Is it Worth Having a Custom Fretless Neck Made for Ibanez Aerium?

[Obrienp]

What does the panel think? I have an Ibanez SRH500 Aerium (see photo) 4 string with a fretted neck. I love the sound I can get from it when combined with an acoustic guitar preamp peddle (in my case a Zoom, or TCE Bodyrez). To my ears it sounds really close to a double bass. However, I have regretted not going for the fretless version, which I think would sound even closer to an upright. Recently I have been having issues with arthritis in my left hand and I have moved to short scale in my standard electric basses. Trying to kill two birds with one stone, I asked a local luthier to quote for making a custom replacement fretless neck with reduced scale length, to make it a 32”. The quote came out in the region of £400 with ebony board and decent machine heads.

 

Now I guess £400 is about what the whole bass would be worth, if I opted to sell it. I doubt I would recover my £400 for the custom neck, if I came to sell it with both necks. Is it worth it I wonder? Would I be better off looking for another fretless short scale acoustic bass? Am I likely to get a better quote for the custom neck from another luthier?

 

Incidentally, the only shortscale fretless acoustic bass I can find online is a 32” Warwick from Thomann, which starts at around £680 and has a conventional under saddle piezo. Somehow, I doubt it is going to sound as good as the Ibanez AeroSilk system.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Obrienp

[Dan Dare]

You never get back anything like what you spend on customising instruments. In fact, it usually lowers their potential resale value. If the bass does not work for you in its present form, probably best to sell and put the money towards something else.

 

Given that you refer to your electric basses, I assume you also play upright. Can you still manage it with your arthritis? I would have thought the stretch and hand pressure needed to play it would be greater.

 

If so, might it be worth having the frets pulled on the Ibanez (a decent luthier will fill the slots with hardwood - that is what I had done when I converted a bass to fretless), which should be cheaper than commissioning a new neck? That won't solve the issue of reducing resale value, but it will enable you to keep the Ibanez electronics and sound at lower cost. Soft, even tapewound strings and adopting a more upright hold of the instrument (closer to that you'd employ with an upright) may help improve playability for you.

[lemmywinks]

If you're going to play it then it's worth the money really. Otherwise nobody would ever buy custom basses!

 

There's been a 30" scale fretless listed on eBay/FB for a while, think the builder is on here (it's cheaper on FB though):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165230310054?hash=item26787e72a6:g:WQAAAOSwb3RhAYK

[Obrienp]

Thank you for the suggestions folks. I thought I should complete the story, for what it is worth. I decided that it would be more cost effective to sell the Aerium, much as I love it and look for a short scale acoustic bass to replace it.
 

I am not optimistic that I will find anything that sounds and plays as well as the Aerium but who knows? Favourite at the moment is the Warwick Alien, which is a 32” but a real 30” would be better for my arthritic hand. Also the Warwick cost more than double what I raised by selling the Aerium.

[lemmywinks]

Ibanez used to do some small fretless acoustic basses, sub 30" scale and reasonably priced.