EliasMooseblaster

That would require you to find a guitarist who'll voluntarily play in Eb - a very rare breed, in my experience!

It's a more expensive option than the MIM Jazz, but have you had a look into the Tony Franklin fretless Precision? To my mind it's the best fretless Fender make: the P pickup sounds wonderful, and the J pickup in the bridge is possibly the best of its kind I've come across. Thicker neck than the Jazz as well - definitely more of a Precision profile - and the unlined ebony board just looks wonderful! (Only drawback is they cost about four times as much...)

Presumably what you knew as The Bass Cellar is now Wunjo Bass - which has been relegated back to an underground location in the last couple of years. Nice folks in there; I've obviously been in there a bit too often as they seem to recognise me! Was the Jazz a black one with a white plate and a lined neck? There's an outside chance it may have belonged to me previously! Great basses either way. A bit surprised you didn't stumble across any Warwicks - my first fretless was a Warwick/Rockbass Corvette that I bought from Wunjo (and part-ex'ed for the aforementioned Jazz), and they also seemed to have one or two fretless Warwicks or RBs knocking about when I went in, usually buried among all the fretless 'rays.

There are probably as many singing coaches floating around YouTube as there are singers - it's worth having a look through a few and working out whether you like their material. I've not really delved into bass tuition videos for comparison, but what works well with some people is always likely to grate with others! Personally I've found Felicia Ricci's stuff very useful.

The logic of this suggestion might seem a little oblique, but what about using an electric fretless? That's what I've started doing for acoustic gigs. Obviously, you've got to balance the consensuses that: you'll probably have to plug in anyway; a decent acoustic BG with a good pickup is likely to be a sizable investment; and a normal electric bass is likely to receive a few disapproving tuts from some of the purists. Fretless basses can sit really nicely in a gentler acoustic setup. More importantly, those likely to care enough about you using an electric instrument are also more likely to notice if your bass guitar has no frets; if they can spot that difference then they're also more likely to know that it (usually) has a softer and less intrusive tone than a fretted bass, and perhaps give you the benefit of the doubt that you are at least making some concession to their pedantic acoustic purism. (Am I way off the mark here?)

May I try and outdo your own extension of your own analogy? I might suggest that it's more like saying, "you had all those shades of green in your paintbox. Why did you paint the entire forest in neon green?"

It's good to know that I'm not alone in having this thread make me realise that I've hardly bought any music this year! In fact, I think the only contemporary album I've bought is Bjork's new album, Utopia. Can't say the album cover's going to go down as one of my favourites, but the music is excellent - a brighter and more optimistic sound than the raging darkness of Vulnicura, and as strange and challenging as I've come to expect from her.

I have seen a few resonator acoustic basses knocking around online - never had a chance to try one myself. Anyone know if they're noticeably louder than a regular acoustic bass guitar?

Down at the more "historic" end of the 8-string range, I have a Hagstrom HB-8 (one of the modern reissues of the original H8), which comes out for a few songs in each set. Normally our guitarist and I keep busy enough that I can fill the space with a 4-string; the 8 comes out for two songs where I specifically decided to use it, and a couple of songs where we overdubbed a lot of rhythm guitars in the studio, which are obviously missing when we play them live. The 8 probably gets short shrift because it goes straight into the same rig that's normally receiving Gibson Thunderbird or slightly modded Epi EB-3. To be fair, it holds its own pretty well with an all-valve head as the octave strings get a bit more trebly grit out of the preamp. It's a bit more of a crapshoot if we're using the house backline!

Looks lovely - am I right in thinking these are 30" scale? I'd be very interested to know how it plays and sounds - especially with those pickup placements!

Allow me to split further hairs in clarifying my remarks - I draw a distinction between "lacking stage presence" and "being dull live". For me, JST can be a bit of the former but is certainly not the latter. I've always enjoyed her live shows, but I feel I've been spoiled by similar artists like Ian Siegal, who have an almost shamanic quality about them that keeps an audience in rapt attention. JST's always entertaining to watch, but doesn't preoject quite the same "aura" from the stage. She certainly doesn't qualify for a space on my list of Bands I've Seen Who Were Boring (I say "list"; it's really just "Elbow" written in big letters...)

Another vote for the A or the D, and sadly I speak from experience - losing a D in the middle of a jazz gig was not an experience I'd care to repeat! Fortunately most of the stuff I play with Cherry White doesn't tie me down to a specific riff, so I could adapt most of the basslines in theory - but missing one of the strings in the middle is much more confusing!

He did some work from me recently, and I paid him in cash. After I'd left his workshop, he noticed I'd left my change on the table, so he called out of the window and tried to throw it down to me. You could say it rained Pennies From Kevin...

Couldn't agree more with this point. Some music - at least to my mind - just isn't suited to huge venues. I realise, of course, that it's partly determined by an artist's popularity, but I just can't imagine something like Ed Sheeran at Wembley would work. Admittedly I don't care for his music, but if I did, I imagine I'd want to see him in a smaller venue for fear of losing the intimacy of the performance. A club or a small theatre would just feel more appropriate for an acoustic artist. I'm a little surprised that a band like QOTSA didn't translate better at the O2, but then that place is chuffing huge. I suppose you're getting into big backing band / daft stage prop territory by that scale. Santana worked well there a few years ago, but then his band and all their gear are like a small artillery unit.

I probably pick on Kiss disproportionately; I could have quite easily made the same point with my opinions on Poison or Motley Crue. I guess Simmons et al are just one of the better-known exponents of a genre I've never got on with - thus proving ead's point!

I'm going to give the boring answer and suggest that it's important to strike the right balance. There are some bands who are clearly excellent musicians and put a lot of thought into their songs, but don't have a great deal of stage presence - Mastodon are probably a good example, and I must admit I've found the same about some modern blues players like Joanne Shaw Taylor. The opposite extreme is Kiss, who write atrocious songs and are about as musically adept as my cat, but are famous for the sheer over-the-topness of their live show. I think the only bands who really get away with being so quiet and inwardly-focused are those in the vein of early-Waters-era Pink Floyd or Radiohead, where the music is experimental enough that's it's fascinating to watch them recreate it in a live setting.

An acoustic rendition of one of the staples of our live set, giving me a chance to break out the Tony Franklin fretless. Enjoy!

After Perinuem Osiris-Bontoff, heir to the Duchy of Greater Anushire?

If I stick to my perspective of a unique (or at least different) design making the model worthwhile, then definitely - that must be one of the most daring things Fender have put out since the Squier Katana! Afraid I don't know AAF's music well enough to have an opinion on Zamora's playing.

No, I shall have to confess my ignorance there. EDIT: ah, I see, it's that bloke from Alien Art Farm. For some reason I knew he played a six but had no idea what his name was. Or that his six was a custom Fender. I have learnt something new this afternoon!

Egads! Whose is that?

No, I shall also stand behind you on this one. I find Prince quite a frustrating case, because he was clearly such adept and gifted musician, but what I've heard of his songwriting leaves me utterly cold.

Does Rob DeLeo warrant one? I barely know Stone Temple Pilots' back catalogue; to be honest when I bought my Schecter Model T, I had no idea that it was effectively* DeLeo's signature bass, let alone that he'd led the work on building the prototype. I'd say it's sufficiently different from most mass-produced P/Js to say that he's done something different with the design, and it's a damn good instrument, so it checks those two boxes. *I say "effectively" as his name and signature don't appear anywhere on the instrument

Sounds like switching to the 'bird may be the answer! I'd echo all the previous comments to make sure you're as happy as possible with the minimal setup. There are already enough choices of strings, bass, amp and cab to keep you wondering (and chopping and changing) for years! If you're not happy with the bass, you can end up spending a fortune on different pedals to make it sound like another bass...or you could just buy another bass. At least if you're happy with the basics then any pedals are just decoration on an already satisfactory cake, as opposed to trying to cover an unappetising lump of charcoal with pretty icing!

I had a similar problem with a Warwick-Rockbass Corvette when I first started playing fretless. Lovely bass, great starter for going fretless, but one day a photo turned up on the Facetube of me playing it onstage. They're not even short-scale strictly (32"), but the tiny body made it look a bit silly on me, and I've since moved on to fretless Fenders. My 8-string is short scale, but I think it looks longer than it is due to the massive headstock the eight tuners require; it definitely feels smaller when I switch mid-set, but I manage to avoid looking daft... ...but on the other hand, if a Daisy Rock Butterfly Bass ever came up on the listings, I would be tempted. Just to prove a point, really.