Fretless to part fretted - insanity?

[bloke_zero]

I recently bought a lined fretless bass not really being sure that I wanted to go that way but feeling I could always get another neck or get frets put in.

I was doing a session with a fret nerd guitarist mate and he suggested getting the bottom 7 frets put in and leaving the rest fretless, so not the fret the bottom 2 -3 strings but across the finger board fret the 7 lowest frets across E A D & G

Madness?  I quite like the idea but I'm guessing there is a reason no one does it.

I really like the neck profile and feel. And and I really like playing fretless but the music I play benefits from having frets (crisper attack, and some slap bass where the metal twang from the frets is good).

What do you think? Best of both worlds or just mad?

[White Cloud]

I really like this idea. Why not?

[bloke_zero]

1 hour ago, White Cloud said:

I really like this idea. Why not?

Yes - it feels like it might be right - it's already a very individual bass - this would take it the next level of strange character.

[BigRedX]

In theory anything goes if it works for you. In practice fretless basses have the strings much closer to the fingerboard (by about the height of the average fret), so before you go ahead and add frets try raising the action by about 1mm at the 12th fret and see how you get on with playing fretless on the upper part of the neck. That you give you some idea about how useful the fretless part is going to be once you have added frets to the lower end of the fingerboard.

[uk_lefty]

I looked at buying a bass with the lowest 7 frets in but couldn't quite get my head around it. If you want the clank then maybe a slap bar at the end of the neck is the way forward? By that I mean a small metal strip less pronounced than a fret around where the 24th fret would be so you can still slap a clank out if you need to, or equally not when you don't want to. 

[pete.young]

Perhaps the OP's guitarist is a fan of Venom. I think the bass player (Cronos?) used a half-fretted bass, frets up to about the 10th fret.

[Rich]

If you want a fretless with a crisp slap attack, then I reckon a slap plate at the end of the neck is the way to go (as mentioned by uk_lefty above). 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Rich

[Shaggy]

I'm pretty sure Kramer used to offer a half-fretted option on their '70's alu-necked basses

[Pandastylebass]

Ibanez among other companies have done this before 

[Chopthebass]

Ibanez also did a weird 7 string bass. EADG fretted and (I think) ADG fretless. Not a big seller.

[itu]

Ibanez has actually done two Ashula models: the first was the white one with 6 strings.

[Guest]

I’ve had this done. It didn’t really work in the long term as you effectively can’t play anything that crosses over from fretted to fretless or vice versa. It just didn’t sound or feel right. The action is also an issue as often a nice fretless feel is with strings close to the fretboard. In the end I had it fully fretted again.

[Doctor J]

Yep, you'd have to go with tiny, tiny frets to make the fretless area any way playable, especially in the area immediately after the frets. I remember a band around Dublin in the early 90's where the bassist had one of these. It's an interesting idea, definitely, but there are good reasons you don't see them around.

[NancyJohnson]

I remember seeing a Fender Jazz with a part fretted neck, it was in the hands of Conrad Lantz of a NWOBHM band Venom.

I just did a quick Goog search and there's quite a few photos of him sporting similar basses with similar neck configurations.

[Woodinblack]

14 hours ago, itu said:

Ibanez has actually done two Ashula models: the first was the white one with 6 strings.

Thanks for that, I hadn't seen the 6 string one. And now for some reason which has nothing to do with sense, it is quite compelling!