gloss neck which is more common on a Japanese Fender as opposed to a Satin finish. I like them to have US pickups and I prefer earlier Japanese Fenders that are made from Alder or Ash as they are heavier and feel nicer to play over the lighter Basswood bodies that they started to use from around 1994 onwards. I'm also happy to use a US or even good Mexican model if it ticks all the boxes.