To fretless or not?

[josie]

I always wanted a fretless, my son rightly talked me out of getting one as my first bass. I now have a stunning GMR 4 (£350 2nd hand) and Michael Kelly acoustic 5 (£425 new but half list price). Chrome flats on both. I've gigged them both occasionally when a particular song really needed it ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with all the sitar-like shimmer and slide in the bass is a stand-out).

However atm I mostly use them for practice at home to develop really precise fingering and ear training. You're probably well beyond needing that, but where I am, they force me to struggle to reach the standard I'm aiming for. Looking forward to the day when I can take one out with the band and be able to play crisply when that's wanted with the option of smooth slide when it sounds good.

Returning to the OP, I definitely agree with much of the above, with a budget of £2k, I'd get something good 2nd hand for up to say £500. It might be all you want. Or you might decide fretless is not for you after all and sell it on. Or you might decide to sell it on so as to then still have £2k for your dream fretless, confident that you'd love it and use it.

There's advice on other threads here to go for a purpose-built fretless rather than de-fretting, you need to think about the height of the action and the durability of the fretboard surface which will both vary.

[lemmywinks]

Do it, you don't need to spend a fortune either. Definitely consider a piezo bridge, even a cheap one will add an amazing tonal quality to the bass and I wouldn't have a fretless without one now, I think this one was £25 new when I originally bought it and I have a 5 string Fishman version tucked away for when I find the right bass to put it on!

Here's mine, a bitsa with some simple modding. It's an old Hohner body (Korean Cort) with a Mighty Mite P neck (ebanol board), Wilkinson tuners, Duncan Designed Jazz pickups and a cheap piezo bridge with a Bartolini buffer circuit. One of the best basses I've ever played and probably the nicest sounding. I had a nice cheap fretless jazz and a fancy Warmoth Pau Ferro jobbie, neither are even close to this. Total spend was under £300 after some patient online shopping, excuse the terrible pics - it's late!

[JimBobTTD]

I adore my fretless 5er. I had a spare Warmoth body and so I bought a fretless neck for it. I went for a lined fretless. 

It is my main practice bass. I have taken it to rehearsals a few times and loved it. I have not been brave enough to gig it. This has proven to be a good thing, as I can seldom hear myself well enough to have it when gigging and, occasionally, I cannot see much on stage so I would probably have made a right pig's ear of it. 

I think that the main thing that the fretless has done for me is to open up a new level of appreciation for bass. Fretless playing is like a pair of faded jeans in a sea of new jeans...everyone has jeans, but nobody has a pair quite the same as your pair. 

[EliasMooseblaster]

Does it have to be a 5?

There's a lot of sound advice above regarding getting a cheaper fretless to see how well it works. (A MIM Jazz might fit the bill if you're looking for a departure from the Ibby). However, I am tempted to fly in the face of all this advice and suggest a Fender Tony Franklin. I *think* they only come in a 4, but they have an ebony fingerboard which is hard-wearing enough to cope with roundwound strings, and the tone control is sensitive enough that you can give it a similar amount of "clank" to a standard, fretted Precision.

In other words, it's a fretless which can kind of do a fretted sound. Only drawback is they cost two grand new.

[ead]

Gratuitous fretless Jazz Type bass pic

[xgsjx]

That's a couple of rather nice basses.

I do want a 5.  I've found a few songs where I'd rather be going down that up with an octaver & there's quite a few songs in my repertoire that I play drop D.

Oh, & I'm a flatwound convert.  Doesn't matter if it's a fretless or not, it'll get strung with flats.

[lemmywinks]

Had a quick look on eBay at lunch, there's 5 string Sei and Pedulla lined fretlesses on there at the moment. Nothing nice in my price range though.....

[Andyjr1515]

18 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

Do it, you don't need to spend a fortune either. Definitely consider a piezo bridge, even a cheap one will add an amazing tonal quality to the bass and I wouldn't have a fretless without one now, I think this one was £25 new when I originally bought it and I have a 5 string Fishman version tucked away for when I find the right bass to put it on!

Here's mine, a bitsa with some simple modding. It's an old Hohner body (Korean Cort) with a Mighty Mite P neck (ebanol board), Wilkinson tuners, Duncan Designed Jazz pickups and a cheap piezo bridge with a Bartolini buffer circuit. One of the best basses I've ever played and probably the nicest sounding. I had a nice cheap fretless jazz and a fancy Warmoth Pau Ferro jobbie, neither are even close to this. Total spend was under £300 after some patient online shopping, excuse the terrible pics - it's late!

That is flippin' gorgeous!

[lemmywinks]

7 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

That is flippin' gorgeous!

It's actually a bit nicer looking in real life, darker than it shows in photos which never seem to reproduce the colour accurately. The flame maple is a veneer rather than a proper cap, looks cool to me anyway. The body is from a Hohner Professional JJ..