Where are all the fretless basses?

[ambient]

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1391859557' post='2362031']
This made me smile. My guess is that you haven't really listened to the top 40 for a few years.
Of course, You're correct - you'd be lucky to come up with anything with fretless bass on it.
You'd also be lucky to come up with anything with a fretted bass on it.
In fact, you'd be lucky to come up with [b]anything[/b] that wasn't played by a machine.
[/quote]

As shown by the recent songs I've had to learn at uni with low C's , Rihanna's kisses don't lie for example.

[BetaFunk]

I have one of these. A great fretless bass at a very reasonable price.

[url="http://www.rmiuk.biz/Boomslang.php?tab=0#TabbedPanels1"]http://www.rmiuk.biz...0#TabbedPanels1[/url]

That's my actual bass in the photos.

Edited February 8, 2014 by BetaFunk

[Beer of the Bass]

Fretless basses do tend to get a bit trashed in music shops, as they invariably come with roundwounds and then bassists (or guitarists) who aren't used to fretless come along and bend the strings sideways guitar style, scoring up the fingerboard horribly. I've seen this happen a few times, so I can understand why many shops would prefer not to keep them in stock.

[Dingus]

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1391859557' post='2362031']
This made me smile. My guess is that you haven't really listened to the top 40 for a few years.
Of course, You're correct - you'd be lucky to come up with anything with fretless bass on it.
You'd also be lucky to come up with anything with a fretted bass on it.
In fact, you'd be lucky to come up with [b]anything[/b] that wasn't played by a machine.
[/quote]

Yes, to be fair, the bass guitar left most chart-orientated music for good around the time that Britpop announced itself in the mid-1990's , and the bass player in most of those bands and subsequent trends seemed to have revelled in their own anonymity. Other genres of music have indeed become increasingly automated in the meantime, too. In the midst of all this, pretentious fretless bass playing featured way up in the mix, indeed any kind of prominent bass playing featured on mainstream pop music , has become frowned on and distained so much that it is in effect the musical equivalent of a benefits scrounger. I don't care. Tonight I will be getting out my fretless bass- fancy wood top , active electronics, loads of knobs and switches- and playing as if it was 1984 all over again. It will make me happy for a while as I trek down memory lane, until I realise that some of the girls I was at school with in those days are now grandmothers!

[Beedster]

The shop close to where I work - a family style music shop with lots of recorders, keyboards, and guitars under £100 etc - has a lefty fretless bass in stock at around £400. I said to the guy behind the counter "surprised that hasn't shot out the door". I don't think he got the joke

[wombatboter]

The situations in which I can play fretless are all created by myself... I bring a fretless to gigs or studio-sessions without being asked for because otherwise no one would ask. As it is said above : everything which is sometimes adventurous like slap or fretless has been banned and I miss the spirit of the eighties, the best time ever for electric bass.

[Roger2611]

It's funny, I decided to dig mine out last week and play it again, I used to play fretless exclusively, I have had a few nights practice with it again and I am going to take it as my only bass to rehearsal tomorrow.

I would like to see it come back into fashion a bit they do have a wonderful sound

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1391804848' post='2361609']
I have two for sale! [size=4] [/size]
[/quote]

I know, I have one beady eye on the MM but I rarely stray from try-before-you-buy, and I don't often travel North to see my relatives in Redcar, Gateshead and Throckley.

Anyhow, tried a Squier fretless P in Music Warehouse (Colchester) today - silly cheap for such a great sound, but terrible high action and roundwound strings fitted. Both easily fixed

The whole point at the moment is to home in on what I do or don't like, so the more fretless basses I get to try, the better.

[ambient]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1391884336' post='2362333']
I know, I have one beady eye on the MM but I rarely stray from try-before-you-buy, and I don't often travel North to see my relatives in Redcar, Gateshead and Throckley.

Anyhow, tried a Squier fretless P in Music Warehouse (Colchester) today - silly cheap for such a great sound, but terrible high action and roundwound strings fitted. Both easily fixed

The whole point at the moment is to home in on what I do or don't like, so the more fretless basses I get to try, the better.
[/quote]

Keep the round wounds, or at least try them.

I've been going between rounds, flats and half wounds this week, and settled on rounds, much more mwahh .

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1391888107' post='2362373']


Keep the round wounds, or at least try them.

I've been going between rounds, flats and half wounds this week, and settled on rounds, much more mwahh .
[/quote]

Sorry I meant [u]could[/u] be easily fixed. Didn't buy it but confirmed my hankering towards a quality/vintage fretless P.

Edited February 8, 2014 by JapanAxe

[White Cloud]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1391805077' post='2361613']
The World has changed, and shows no sign of changing back again. Fretless bass is just one casualty of that change, and I am another. It's not all bad though. Back in the 1980's people thought that Russ Abbott was funny and that Level 42 were worth listening to. I know it seems crazy now, but it really was like that. .
[/quote]
This split my sides....excellent observation!

I'm going to turn this topic on it's head and suggest that the most appealing (to me) thing about fretless basses is that they are uncommon. It's difficult these days to be unique...fretless bass is one of the last refuges of individualistic expression!

[ambient]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1391895718' post='2362491']
This split my sides....excellent observation!

I'm going to turn this topic on it's head and suggest that the most appealing (to me) thing about fretless basses is that they are uncommon. It's difficult these days to be unique...fretless bass is one of the last refuges of individualistic expression!
[/quote]

This site is crying out for a 'like button' !

[gsgbass]

The shops in US, hardly ever have Fretless in stock. I acquired mine from Sweetwater, online.

[hubrad]

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1391881880' post='2362300']
The situations in which I can play fretless are all created by myself... I bring a fretless to gigs or studio-sessions without being asked for because otherwise no one would ask. As it is said above : everything which is sometimes adventurous like slap or fretless has been banned and I miss the spirit of the eighties, the best time ever for electric bass.
[/quote]
Likewise.. I almost exclusively play fretless, so I take a fretless to gigs. Never been a problem - fretless isn't ALL slidy slidy!

[hubrad]

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1391829777' post='2361859']

I've got a fretless that was given to me by another bassist which I keep 'just in case' I'm ever called up and asked to play a fretless specifically, but can't see it ever getting used outside my living room.
[/quote]
I've got a 'couple' of fretted basses which I keep 'just in case' I'm ever...

[franzbassist]

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1401100068' post='2459958']
Likewise.. I almost exclusively play fretless, so I take a fretless to gigs. Never been a problem - fretless isn't ALL slidy slidy!
[/quote]

Pus the one

[Spoombung]

It's true fretless basses have disappeared from music shops. There are very few contemporary bass heroes and no fretless players in the limelight. Fretless basses are doomed.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1401133245' post='2460467']
There are very few contemporary bass heroes and no fretless players in the limelight. Fretless basses are doomed.
[/quote]
A bit like electric guitars then?

Edited May 26, 2014 by BetaFunk

[BetaFunk]

Don't worry, when i run the country every music shop will have to stock a Percy Jones signature fretless bass by law.

Edited May 26, 2014 by BetaFunk

[fiatcoupe432]

All come down to taste! I. Having one built at the moment by Alpher instruments! Can t wait to be ready! Been playing fretless for last 3 years and if somebody dosn t like when I take it to gigs or session then I just change the band or people I'm working with , but def keeping the fretless;-)

[Guest bassman7755]

I've decide I want a 5 string proper (i.e. unlined) fretless with graphite neck - what do you think my chances are ?

[franzbassist]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1401193211' post='2460956']
I've decide I want a 5 string proper (i.e. unlined) fretless with graphite neck - what do you think my chances are ?
[/quote]

Status Graphite is the obvious choice there, either a whole bass or one one of their necks to retro-fit

[Bilbo]

Fashion is now so fickle that, in the end, NOTHING is fashionable. It is all a matter of perception. A guitarist bloke in Cardiff once warned me fretless was dead. In 1988. On electric gigs, I play fretless exclusively and have done pretty much since 1986. No-one ever said it was a problem. Then again, I wasn't fashionable in 1988 either.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1401193396' post='2460958']
Status Graphite is the obvious choice there, either a whole bass or one one of their necks to retro-fit
[/quote]

Or maybe an old Modulus?

In truth, when I play fretless I don't actually [i][b]think [/b][/i]of it as "playing fretless" ... I'm just playing bass. I'm really not a good bassist in a technical sense, and I don't play in a different way because I happen to be playing a bass without frets.

The fact that the sound/tone/mwah/whatever is different from playing a fretted bass doesn't really grab me, since I have several different types of fretted bass and they all have a different sound/tone/mwah/whatever too.

[merlin]

Hi just done a trade on here got me a "Heinz Selfert" made fretless. used to play fretless all the time but in the band the tones just got lost in the overall volume,going to try this one out this very week end see if the guys notice...see if she holds up in the mix,cant remember the last time I saw a fretless in our local shop,mind they did not stock flat wounds till recently,