Fretless bass survey

[funkgod]

@ Hellzero.... christ mate thats just obscene 🙂

 

sold my wal 6 string fretless because this 6r is better ! not joking, plays better, sounds better feels better, no dead spots and it was ridiculously cheap ( review on here somewhere)  , i still have a wal out of my wal collection of 7 and others i have had, including the midibass, ( which i should not have sold as i need it now) but can say for deffo they are not all made equally !

 

so here are my two for now

1 a HK 6, ( before they became wolf) burl poplar

2, Doug Wilks jazz, tiger stripe maple/ebony, with john east, MEC gold pickups, schallers

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4 by funkgod

[prowla]

I occasionally pick up my fretless, do a couple of slides, play the bass solo from Lost Horizons (Mo Foster in the first MSG album), noodle about for a while, and then put it back down to wait for the next occasion.

One even rarer occasions, I pick up my Ashbory, but between its miniscue scale, being fretless, and rubber strings, it's almost impossible to play anything even remotely in tune.

[Roger2611]

I have a high end bass collection 4 string fretless, it spends most of its time in a case, I used to play fretless 70% of the time but in the last 10 years or so it has been 100% fretted work, I do miss playing it and really ought to dig it out and give it some love again

[Hellzero]

22 hours ago, Beer of the Bass said:

Here we go, it's had a number of changes over the years, it started out fretted, with a rickenbacker copy bridge and just the one pickup, then it's had a Dimarzio Model One, a Hammon Darkstar, then my homebuilt single coil under the mudbucker cover, and the toaster added. 

I quite like the rustic look of it and its history.

[Hellzero]

20 hours ago, funkgod said:

@ Hellzero.... christ mate thats just obscene 🙂

 

sold my wal 6 string fretless because this 6r is better ! not joking, plays better, sounds better feels better, no dead spots and it was ridiculously cheap ( review on here somewhere) a HK 6, ( before they became wolf) burl poplar

 

 

 

 

I had one of these too, when they appeared over here in continental Europe, that I played on a gig on the same day I received it and also on further ones 

 

The funny thing is that I've been complemented by almost all the audience for my great tone with this very bass, but not with my other high end fretless, a Leduc MP 628 SF, which to my ears was and still sounds better, but the mwah on the HK was just insane...

 

I guess that's what the audience loved.

 

Sadly the HK was so heavy and very head diving that I sold it some time later, but I really loved that insane mwah.

 

It's not pictured in my list as it was before I started to photograph each instrument getting in ... and out.

[Hellzero]

11 hours ago, Roger2611 said:

I have a high end bass collection 4 string fretless, it spends most of its time in a case, I used to play fretless 70% of the time but in the last 10 years or so it has been 100% fretted work, I do miss playing it and really ought to dig it out and give it some love again

And ...

 

[TheLowDown]

I have both fretted and a fretless, but I rarely play the fretless. I can see why people love the fretless but it's just not for me for the most part.

[SimonK]

Gigged this over the weekend - my trick is to have a boss GEB-7 EQ pedal to boost mid frequenceies for the fretless mwah sound.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm thinking of songs that would suit fretless that I do. What Is and What Should Never Be would work well. Crossroads too, I  think Jack Bruce may have used fretless on the original.

[itu]

Hill street blues theme 

Eagles - One of these nights 

Walk on the wild side 

Practically any jazz song is good for fretless. Long, singing notes sound very different. I think fretless is best suited for simple lines. All extra can be cut away, and still - or because of that - sound so good. 

[Beedster]

Re fretless playing, it's all horses for courses of course, but for me, I play fretless and fretted very similarly as opposed to seeing each as needing a specific style/technique/genre - I often use fretless at rehearsal and gigs playing ostensible 'standard' bass parts, and always enjoy when someone says "I didn't realise you were playing fretless" (our keys player being a great example, I'd been playing fretless every week for three months before he noticed), which to my mind is far more of a compliment than producing lots of slides and double stops etc and having people say "I love the sound of fretless bass". 

 

 

[SimonK]

The only thing that doesn't work particularly well on a fretless is slap. I "could" play pretty much anything else on my fretless, although often it's easier to just go for a fretted bass if I'm not after mwah in particular.

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, SimonK said:

The only thing that doesn't work particularly well on a fretless is slap. I "could" play pretty much anything else on my fretless, although often it's easier to just go for a fretted bass if I'm not after mwah in particular.

 

Differences between fretted and fretless are greater with slap that other styles - frets have a hug effect on slap tone - but I'd argue it's less a case of 'doesn't work particularly well' and more a case of 'works very well when used appropriately', one example for me being Bakithi Kumalo on the Graceland album (I may be repeating myself here) 👍 

[knirirr]

At present I've only got this:

 

 

I'd quite like another fretless but I almost always end up playing double bass these days so it seems a bit of an extravagance (and I will be knocked out of the gear abstention challenge).
This one (with Villex pickups) also crosses over with the fake Fender decals thread...

 

Taking the neck off reveals a "Fender" stamp due to it being licensed (the body's from the same source). The decal (easily removable) is only there for the "well, you didn't bring a proper bass but at least that electric one's a Fender" crowd. 

[tauzero]

9 hours ago, Beedster said:

Re fretless playing, it's all horses for courses of course, but for me, I play fretless and fretted very similarly as opposed to seeing each as needing a specific style/technique/genre - I often use fretless at rehearsal and gigs playing ostensible 'standard' bass parts, and always enjoy when someone says "I didn't realise you were playing fretless" (our keys player being a great example, I'd been playing fretless every week for three months before he noticed), which to my mind is far more of a compliment than producing lots of slides and double stops etc and having people say "I love the sound of fretless bass". 

 

It took my former bandmates a year to realise. I play fretless the same as fretted for some things, for others I play it with a more, well, fretless feel to it - depends on what I want to accomplish.

[Hellzero]

On a record I used two Leduc basses: a fretless Masterpiece MP 628 SF and a fretted U-Basse 6 MM.

 

Exactly these very two:

 

 

 

When the CD was released, everyone listening to it complimented me for my fretless playing on all titles, ... when half of them were played on a fretted bass.

 

So the opposite is also possible. 😉

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

On a record I used two Leduc basses: a fretless Masterpiece MP 628 SF and a fretted U-Basse 6 MM.

 

Exactly these very two:

 

 

 

When the CD was released, everyone listening to it complimented me for my fretless playing on all titles, ... when half of them were played on a fretted bass.

 

So the opposite is also possible. 😉

I’d always assumed Barry Adamson played FL on some of Magazine’s late 70’s/early 80’s but the same is true. As ever, it’s less what you play, and more how you play it 👍

[fleabag]

Kerchinnnnng !!  Fretted with dual MECs  and Fretless with single homeland

 

 

 

[Rolf]

 

I got this MIJ Fender Jazz brand new in 1992, when I was 17. I played it exclusively for 3-4 years, and after that at least 50% of the time. After a few years I mostly played 8-string bass in a metal band, and it got used less and less. I pick it up sporadically these days, it's a good bass but I can't seem to get the sound I want out of it anymore. I've been thinking of selling it and getting another fretless.

[Greg Edwards69]

I bought a fretless Warwick Corvette around 20-something years ago from the old Bass Centre in Wapping (I miss that place!). Proper German-made bass, with bubinga body and ovankol/wenge neck. Lovely instrument, but I just didn't play it as much as I wanted to (if that makes sense) - a fretted bass just works better for what I play. Not to mention it was damn heavy (about 14lb on the bathroom scales) I sold it a couple of years ago when money was getting a little tight with the wife on post-covid-complication-related-long-term sick.

 

Every now and then I get the urge to get another fretless, but I don't need one - I'm trying to keep GAS at bay by only owning and buying gear I actually have a genuine use for (I know - crazy talk!). But if I ever do get another one, I'll save some money and get a Harley Benton or similar. I mean, it's not as if I'd have to worry about dodgy fretwork!

Edited July 22 by Greg Edwards69

[Greg Edwards69]

On 20/07/2025 at 23:02, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm thinking of songs that would suit fretless that I do. What Is and What Should Never Be would work well. Crossroads too, I  think Jack Bruce may have used fretless on the original.

Sledgehammer is about the only one I regularly play in my band that has a prominent fretless bass line. But it sounds fine on fretted - no complaints so far!

 

PS, I used to love playing "Wherever I lay my hat..." and "Tears in Heaven" at home when the mood took me. Beautiful lines.

[EMG456]

Bought my first fretless in 1978 - still have it today. Others have come and gone in the meantime.

Most gigs unless it's a cutdown set for whatever reason I will have a fretted and a fretless bass with me. I like the contrast in tone and the audiences usually like it too.

This is the current three and most unlikely to change now.

 

 

[paul_5]

Has anyone ever played a Hohner fretless Jazz ? I had one years ago and sold but I kind of miss it; it sounded amazing but was as heavy as a boat anchor!

[Beer of the Bass]

1 hour ago, paul_5 said:

Has anyone ever played a Hohner fretless Jazz ? I had one years ago and sold but I kind of miss it; it sounded amazing but was as heavy as a boat anchor!

I had one, bought in about '93 but I suspect it had been in the shop a year or two. Decent neck, plywood body but none the worse for that, and the pickups sounded fine but were a little microphonic - I could hear my leather strap ends creaking on the buttons through the amp.