Lfalex v1.1

Put an onboard pre-amp in the fretless? It needn't even have tone controls, just increase the level and be able to drive longer cables. Failing that, maybe a hotter (passive) pickup ?

The design and weight make some sense.. my experiences with headless basses (Status Streamline and Hohner B2A) suggest that some mass is desirable in terms of tone (they were obviously too light) The original Steinbergers were much heavier and sound better to my ears. None of the ultra minimalist designs are as good when seated as a regular bass.

Could have been worse. Could have had gold taps hardware..

That was meant to be an F-hole, but the CNC router had a bit of a paddy..

I had a Squier 70s VMJ. Had a better neck than my MIA jazz. Again, the pickups & electrics were the weak point. I'd already put a Badass II on it, and the pickups would've been next, but I had to sell it to raise some cash.

They're not that expensive compared to what I generally pay for 4 string electric sets.. P.S. I'd expect tapewounds to outlast phosphor bronze rounds by about 4 times under my sweaty mitts

I'd fit a ramp, but then I think of how many bones Evel Knievel broke playing with them..

Get a Stu Hamm urge? Almost both in one!

Can I have a fretless one for the flats, please?

If I were making a number of bolt-on-neck bass models, I'd make all the necks identical in terms of dimensions, if only to simplify production and to make them readily interchangeable if one were to be damaged. Whilst I've had 3 Warwicks in the house at once, they were a 4,5 and a 6, so I can't compare them! Edit: I really like the balance of the Fortress Masterman 5 I have. Arguably the best I've owned. Shame it's ever-so-slightly "slabby" in terms of the body being so flat. If the forearm chamfer followed the line of the body rather than being diagonal, it'd look better.

That's nice. But not £3.5k nice...

Depends on how you define "baseball bat" in terms of a neck! I had a Yamaha Attitude, and whilst it was chunky, the neck wasn't as deep as, say, my Warwick Infinity. That's narrower, but deeper, and feels more like a baseball bat (nearer to circular)

Nice ideas in here. Personally, I've always fancied a bass with NO internal electrics at all, but the pickups routed to two separate Jack sockets, one per pickup. Then just have an off-board pre amp or even passive controls that you can customize ad infinitum without taking the instrument apart. Only potential issue is noise. You could have active and passive options in the external unit. Or even a pre amp per pickup.. but that's getting expensive now!

"Untitled"- Silver chair, Fugazi, Blink 182, Smashing pumpkins, Crash Test Dummies, The Cure, Eminem, Fuel, Gazette, Interpol, Lemonheads, Marilyn Manson, Pearl Jam, Pig Destroyer, Orbital, REM, Radiohead, Swans... And more

"Jump"- Van Halen The Pointer Sisters

I recommend Yamaha Attitudes. That big neck (and it is up by the neck) pick-up, leaves little room for a thumb to slap effectively and none for fingers to "pop" from beneath the G or D strings. Same as the Gibsons that sport neck pick-ups in that position.

Graham Maby sounds amazing on "Look Sharp" and "I'm the Man" (the albums)

Sorry if it's already been mentioned, but isn't the Bona model reminiscent of the Michael Manring Zon Hyperbass? (but with frets and without de-tuners)

"Resistance is futile" Or did I mis-read another thread title?

I'm not normally bothered by aesthetics, but the fact that no two angles (and there's lots of them!) seem to correspond to each other in any kind of order makes it all look a bit.... Random. I know that the frets are fanned according to a formula and the bridge saddles are correctly placed with the pickups properly angled, but they don't visually correlate to each other or any of the angles in the body shape.

Also on my hitlist, but I doubt it'll ever come to much. I'll have to stick to my plastic Ibanez instead!

I didn't realise this was actually yours...

Back on topic... I do not suffer from bass prejudice! I'll play anything. Once, in IKEA, there was a P bass copy adorning a wall in one of their rooms. It was knackered and had 3 strings. They'd screwed it to the wall to prevent people stealing/playing with it. Undeterred, I plucked a string. BOOM! The stud wall it was screwed to acted like a huge soundboard. And because it was screwed to it, the energy transfer was very good! I tuned it to itself, loosely in EAD, and played it (fretting it from the front) until they asked me to leave because of the racket. Moral of this story; Play everything you can get your mitts on. You might get a pleasant surprise! It's easy for me; tone & ergonomics > aesthetics. Others' mileage may vary, of course!

I'm going to guess that it's a modern, headless iteration of the 60's Fender V, tuned EACGC. With midi, too.

I have a Series III Passion V. The necks are quite shallow, so I don't think you'd find the 48mm width too much of a difficulty. I certainly don't. Sounds and plays rather nicely. I've had it from new since 1997, and not so much as a hiccup.