Peaty

Hello Basschatters I had been looking for a fretless for a while and there have been several on the forum that I nearly went for but in the end decided to build one for myself. The plan is for a fretless four string, with a single Bartolini MMC pup coupled to an East filter preamp. I used to do a few builds, some of which I posted on a previous incarnation of this site, but I haven't done one for ten years or so now so it will be interesting to see how much I remember. Anyhow the idea is to keep the budget down to the cost of what I was going to spend on buying a fretless so a notional budget of ca. £400. This will mostly go on parts as I have an unused mahogany body blank, maple neck blank and a wenge fretboard left over from when I last built a bass, although I will splash out on a nice walnut top for it. Here is a pic of the last fretted bass I made, the plan is for the fretless to be the same shape and style if i can find the old template and hopefully source a similar grade walnut top.

Pretty much a bunch of older blokes with acoustic guitars and a flautist. So it was a pretty interesting sound scape although some of the lyrical themes are a bit dark (not too many bands out there doing songs about ageing and cognitive decline). I had a good time, plus I only needed to take minimal gear (one bass and a small combo), practice venue only 20mins form home. Musically it was interesting as they were very much into juxtaposing bright and dark tonalities. So I have a bunch of tunes to learn for next week and was very much encourage to bring along my own ideas as well. all in all it feels like a result to me.

Success !

Audition with a band for the first time in several decades tonight 8pm so fingers crossed.🤞

Thanks All, I have picked up one of these locally, it does indeed sound very P like and is comfortable to play, mine is less pristine that the one in the photo but plenty good enough for me.

Thank folks, that is what I needed to know. Lots of options @ bassassin What is the lovely woody one in your RHS photo ?

It's the body shape that I find uncomfortable, the split pick up is totally fine. 'possible can of worms alert' Does the split pickup configuration (normal vs reversed) have any meaningful effect on the tone?

I love the tone of the P-bass but Im not a great fan of the P-bass aesthetic. What is the collective opinion of the closest sounding non P-bass alternative, preferably something that can be picked up second hand without breaking the bank ?