MattM

I'd a kinda similar experience in my formative years. Had been plugging away learning on my old Westone Thunder, visited Sound Control in Glasgow (this was in the mid 80s when it was in the Saltmarket). Thought I'd chance my arm and try a couple of high enders (for me at the time) a Wal Custom and a 'Ray. The Wal was probably about double the price of the 'Ray at the time, looked gorgeous, but I couldn't get on with the EQ, 100 different variations on a goose farting in the fog (to paraphrase Billy Connoly). Tried the 'Ray, felt great, plugged in and immediately got a great sound, as previously stated, tweaks on the EQ and hand position merely enhanced the range available. Do not underestimate the power of a good simple, 'right' design. Over 20 years on, and after working my way up through the old Westone, a MIJ Precision, now finally have a fretless 'Ray in natural ash with lined Pau Ferro board, and it's absolutely wonderful, so much so that I'm considering bumping my main fretted grail (a Steiny XL2) for a fretted 'Ray.

'European Son' by Japan. Having recently got into fretless after 25 years of fretted, may as well start with the old Karn classics...

Have got a set of flats on my fretless Stingray and they're superb, deffo some alchemy going on that you don't get with flats on others.

As someone who's recently got their first fretless after 25 years of playing fretted, by all means learns yer classic Pino and Mick Karn lines (would also recommend Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel) but mucho fun is to be had playing your standard lines with wee fretless bits of improv in there. Brown Eyed Girl and Good Times have never been so interesting... Another great exercise is to practise sliding intervals like fourths and octaves on the neck to nail your intonation and muscle memory - its actually not as difficult as you think if you've played fretted for a while.

As someone who's owned a Hohner B2 (same factory as a Spirit) and now own an XL2 courtesy of SilentFly (thanks again Max if you're reading...still loving it ) I'm fairly well qualified to comment. The construction of the XL2 makes a huge difference to sustain and resonance, even acoustically. Also huge advantages in terms of stability - I had to do truss rod tweaks on a monthly basis with the Hohner, have had the XL2 nearly a year and no adjustment necessary - still has a great set-up. Did someone mention fragile? Any idea of how much stronger carbon graphite composite is over wood? Yes you could chip the outer gel coat, however you will never damage the body or neck of the XL2 without driving a tank over it...literally. The wing bit (pivot plate pur-lease!)at the back is a good bit of design - there is an improved 'boomerang' version about, but this works well. The pivot is bang in the centre of gravity, its contoured so fits well with your body and also pivots so you don't have to move the whole strap/body in one go - strap stays statiic on your shoulder, probably a big USP with 80's shoulder pad wearers. The standard strap set-up on the Spirit/Hohner makes it very neck heavy in comparison - trust me. Not mentioning the two EMG pickups which sound great - superb for dub, reggae or anything vaguely hi-fi/80s ish. The EMG Selects while decent, aint a patch on the originals. So in summary, the XL2 is deffo worth the upgrade just on performance alone. If you take into account it's a design icon, a pioneering piece of materials science and technology, plus just looks so damn cool, its a no-brainer. Having an indestructible bass you can easily hide behind the sofa when you have rampant two year old running about is also worth its weight in gold...

Fast shipping, good comms, delighted with the bass. Great guy to deal with.

[quote name='Krysbass' post='398869' date='Feb 3 2009, 01:10 PM']My first proper bass was a Westone Thunder 1A. I liked everything about it, so a couple of years later I upgraded to the Thunder III that’s still my main bass, getting on for 24 years later. No regrets whatsoever. [/quote] Ditto, bought my first Thunder 1A in natural ash from Sound Control in Glasgow when they were based in the Saltmarket near the Barras market. This was in 1984 with my first student grant cheque. Think two guys from Hipsway were in at the time, and it was a concession to the nice sales guy who let me have a shot on a Stingray and Wal they had in (way out my means even then). Loved the thing, did great service with me for nearly 20 years home, gigging and recording but sold it on impulse when I was playing more guitar. Now back in the fold via an MIJ Precision, since traded for a Hohner Steinberger clone (for hideability purposes upon arrival of my young son). Having fallen in love with the design, have now splashed out on an original Steiny from a fellow forum member which will hopefully do me at least as long as the Westone did. Started out on bass mainly because my mates big brother played a fretless Westone which I had a few goes of, Mick Karn and Pino Palladino were driving the fretless side then, but I was more into Hooky, Adam Clayton, Simon Gallup etc. Have since played every style known to man from trad/folk through rock and funk, just love playing bass at the end of the day.