Fretless bass survey

[Rosie C]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Well so far, of 100 respondents, 74% own fretless basses, which allowing for bias (I'd guess you're more likely to be drawn to the thread if you play fretless) surprises me 👍

 

 

I'm surprised I'm the only person with only fretless - though that has been helped by moving house and selling instruments I wasn't playing.  I started playing double bass and viola/violin at the start of covid lockdown and haven't really played fretted since.

 

[Beedster]

23 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

I'm surprised I'm the only person with only fretless - though that has been helped by moving house and selling instruments I wasn't playing.  I started playing double bass and viola/violin at the start of covid lockdown and haven't really played fretted since.

 

 

If it were 6-months back I'd have been the owner of three fretless basses and no fretted, but the band I'm in now requires a certain amount of the latter, while I tend to think that if you can play it on fretted you can probably play it on a fretless, there are certain bass tones that you'll only get with frets in the mix. I much prefer to play fretless though 👍

[Dan Dare]

Horses for courses. Fretted and fretless both have strengths, so use whichever best suits the job. I play in a soul band at the moment, so fretted works best for me in that context.

[BlueMoon]

12 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I much prefer to play fretless though 👍

I think this sums up aptly my thoughts on this thread!

[Linus27]

1 hour ago, Rosie C said:

 

I'm surprised I'm the only person with only fretless - though that has been helped by moving house and selling instruments I wasn't playing.  I started playing double bass and viola/violin at the start of covid lockdown and haven't really played fretted since.

 

 

Three months ago, all I owned was 4 fretless basses and had no intention of buying a fretted bass. However, an artist saw me play (fretless) at a gig in April and asked if I would like to play bass for them. It required a fretted bass so I had to pick one up. This led to playing a big festival gig so I picked up a backup fretted last month. 

[Linus27]

39 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

If it were 6-months back I'd have been the owner of three fretless basses and no fretted, but the band I'm in now requires a certain amount of the latter, while I tend to think that if you can play it on fretted you can probably play it on a fretless, there are certain bass tones that you'll only get with frets in the mix. I much prefer to play fretless though 👍

 

Not only do I prefer to play fretless, I actually find it easier. Its more natural and intuitive. Having played fretless exclusively for the last 10 years or so, going back to playing fretted feels really restricted and constrained.

[uk_lefty]

The only fretless basses I've had have had uncoated fretboards... One rosewood (Kramer), one laurel (Harley Benton) and one tiger stripe ebony (Korean Warwick). I'd love to try a coated fretboard like on the Sire fretless J basses, What's the opinion on coated boards?

[snorkie635]

2 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

The only fretless basses I've had have had uncoated fretboards... One rosewood (Kramer), one laurel (Harley Benton) and one tiger stripe ebony (Korean Warwick). I'd love to try a coated fretboard like on the Sire fretless J basses, What's the opinion on coated boards?

I like them, although shed tears when they develop abrasion lines. Coating (Pedulla Pentabuzz) seems to give a slight boost to the amount of treble and a hard-to-define 'crispness' to the attack. As an aside, I once witnessed some guy destroy a coated board on a fretless during an impromptu (mine's bigger than yours) slap-fest in Sound Control. The board resembled a broken window, so don't if you're primarily a whakka-whakka bod, would be my advice.

[Linus27]

24 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

The only fretless basses I've had have had uncoated fretboards... One rosewood (Kramer), one laurel (Harley Benton) and one tiger stripe ebony (Korean Warwick). I'd love to try a coated fretboard like on the Sire fretless J basses, What's the opinion on coated boards?

 

I had an Ash bodied natural Fender Precision with coated maple fretless board and it was incredible. It was so nice to play and sounded amazing. The below track was recorded using it and its one of my favourite fretless bass sounds I've recorded.

 

 

[Hellzero]

1 hour ago, Rosie C said:

 

I'm surprised I'm the only person with only fretless - though that has been helped by moving house and selling instruments I wasn't playing.  I started playing double bass and viola/violin at the start of covid lockdown and haven't really played fretted since.

5 months ago, I was like you, but I managed to find a rare BassLab L-Bow V, that I, of course, bought.

 

I would have preferred the fretless version, but it's even rarer.

 

The two other fretted basses in the house belong to my wife and I absolutely don't play them.

 

That said, if I put aside that dire Maya EB-2 "bass", which was my first bass, that I sold to get drunk after my studies, alongside a pristine Korg MS-20 (yep the real one that nobody wanted anymore back then).

 

I then really started playing fretless and almost only fretless during the next 38 years, firstly, on a defretted Aria Diamond Violin bass, my second bass and first real one as the crappy Maya doesn't count to me, fitted with EMG "Steinberger" pickups and also a piezo under the bridge (painted in pearly yellow and modified by my friend Christophe Leduc).

 

It really sounded amazing, but ended up as a deco (and then binned) after it was accidentally broken by a family member...

 

That said, I had a pretty good load of fretted basses, but always ended up selling them very quickly, except a very few ones for some reasons.

 

I'm like @Linus27 or certainly @Rosie C and @Beedster and feel at home on fretless basses.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Hellzero
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[Hellzero]

5 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

I had an Ash bodied natural Fender Precision with coated maple fretless board and it was incredible. It was so nice to play and sounded amazing. The below track was recorded using it and its one of my favourite fretless bass sounds I've recorded.

 

 

Lovely tune, and superb fretless tone. ❤️

[Linus27]

4 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Lovely tune, and superb fretless tone. ❤️

 

Thank you sir, that's very kind of you 😊

[Jackroadkill]

4 hours ago, JazzyJ said:

I hadn't owned a fretless for over 30 years. Now have these beauties and loving them.

 

 

I'm a big fan of Rob's work; he lives just down the road from me and it's a treat to see his creations coming together.

 

Did you commission this one?

[Mediocre Polymath]

3 hours ago, snorkie635 said:

Oooooooh! Photo! Photo! (Please)

Here it is. I posted a build diary on here last year, I think.

[uk_lefty]

3 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

I had an Ash bodied natural Fender Precision with coated maple fretless board and it was incredible. It was so nice to play and sounded amazing. The below track was recorded using it and its one of my favourite fretless bass sounds I've recorded.

 

 

That is the sound I want!! Mental note made. Lovely stuff.

[uk_lefty]

Listen to Angie - fretless WHITE COLLAR FRAUD 2012 by RR on Bass on #SoundCloud

https://on.soundcloud.com/PiYWo5LIhTeTgiXOGq

 

This is a recording made maybe in 2010 on my fretless Kramer. It was quite a cheap bass when it came out but good quality for the price. In recent years I have upgraded the wiring loom with a Kiogon made version and it's given the bass a lot more Welly. 

[Matt P]

i've owned 2 fretless basses in the past but never used them live, the first was/is a Aria cardinal medium scale that a previous owner had de-fretted, I never used it so i had the frets put back in, (i've still got this one as it's a YOB bass and i really like it), the second was a squier fretless jazz that i took as a trade for an amp, It never left the house so i traded it for a squier mustang.

 

at some point i'm sure i'll buy another fretless but it will probably not get used and be sold on (i'll not learn!)

 

Matt

[Grahambythesea]

I’ve owned 3 over the years. Ibanez Roadstar;  Fender Precision;  Spector Spectorcore 5.  Now I only have a NS NXT electric upright as my fretless.

I do keep thinking it would be nice to have another fretless to use when the upright feels a bit too big.  But to achieve that one of the 4 fretted would need to go, perhaps I should change a neck 🤔

[JazzyJ]

4 hours ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

I'm a big fan of Rob's work; he lives just down the road from me and it's a treat to see his creations coming together.

 

Did you commission this one?

I didn't, it's a 2006 model sourced from Bass Direct a while ago. Sounds wonderful 🙂