jakebeamish Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I plan to get a fretless neck (all parts, warmoth or something) to install onto my Squier VM P TB. I really like the thumpy tone the bass has (one big hum bucker right up by the neck), but I'm a little unsure as to how it will sound without frets. I can imagine that tonally, a lot of things change when you take of a fretted neck and put a new, fretless one in - but I don't know how. Do you guys think it would be a bad idea / have a way too warm tone? I notice that though fretless P basses are around, they are swamped by fretless Jazz basses - and I'm guessing that's due to the bridge pick-up allowing for plenty of high-mid 'mwah' - so an idea I had would be to cut in a new bridge pick up if things didn't sound too good. LSS, roughly, how do you think a fretless VM P TB will sound? PS. happy new year and best wishes from a serial lurker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I've never seen one done but that doesn't mean you can't/shouldn't! I imagine it might sound rather more like a double bass than other fretless instruments which may or may not be the sound you're after. If you want the Jaco sound then the Squier fretless Jazz will get you a lot closer and you can get away with using roundwounds on the Ebonol fingerboard without undue wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakebeamish Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Actually a thumpier double bass sound is exactly what I'm trying to go for - I'm glad that's how you reckon it might turn out. Strangely, that nasal Jaco tone you get from rounds on a jazz bass really doesn't do it for me at all, and by the sounds of things I'm going the right way about having a fretless bass that [i]doesn't[/i] sound like that! Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Nada Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 This is a bit off topic but make sure the neck is a suitable fit for a Telebass. TB necks have a square heel profile, not a standard P or J shape. Now, I've read that a standard P/J neck will fit in a TB body, albeit with a small gap where the P/J 'rounds' off but it's not a perfect fit. Apologies if you already knew this. Incidently, I have a Squire TB and have been thinking it'd be great for a fretless double bassy tone. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telebass Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 The standard round heel will fit ok. It's when putting Tele bass necks on standard Precisions etc (a la Tim Bogert) that you need to get the chisels out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1421134777' post='2657409'] The standard round heel will fit ok. It's when putting Tele bass necks on standard Precisions etc (a la Tim Bogert) that you need to get the chisels out... [/quote] I can confirm that having just put a tele bass neck on a Jaguar body. It was a very easy mod though to do though. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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