mcnach Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 These are my trio of OLPs: The natural/quilt top one is my first OLP. It has a SD pickup and 3-band preamp and was my main bass for ages, above my Warwick Corvette $$ and others... until a certain 2002 MM Stingray came into my life I still love that bass. The black one was my backup to the previous one. It just has a SD pickup as far as replacements go. Don't really need it, but it's very punchy and has a delicious neck, so I decided to keep it. If I go somewhere where I foresee I may have to let someone else use my bass, I take this one as a backup (and is the one I lend, rather than the Stingray). What about the blue one? I was toying with the idea of a fretless, but I wanted a Stingray type. I didn't want to spend another £6-700 on a fretless Stingray at the time, especially as when I see one they rarely are of a colour I want. OLP didn't make fretlesses... So next time I saw a cheap one in decent condition... I bought it. Even though the metallic blue must be one of my top5 least liked finishes. It had a maple board, felt nice... I removed the frets myself a few months ago. Easy. Smooth. Of course, the frets were nicely levelled... the fingerboard not so much. A couple of small areas made the strings choke a bit, but it was surprisingly playable straight after defretting (a 20min job). The original frets were quite worn, and action was very low, so after defretting the action was very acceptable. I needed to take it somewhere to have the job finished but as I was a bit afraid of teh final cost, I didn't need a fretless for my gigs, and it was just about playable... months came and went. Two weeks ago a reason to have a fretless bass arose. I called my favourite luthier, here in Edinburgh, and went to see him today. I haven't seen him in almost a year, and he's a strictly acoustic person although he;d take electric guitars for repairs etc. My bases were the only ones he dealt with. I kept talking to him about turning electric, and he confessed he wanted to build a Tele for himself, but maybe one day. Today i show up and... I see a Les Paul having the neck fixed (usual broken headstock). And he tells me he has made an electric bass for a friend, and he's making two Telecasters, one for himself and another for anothr friend... and that he's going to buy a CNC machine and expand his repertoire to solid bodies. That's dangerous. It makes the possibility of having my own custom instrument a very feasible option. An HS Stingray-esque type of bass. Or something. Anyway, back to the fretless project. It turns out he's done a few already too. Filling the fret slots... he tells me the kinds of veneers he could use... then he looks at the blue body, the matching blue headstock... "I have some blue stuff that I could use, wait". He comes back with two shades of blue veneers. He cuts a couple of bits, puts them on the slots to see what they look like... That's it. I was going to spray the bass white... but it'll stay blue now. Fretless, with blue fretlines. I'll keep the dot markers and side dots to make it easier. So, veneers, planing the fingerboard, and oil finish. Simple. And the price? I won't even mention it. A lot less than I had expected. Can't wait! Then I will probably put my 2002 Stingray preamp on this bass, since it's in a box doing nothing right now, and I just need another SMB4A pickup. watch this space for pictures and clips of a badly played fretless soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass_Guardian Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Ur quite the busy bee Jose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 [quote name='mcnach' post='1123265' date='Feb 10 2011, 09:46 PM']watch this space for pictures and clips of a badly played fretless soon [/quote] The first couple of weeks are the worse, you'll soon get the hang of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 [quote name='icastle' post='1123286' date='Feb 10 2011, 09:57 PM']The first couple of weeks are the worse, you'll soon get the hang of it. [/quote] I'm already half way in, as I've played that bass (only at home though) from the minute I removed the frets, even if it was far from perfect. Because it's pretty much the same neck type and shape than the bass I play 95% of the time (MM Stingray), I found that getting the notes right wasn't as hard as I thought. Well, when I say right I mean "relatively close" To finger in the correct spot consistently to intonate well will take practice, but at least I'm able to play basslines that are recognisable. I'm currently going through the "play 5-strings almost exclusively" period to break them and be comfortable with them. Next I'll do the same with the fretless. It's a lovely sound, and to be able to play one when that sound is called for... it must be fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 [quote name='mcnach' post='1123298' date='Feb 10 2011, 10:04 PM']Well, when I say right I mean "relatively close" To finger in the correct spot consistently to intonate well will take practice, but at least I'm able to play basslines that are recognisable. [/quote] I sounded like Les Dawson on speed when I first started playing mine! [quote name='mcnach' post='1123298' date='Feb 10 2011, 10:04 PM']I'm currently going through the "play 5-strings almost exclusively" period to break them and be comfortable with them. Next I'll do the same with the fretless. It's a lovely sound, and to be able to play one when that sound is called for... it must be fantastic.[/quote] Mine's been pretty much superceded by EUB at the moment but I still get it out for a noodle most weeks to keep my hand in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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