Linus27

This thread is great as I now only play fretless and the gig I did a couple of weeks back was on a dark stage. So the thought of finding a way to see the side dots crossed my mind. Do any of the fluorescent dots actually work, even temporarily or are they a waste of time?

Welcome back to the madhouse 😁

I think they got lumped into the Grunge title along with a whole host of American bands that were breaking through at that time. Pearl Jam more so than others as they were a Seatle based group. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine, Mud Honey, L7, Hole, The Offspring, The Breeders etc. All very different musically but part of that scene.

Nirvana was good but had no chance of getting any serious attention from me as Pearl Jam's Ten was released a month earlier.

Yeah, the thread is about the basses you saw that you liked regardless of if you like the bassist or their music. For example, I included Jaco's Jazz as its a gorgeous looking thing but I'm not really a Jaco fan or listen to his music at all, I just love the look of his fretless Jazz bass. So it's not about signature basses, who has the most iconic bass, its purely about what basses YOU like that you've seen other bassist play.

As we know, a lot of manufactures make signature basses, some decent and some not so. Which basses from various artists did or do you like? I'll start with the following, Adam Clayton's beaten up sunburst Fender Precision. Sting's natural Fender Precision with maple fretless neck. John Giblin's natural Musicman Stingray. Pino Paladino's Musicman Stingray fretless. Sting's Ibanez Musician. Stuart Zender's Warwick Streamer. Jaco Pastorius sunburst Fender Jazz.

It was 1985, I was 14 years old and it was a very hot summer's day. I was doing what I was always doing, riding my BMX outside, practising stunts to perform as part of a freestyle team that performed at school fetes, village fairs etc. over the summer holidays. I was aware of music as my mum, dad and two older sisters were all music mad and would be constantly playing Jazz, 80's and all sorts of music throughout the house round the clock. I was aware that Live Aid was on throughout the day and would dip in and out to watch some of the artists I was aware off, mostly artists that I knew from my sisters playing them but if I'm honest, I found a lot of it a bit boring. However, by chance I caught U2's performance. I didn't really know the songs or the band but quite liked it but what caught my attention was Adam Clayton. Remembering this was the 80's, he was strutting around stage looking super cool, pixie boots, confident and looking mega cool. As a geeky, spotty teenager, I wanted a piece of that. I had no idea he was playing a bass, let alone a sunburst Precision but from that moment my mind was made, I wanted to be in a band. 36 years later, I've been playing bass for 33 years now and made a career of it. I've been on TV, radio, multiple tours, written music for adverts, done 2 John Peel sessions, XFM, Virgin and Radio 1 live sessions and many other incredible opportunities. Even better was getting signed and the producer of our album was a gentleman called Mark Wallace (It Bites, Travis, The Primitives). It turned out Mark was the engineer on U2's Joshua Tree and produced all the b-sides so it was great to have a connection with where it all started for me. So I'm not sure if you would say it changed my life, possibly you would as it steered me into a life and a career in music, giving me some incredible opportunities that I would not have experienced if I have not by chance caught U2's performance at Live Aid.

I'm pretty much the same but this version of Circus I think is phenomenal.

Yep but he has sold a few of his basses over the years including the Wal's. If you do a search on here, you will find the interview I did with him some years back. Anyway, for me, my influences are also split into two. I grew up in the 80's which for me was an excellent period for great bassist. John Taylor (Duran Duran), Mikey Craig (Culture Club), Joe Leeway (Thompson Twins) to name just a few, but so many great bassists and bands around in that period. However the bassist that really influenced me starting out were Derek Forbes (Simple Minds), John Giblin (Simple Minds), Paul Webb (Talk Talk), Sting (The Police), Adam Clayton (U2), Peter Hook (New Order) and Pino Paladino (Paul Young). As I've developed and improved (over 35 years) all those bassists still influence me but I would add James Jamerson, Tim Comerford and Jerry Scheff as big influences as well. As I'm predominantly a fretless bassist (probably down to growing up and loving 80's music) these days, I'm always drawn to anyone who plays fretless. However, at the time, I didn't appreciate Pino as a fretless bassist but obviously I do these days so I listen to him playing a lot, as well as John Giblin and a few others.

Enjoyed the video but yep, a bit too much cheese in the video. What was with all the lovingly looking at each other throughout 😮

Natural gloss.

Does seem like it's a letting anything NO/JD go. Very odd to be fair. I can understand the NO part but JD was a different band and they never ended under bad terms so maybe something else behind it like he's skint.

My dream bass and it's pretty impossible to find a fretless Stingray anywhere.

I have their Chorus and BD121 and they are great. I also have their octave pedal which I'm not that impressed with but that might be more me than the fault of the pedal. I wish they made a flanger as I'd be all over it.

Very sad news, R.I.P MB1.

Can you say where?

I think from memory it was around £350.

Sure. It's an all gloss maple neck with sunk stripe on the back. The shape is the same dimensions as the original neck that came on the 70's FSR Precision minus the frets. The gloss finish also matches the gloss of the bass body. I basically sent the whole bass to Jon Shuker and told him exactly what I wanted which he made for me. He needed the whole bass so to set it up etc. The whole bass is also a replica of what Sting used to play in the 70's. It plays absolutely beautifully.

This is my current one as described above.

That second one is stunning, absolutely gorgeous.

Ok thank you. Will go look now. Do you know if it will it fit most Fender Precisions?

Thank you, my current fretless is a Fender FSR 70's Precision, the one that came out a few years ago. I got Shuker to make me a maple fretless neck for it and it sounds wonderful but I should really use flats on it having a maple neck. However, I do really like the fretless tone on a Precision which was why I was thinking of another fretless Precision but a rosewood or graphite neck. What you say is interesting as I can't see me using the J pickup on it's own, so either a P and J combined or P only. Thanks for your thoughts, more food for thought.

As I pretty much only play unlined fretless these days and have moved on all but one of my fretted basses, I'm looking to buy myself a really nice main fretless bass. However, the options available are somewhat limited. I'm pretty much down to a couple of options, either the very expensive Fender Precision Tony Franklin fretless or buy a US Fender Precision, either a Standard or Performer and then buy a Status fretless neck for it. Other option is a Stingray and buy a Status fretless neck for it. My question is, are the Tony Franklin fretless basses worth the money? They are over £2k which is a hell of a lot of money for a fretless Precision. They are also pretty rare so they don't really come up for sale second hand. As for the other option of the Status fretless neck, I've never played one so what are they like, a bit marmite or the best thing since sliced bread? Do they sound or feel any different to a wooden fretless neck? Would be interested in any thoughts.

Really sorry to read this and I wish you all the best and hope there is a way you can still play. I hope you hang around as well, you bring so much to this community.

One of the bands I was in recorded our album with an amazing producer called Mark Wallace (It Bites, U2, Travis, The Primitives etc.) and we spent a couple of weeks in pre-production playing through the songs. The first thing he did was make us set all the levels of each instrument, starting with the drums. So we would play through a song starting with just the drums, then the bass would be added and he would set the volume accordingly. Then add the rhythm guitar and adjust accordingly and tweak the bass if necessary. Then the same for the lead guitar and then vocals and backing vocals. We literally slashed the volume we used to play at by half and not only was the overall sound so much clearer and dynamic, at the end of rehearsals we were so less fatigued. It's something I have gone on to do in every band I have played in. It makes such a difference.