Stop me somebody

[ras52]

We rehearse at the guitarist's house, sometimes on weekends and sometimes on a weeknight. On weekends I bring my "A team" basses, but on weeknights I arrive straight from work and use a cheaper bass which I leave at his house, along with a 60w combo. I'm increasingly playing fretless, so I'd like to plant a "B team" fretless round there too.

I bought a Yamaha BB350F off *B*y a few months ago. Generally it's fine, but the board is chewed up from having rounds on it. Not excessively, but enough to be annoying (going beyond mwah and into sitar territory on some notes). Bass Gallery quoted £80 for a "re-shoot": add in the cost of a setup and new set of flats, and we're halfway towards the cost of a new Squier VMJ... even closer to a S/H one. (Although I'm wary of S/H fretless as too many of them seem to have worse-for-wear boards.)

So... give the Yammy a bucketful of TLC, or dump it and rush to arms of something else? The decision is mine. But it'd be fun to hear your thoughts.

[ThomBassmonkey]

If you really love the Yammy, sort it out. If you think a new bass would be a better investment and keeping the Yammy would work well as a backup, then do that.

It all depends how much the bass is worth to you. There's plenty of people who spend more money on upgrades than they did on some cheaper basses because they find the bass feels great but the sound isn't there, this is no different.

[Grand Wazoo]

Pound for Pound I would advise you against the Squier one and would get the Vintage "Jaco" lookalike one, I tried one and was very very impressed.

here is a link: [url="http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagebass.html"]http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagebass.html[/url]

[Eight]

You know you want the Squier, and you know you're going to get it regardless of the advice you're given here. The clue is in the topic title.

Just get it; and enjoy the rare feeling of getting to spend that money you work a boring job for etc. on something you want instead of crap like food and bills.

[hillbilly deluxe]

Having tried the Squier and the Vintage,it would have to be the Vintage for me.For some reason it feels more Fendery than the Squier does.

[Mykesbass]

I had the VMJ fretless and whilst it was very good for the money I really wanted a fiver so ended up getting Jon Shuker to put a fretless ebony board on my Cort GB75. The difference IMHO of an ebony board to a composite one is huge and would therefore go with sorting out the Yamaha. Might be worth checking the luthier thread on here and shopping around - my brand new ebony board from Shuker sound to me like better value than £80 to have yours re-shot.

[Grand Wazoo]

Also, I've forgot to mention, the Squier VM has an ebanol fretboard, which is not everyone's cup of tea (certainly not mine) becasue it is very very plasticky sounding as opposed to the mellow rosewood you get on the Vintage.

[henry norton]

Sort out the Yamaha (I'll be doing an epoxy fretless coating 'how to' in build diaries soon), I reackon it's a better bass than a Squier, asides from the more important fact that it isn't a fekkin' Fender clone. Be green and be different.

[gub]

Just had to reply really as am new to fretless myself and loving it , i would say if you enjoy the yammy then stick some money into that one . here is my new baby ..

[Bass Awkward]

Yep, I'd go with an ebony board too.

Especially because you really do need a (very)hardwood board if you're going to use roundwound strings.

And you need roundwound strings to keep life in the beast - flats really change the sound.

But, as always, your sound is your sound.

Just make sure you've tried out the new bass, and a bass with flats vs. a similar model with roundwounds before you jump on either.

P.S.

The epoxy coating 'how to' sounds very interesting Mr. Norton.

[martthebass]

Mr Shuker levelled the board on my old SR5 Fretless for half your quote earlier this year ;-) Played like new afterwards.

[ras52]

Yes, it's a cry for help from a gas-sufferer, but I'm genuinely torn.

I'd spotted the Vintage but was initially put off by "road worn" finish, but being both cheaper and woodier than the Squier it deserves a second look. (My only experience of ebanol was trying an Ibanez Gary Willis, and I wasn't too keen on it.)

I checked out the Shuker website, and indeed the prices look good - to the degree that I wouldn't baulk at fitting a new board to the Yamaha. But I'm in London and he's in Derbyshire...

[ras52]

I got to play a VMJ yesterday... not bad. Being a flatty I was more thrown by the roundwound strings than the ebanol board. I may get another go on a Vintage Icon next week.

But what about this Yammy RBX: [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-guitars/pid9816/cid560/yamaha-rbx270f-4string-fretless-bass-black.asp"]http://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-guitars/pi...-bass-black.asp[/url]?

And I think I've found the answer to my original either/or question: both Get something cheap and cheerful now, do up the Yammy at my leisure, then plant one of them at the GF's house (she doesn't know about this yet )