Jack Casady Fretless bass

[AndyTravis]

9 hours ago, Linus27 said:

So has anyone taken the p,unge yet on one of these fretless Jack Casady basses?

Not yet. Got a really busy 2025 house wise so I might have to hang fire…

 

I do really want one.

[Jonesy]

I had a go on one for about 10 mins in the Gibson garage the other day and really liked it. I'm no fretless aficionado and that 10mins playing probably doubled the amount of time I've spent playing a fretless, but it feels every bit as good a my fretted JC......but I sounded a lot worse 😂

 

If I were looking for a nice fretless then I'd definitely be looking at it. It seems to fill a nice gap when it comes to unlined fretless and that price point and you have the typical JC fell and quality.

[Ramirez]

Anyone else had a go on one of these? I'm seriously tempted.

[Ramirez]

On 15/02/2025 at 21:35, Ramirez said:

Anyone else had a go on one of these? I'm seriously tempted.

Well, to answer my own question, I tried the 3 they had at Wunjo’s in Denmark St yesterday, and walked out with one. I was very impressed, sounded beautiful, and the weight, feel, sound and build quality were very consistent between the three.

 

Also a shout out to the excellent and patient service at Wunjo, even on a busy saturday. They currently have the Casady fretless at £649, which is cheaper than anywhere else I can see.

[Jonesy]

The people in Wunjo are brilliant - enjoy your new toy!!

[Maude]

I came very close to buying one a couple of weeks ago, but I was also looking to buy a van so held off. 

I got the van just over one fretless Jack Casady less than he was asking, so who knows... 

Maybe one will be on its way soon 😁

 

Enjoy yours, they look wonderful, and if my fretted one is anything to go by, they are wonderful. 

[Sambrook]

I've got one, and it's tremendous!

It's no delicate flower, not  moodily melodic or owt like that. It's a bruiser, with an absolutely huge  tone, particularly when slightly overdriven.

[Grooverjr]

I'm very sorely tempted but can't find one in Mexico and with the current *ahem* 'situation' I'm not going to try importing aything as duty could be mad. 

[Ben Jamin]

Got the last one from Andertons arriving on Tuesday 🥳

 

A wee bit nervous as it's my first fretless! Any tips??

[Ramirez]

3 hours ago, Ben Jamin said:

Got the last one from Andertons arriving on Tuesday 🥳

 

A wee bit nervous as it's my first fretless! Any tips??

Yes. Melodyne is very good. I haven’t tried AutoTune yet 🫣

 

Getting used to it- I had a Harley Benton short scale fretless that sounded wonderful, but seeing as I’m trying to play upright bass as well, the jump in scale lengths was one step too far and the more I played one if them, the more out of tune I seemed to get on the other!

Everything seems to fall into place easier for me on the standard scale fretless. That said, playing along to other tracks still show that there’s work to be done!

 

One thing I find helps quite is to ensure that you’re playing your FRETTED bass on top of/just behind the fret - ie. at essentially the correct position for a fretless. Muscle memory becomes much easier then, as you don’t have to change your technique as much when switching basses.

Edited Friday at 08:39 by Ramirez

[Linus27]

4 hours ago, Ben Jamin said:

Got the last one from Andertons arriving on Tuesday 🥳

 

A wee bit nervous as it's my first fretless! Any tips??

 

Just approach it just like a fretted bass, so don't try and make it sound like a fretless and do lots of slides and trying to get that mwah sound. It is no different to play than a fretted bass, you just have to be more disciplined with your technique and train your ears. Good ears and strong technique are the two key things you need to play a fretless well. Don't be scared of it either or think of it as different, just play what you'd play on a fretted and you'll be amazed at how normal sounding it can be. Over time, you'll then start to bring out the nuances of the fretless as you become more competent. The Jack Cassidy is also an unlined fretless so you either play ON the dots or in the gaps, it's that easy. Oh and buy an octave and chorus pedal, you'll thank me later I promise 😂

[Ben Jamin]

55 minutes ago, Ramirez said:

Yes. Melodyne is very good. I haven’t tried AutoTune yet 🫣

 

Getting used to it- I had a Harley Benton short scale fretless that sounded wonderful, but seeing as I’m trying to play upright bass as well, the jump in scale lengths was one step too far and the more I played one if them, the more out of tune I seemed to get on the other!

Everything seems to fall into place easier for me on the standard scale fretless. That said, playing along to other tracks still show that there’s work to be done!

 

One thing I find helps quite is to ensure that you’re playing your FRETTED bass on top of/just behind the fret - ie. at essentially the correct position for a fretless. Muscle memory becomes much easier then, as you don’t have to change your technique as much when switching basses.

Melodyne is a great and likely necessary shout 😅

Juggling all those scale lengths sounds like a feat! I'm not brave enough for upright yet, luckily everything I have is standard scale.

Thanks for the fretting tip! Muscle memory is a beautiful thing, guessing it'll take a good bunch of playing to get cosy with it!

[Ben Jamin]

1 minute ago, Linus27 said:

 

Just approach it just like a fretted bass, so don't try and make it sound like a fretless and do lots of slides and trying to get that mwah sound. It is no different to play than a fretted bass, you just have to be more disciplined with your technique and train your ears. Good ears and strong technique are the two key things you need to play a fretless well. Don't be scared of it either or think of it as different, just play what you'd play on a fretted and you'll be amazed at how normal sounding it can be. Over time, you'll then start to bring out the nuances of the fretless as you become more competent. The Jack Cassidy is also an unlined fretless so you either play ON the dots or in the gaps, it's that easy. Oh and buy an octave and chorus pedal, you'll thank me later I promise 😂

Thanks that's a very helpful mindset to go in with! It's pretty daunting as my band's in the process of recording right now, but I have no idea how soon I'll be able to play with reliable intonation!

Also thanks for the excuse to check the Effects For Sale section 😂

[Linus27]

28 minutes ago, Ben Jamin said:

Thanks that's a very helpful mindset to go in with! It's pretty daunting as my band's in the process of recording right now, but I have no idea how soon I'll be able to play with reliable intonation!

Also thanks for the excuse to check the Effects For Sale section 😂

 

You're welcome and you might actually surprise yourself at how not so daunting it is. My first introduction to fretless was in 1998. I had just signed and we were recording our debut album. The album cost £120k which at the time was more than my sister's brand new 4 bedroom house in Preston and was producer was Mark Wallis who did the Travis, It Bites, Primitive's albums and engineered U2's Joshua Tree so quite serious stuff 😂 The studio was owned by the singer/bassist of the prog tock group Asia and the keyboardist of the 80's pop group, Buggles. We turned up at the studio on day 1 and in the live room on the wall was about 20 basses including a beautiful Washburn AB20 fretless. I thought, let's give this a go and I ended up recording the hardest bass line on the album on it. The intonation was a bit off so I put a few bits of a post it note in places to know where to fret accurately but it was fine.

 

So just go in with an open mind and play the bass lines like it's a fretted and you'll be fine.

 

This is the track in question.

 

 

Edited Friday at 10:12 by Linus27

[Sambrook]

I would second the above thoughts about not being scared of the 'bare' fingerboard. Your fingers already know the correct spacing, even if your eyes disagree...

[Ben Jamin]

10 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

You're welcome and you might actually surprise yourself at how not so daunting it is. My first introduction to fretless was in 1998. I had just signed and we were recording our debut album. The album cost £120k which at the time was more than my sister's brand new 4 bedroom house in Preston and was producer was Mark Wallis who did the Travis, It Bites, Primitive's albums and engineered U2's Joshua Tree so quite serious stuff 😂 The studio was owned by the singer/bassist of the prog tock group Asia and the keyboardist of the 80's pop group, Buggles. We turned up at the studio on day 1 and in the live room on the wall was about 20 basses including a beautiful Washburn AB20 fretless. I thought, let's give this a go and I ended up recording the hardest bass line on the album on it. The intonation was a bit off so I put a few bits of a post it note in places to know where to fret accurately but it was fine.

 

So just go in with an open mind and play the bass lines like it's a fretted and you'll be fine.

 

This is the track in question.

 

 

 

Wow that's much higher stakes than our home studio! Really nice bass line, can see why the fretless was the only one for that song. Going to have to pick up a chorus pedal now (and maybe some post-its)!

[Ben Jamin]

4 hours ago, Sambrook said:

I would second the above thoughts about not being scared of the 'bare' fingerboard. Your fingers already know the correct spacing, even if your eyes disagree...

Thanks! Just hope the ears don't disagree 😅

[Hellzero]

Another trick with fretless is to use opened (sorry, but it's a past participle) strings to check your intonation while playing.

 

Use your ears to play, not your eyes and you'll improve very quickly.

 

I really started playing on a fretless bass something like 40 years ago (wow, I'm that old 😳 now) and I now suck on fretted bass as I tend to make it sound like a fretless... 🤦🏻

 

You can also add a tiny bit of reverb on your tone, it's great with fretless.

 

Welcome to the family!

[Linus27]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Another trick with fretless is to use opened (sorry, but it's a past participle) strings to check your intonation while playing.

 

Use your ears to play, not your eyes and you'll improve very quickly.

 

I really started playing on a fretless bass something like 40 years ago (wow, I'm that old 😳 now) and I now suck on fretted bass as I tend to make it sound like a fretless... 🤦🏻

 

You can also add a tiny bit of reverb on your tone, it's great with fretless.

 

Welcome to the family!

 

I kind of started the other way, my bass lines sounded like a fretless despite starting out on a fretted Jazz some 38 years ago. So I eventually moved to a fretless and my bass playing came alive.

 

I also totally agree about the reverb pedal, I actually have and use two on my fretless board.

 

@Ben Jamin if you want to try an excellent but inexpensive reverb pedal as suggested by @Hellzero then I use the Mooer Ambient A7 pedal. It's an awesome little reverb pedal and with settings 1 with everything at 12, it will do the trick. However, setting 6 has this string pad setting which sounds brilliant, especially with harmonics.

[Musicman666]

On 18/04/2025 at 12:59, Ben Jamin said:

Got the last one from Andertons arriving on Tuesday 🥳

 

A wee bit nervous as it's my first fretless! Any tips??

put your fingers in the place where it sounds most musical...

[tauzero]

On 18/04/2025 at 05:59, Ben Jamin said:

Got the last one from Andertons arriving on Tuesday 🥳

 

A wee bit nervous as it's my first fretless! Any tips??

 

Don't fret.