What to check when buying a fretless

[nekomatic]

A brief experience at the NW Bass Bash has persuaded me that it would be fun to pick up a fretless to muck about on, so I’m thinking of picking up a cheapish one and there’s a possible candidate in my local music shop. 
 

Apart from the things you’d check before buying a secondhand fretted bass, is there anything specific I should look out for? I’m pretty sure this one has been defretted, so are there particular signs of a good or bad defret job?

[Stub Mandrel]

A good, level fingerboard is important, you can't compensate for a small high spot by scraping down a fret.

 

If it has side dots, be sure they are where you want them. On some (mostly defretted) basses they are between fret positions. I learned on a bass with dots at the fret positions and trying to play with the other style is tough as they 'draw' my fingers away from proper intonation.

[BlueMoon]

Normal inspection as per any stringed instrument.
 

The state of the fingerboard (surface condition, radius etc), neck (truss rod) and nut would be my number 1 comment. This is especially important if the neck has been de-fretted. Look for any ridges on the fret-lines and/or excessive gouging along under where the strings lie. The nut height is important if you want the lower action typical of a fretless bass.

 

When trying the bass, first play it without amplification. This will help you discern if the notes sustain well, which helps a fretless bass sparkle.
 

Personally, rolled edges to the fingerboard are a “nice to have”.

 

Remember that a lot of the fretless sound comes from player skill and articulation. Good luck in your search.

 

[ead]

The fret dots in the "wrong" place would not work for me, as @Stub Mandrel said, and would probably stop me from buying any kind of de-fret.

[MoonBassAlpha]

16 hours ago, ead said:

The fret dots in the "wrong" place would not work for me, as @Stub Mandrel said, and would probably stop me from buying any kind of de-fret.

To be fair,  it's quite easy to put dots in the right place and remove and fill in the wrong ones. Definitely worth doing if the bass is otherwise great!

[nekomatic]

Thanks for the replies so far. I had to go and check to see whether my fretted bass even has side dots, so I guess I don’t look at them very often!

[Burns-bass]

50 minutes ago, nekomatic said:

Thanks for the replies so far. I had to go and check to see whether my fretted bass even has side dots, so I guess I don’t look at them very often!

This is the way forward.

 

I never really got the side dots thing. If you’re looking at the side you’re not going to be looking at the audience.

 

If you need it for a gig get a chalk pencil and draw some removable lines on there!

[Stub Mandrel]

23 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

This is the way forward.

 

I never really got the side dots thing. If you’re looking at the side you’re not going to be looking at the audience.

 

If you need it for a gig get a chalk pencil and draw some removable lines on there!

 

If you have to do a big jump up the neck dot's help a lot. I mostly use them when changing position, just like on a fretted bass.

[Burns-bass]

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

If you have to do a big jump up the neck dot's help a lot. I mostly use them when changing position, just like on a fretted bass.

I get that.

 

I suppose it’s because the only fretless basses I’ve had have had no dots or lines.

 

If I try and look at the double bass neck when shifting it can put it all out of whack causing intonation issues. (To be fair, it sounds awful whatever I do.)