Frank Blank

Totally agree about the Peterson tuner, mine is permanently on my fretless but you gradually refer to it less and less as your ears improve.

I have had many acoustic basses over the years as I play in an acoustic duo, the loudest was a Fender Kingman which could hold its own when rehearsing with an acoustic guitar and vocals but really they all need amplifying.

This is very true. I play a lined Rob Allen Mouse and most of the bass lines I write and play are up the dusty end around the twelfth fret. I tried several fretless basses over the years and never gelled with them, the RA Mouse however was perfect. I think the whole ‘lined/unlined position of dots’ is set by how these things are on the fretless you start on. There are very strong opinions on all aspects of fretless basses and the playing thereof but I suggest reading them and playing them in a way that suits you. I agree with everything @lownote12 says about fretless and I always read his comments, particularly on fretless, with immense interest, however I do the opposite to almost everything he suggests just because I started off playing one (foolishly) without any advice. I play some of the songs in our set with slides, some without, depending on what I feel appropriate to the song, but then I’m a huge Mick Karn fan so I’m going to slide a bit too much. All I’m saying is don’t think there is an absolute right or wrong way, play it how you want to. I play fretless how I want to, in a way that suits me, but I also keep an eye on the stuff far more experienced fretless players, like @lownote12, suggest and I found tons of it really, really helpful but some people (absolutely not @lownote12 I hasten to add) will tell you that there is only one way to play and anything outside those parameters is wrong, that’s nonsense. Take good advice, sure, but play fretless how you see fit.

Welcome @Blues Rock Dawn

Welcome @JonnyBGood

If there was a make of amp with a whelm knob I’d buy it.

Paging @skelf, who builds them so should be able a) to let you know and b) build you whatever you like. I have a 32” scale ACG but nothing really to compare it with.

Put designacable into Amazon, pick jacks, lead lengths, colours. I swear by them.

Got you. I have only used D’Addario rounds and flats, Newtone rounds (with a round core) which are, now you mention it, a bit smoother that D’Addarios and LaBella flats on my fretless which are superb.

I’d email Neil, they might do flatwounds on request. I’m not really sure what you mean by smooth / rough but then my experience of strings is very limited as I’ve always used D’Addarios but just recently converted to Newtone.

I wonder if Newtone would wind you a set, or individuals. I’ve just moved over to using them and the product and service is superb.

Quality common sense there Sir, as always, so cheers. I think it is, however, confirming my penchant for basses no longer that 32” in scale. I will be rotating them regularly in order to make up my mind.

Fixed.

Welcome @Manny

Welcome @Trav

I’m in.

The Gretsch is lovely but I found it quite heavy for a short scale.

I'd be all over Benchchat like a... erm... rug, thrown, hmm, over a bench, like.

Excuse this ramble, it’s as much for me as anything else, thought jotting. I dropped off the ACG Recurve SS in Warwick for a setup in early February, I was emailed to say it was done and that I could pick it up on 29th Feb. I took the opportunity to drop off the ACG Harlot when I picked the Recurve up and by the time the Harlot was ready for pickup, yes, we were in lockdown. I’ve been writing and recording quite intensely lately, flipping files of new bass lines over to the singer/guitarist I work with and I have really started to gel with the short scale Recurve. I was unsure at first, I bought it because it was an ACG and because it was short scale but I really didn’t gel with it at first but after this intense period of working with it I have found myself improving as a player and writing stuff I would have thought beyond me just a few months ago. Now naturally this is to do with having acres of time to fill with practicing and writing (I’m putting in roughly a normal 9-5 working day) but after the initial ups and down with it I’ve really come to dig that bass, there’s something very ‘workhorse’ about it, the simple design, the plain woods, I often bang on about basses being tools of work first and aesthetic items second, Alan tends to make basses that are sublime in both ways but there is just something very humble and honest about the SS Recurve, very much my bass of the moment and hopefully the end of my fretted short scale bass search. So yesterday I finally managed to get back up to Warwick and in a socially distanced exchange via a porch I picked up the Harlot. I got it home and after so long with just the little Recurve I’m a bit freaked out by the Harlot. I mean it is a ‘freak out’ bass anyway because it looks so incredible but it just felt so alien. I mean, finally, it’s correctly setup and playing great but I just wasn’t getting on with it, perhaps I really am just a short scale man? I will persevere with it and see how it goes.

Then again what will... what will?

The agreement threads are fine, albeit, as you say, dull. It's the I thing this way and I'm right threads that need the sign.

True, thus the demand for this signage will be huge.