Fretless plans...

Leronious

Leronious

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A 5 string fretless has continued to elude my grasp. I have gassed for one ever since I first started playing bass. Please help me with my course of action. Currently, I have a 5 string Corvette std. I play mostly jazz; I suspect the fretless will become my main bass. As a college student, I cannot justify spending more than $600. These are some options I am considering.

*I expect that some of these might cripple my budget. I have marked them with an asterisk.*



A) Sell my corvette and buy a used 5 string fretless warwick.*

B) Sell my corvette and buy a used 5 string fretless warwick. And buy a 5 string SX jazz bass, in case I ever need a fretted bass.*

C) Keep my corvette. Buy a fretless 5 string SX jazz bass.

D) Keep my corvette. Buy a 5 string SX jazz bass and a wenge fretless neck from warmoth (~$400) for the SX.*

E) Keep my corvette. Buy a 5 string SX jazz bass, a wenge fretless neck from warmoth for the SX, and EMG (or similar brand) active pups.*

F) Keep my corvette. Buy a used fretless 4 string corvette std (and forever crave the narrow spacing and 5th string).

G) Keep my corvette. Pay for a fretless ebony fingerboard. (Can this be reversed? Can I have them put the wenge board back on?)

H) Keep my corvette. Pay for a fretless ebony fingerboard. Buy a fretted 5 string SX jazz bass.

I) Keep my corvette. Pay for a fretless ebony fingerboard. Buy another 5 string corvette std.*

J) All of the above.*

K) Quit dreaming and resume my practicing.

L) [your idea here]
 
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Personally I would keep the fretted bass. I went through a fretless phase which lasted a few years and I never ever thought I would go back to a fretted bass again. But I did... mainly because I wanted to do some funky slapping. I regret selling some of my fretted basses... although the money did go towards my two fretless Warwicks, so it wasn't all bad.
 
I'd look or a cheaper second hand fretless (Squier Jazz ?)...first check out if ya really like to play fretless and then buy a 'better' one...8:
 
What da-fonk just wrote is what I did, I wanted to taste a little fretless, so I bought a used Squier Vintage Modified Fretless (coming soon, just a few days left and it's in my hands...).

They are cheap, and pretty amazing consedering the price... (Like the whole Vintage Modified Series by the way...)

Go for a cheaper fretless, just in case you don't like it, might be easier to sale...
 
My first fretless was a Rockbass Streamer and I learned all my fretless stuff on that. It played like a dream and had a really excellent neck. Ebony board too.

Edit: yes... check out the Squier bass as well! I think some of the Squier stuff is outstanding value at the moment
 
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Thanks for the wise words.

If I go for a lower end model, I would spend no more than $200. Also, I strongly prefer the string spacing of a 5er. That is why I was considering an SX 5 string fretless.

What main thing that keeps me away from the squier are the fretlines. I have tried the vm squier at gc and found the lines to be distracting. The contrast between the black glossy board and the white lines had me going cross-eyed at times.

I should also add that I once owned a fretless rockbass 5er for a week. (I returned it because it was not as advertised and the truss rod was stripped. Also, I could not get the wide range of sound that I had hoped.) I took to the unlined board extremely well (I play upright). I felt free and quick on it. Plus, it looks great.

I understand why beginner fretless basses have lines. Are there any that do not?
 
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I started on a fretted, bought another fretted, and finally traded both towards the purchase of my fretless Vette. I've been playing fretless now for 4 years and can honestly say there hasn't been a single time that I wish I had a fretted bass. I've played in several funk bands (slapping wasn't a problem), several rock bands (sounded great too), some metal-type stuff (JPT plays fretless with Obscura), and jazzy stuff as well. It really depends on you and your tastes. If you're only looking at the fretless as a way to "fill-in" for the upright, then buy a cheaper model as a spare bass. If you're looking at making the full commitment to fretless, trade your bass towards the purchase of a fretless 5 string Vette. I think with your $600 budget and your fretted Vette towards trade-in, you could easily get a fretless Vette. Good luck in your pursuit.
 
I agree with most comments above; keep your fretted corvette and buy a cheap fretless for starters.

I have played fretless for 10 years after the first 5 years of playing fretted bass, i also thought i would never stop playing fretless, but after that i started playing fretted bass again and i seldom play fretless again. In my case i was also fed up with the Jaco-esque vibes around it, i realised i would never play like him and at the same time my playing became more 'testosterone fed', so to say i just did not want to play these romantic and flowing music but i wanted to bash and trash the audience with grooves.

so to make a long story short; i would keep the fretted corvette and buy a fretless bass like a Squier VM fretless bass (i have had that bass for 3 years and found it quite a good ..)
 
I have the answer!

Get a beat up Warwick 5 string(The Passive ones are easy to find cheap). Then take the frets out of the beaters neck and fill them with wood filler. Follow with a coat or 2 of Epoxy. Next bolt it on your Corvette's Body and store the original neck until you feel the urge to go back to fretted.

This is exactly what I am planning to do.
 
Get a used fretted RB 'vette and defret it.
 
Owdkasd said:
I have the answer!

Get a beat up Warwick 5 string(The Passive ones are easy to find cheap). Then take the frets out of the beaters neck and fill them with wood filler. Follow with a coat or 2 of Epoxy. Next bolt it on your Corvette's Body and store the original neck until you feel the urge to go back to fretted.

This is exactly what I am planning to do.
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Where have you found cheap 5ers? I thought that wenge did not take a defret well. Would a rockbass neck fit my corvette?
 
Leronious said:
Where have you found cheap 5ers? I thought that wenge did not take a defret well. Would a rockbass neck fit my corvette?
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Wenge indeed does not defret well, it splinters like mad. IIRC the neck pocket dimensions are identical between RB and proper Warwicks, but the holes will probably have offsets. I wouldn't hesitate to modify a RB 'vette neck with new neck pocket holes in such a case. I 'd go with a used RB 'vette defret. Cheap, rosewood defrets nicely, you can't lose with J/J for fretless, you will have practically the same instrument in terms of ergonomics so that you can effortlessly switch, and have availability of both your instruments. You 'll be surprised how nice a RB 'vette sounds, although I admit I 've never heard a fretless one.
 
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I have seen 3 or 4 Passive Corvette 5'rs sell for less than $ 500 in the last few weeks. I have also seen a NOS one for $550 at a guitar center. These were not rock basses. I don't know if the Rock bass necks are interchangeable but I actually hope they are not for Fraud reasons.
Here's a link to one that would have been great. It was a 2006 so It would have been a direct neck swap.

I have also seen Rock bass 5'rs go for under $250.
I see no reason that you couldn't de-fret a wenge board fairly easily. I would release all tension from the truss rod and slightly back bow the neck. Then I would tap the frets in both lengthwise directions to free them up.
It's a matter of keeping your eyes peeled for a good deal on a used one.
BTW, The easiest De-fret I ever did was done with a Hack saw. But I am no expert on defretting.
 
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jester said:
You 'll be surprised how nice a RB 'vette sounds, although I admit I 've never heard a fretless one.
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Actually, I had briefly owned an active '09 rockbass corvette fretless 5. I found the sound to be very tame and limited in range. To my ears, the tones from the neck and the bridge pup were almost indistinguishable; it was muddy sounding. Maybe I just had a bad lemon. Ultimately, I returned it mainly because I had some problems with the shop (they advertised it as a '10 model, the truss rod was stripped, the truss cover was missing, and they tried to blamed me for the damage).

I wish Warwick would sell us necks or at least rockbass necks. Why should only fender owners have the oppurtunity to own multiple necks? Shouldn't we have that oppurtunity as well? Maybe they can mark the necks somehow to avoid fraud.
 
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Leronious said:
Actually, I had briefly owned an active '09 rockbass corvette fretless 5. I found the sound to be very tame and limited in range. To my ears, the tones from the neck and the bridge pup were almost indistinguishable; it was muddy sounding. Maybe I just had a bad lemon. Ultimately, I returned it mainly because I had some problems with the shop (they advertised it as a '10 model, the truss rod was stripped, the truss cover was missing, and they tried to blamed me for the damage).

I wish Warwick would sell us necks or at least rockbass necks. Why should only fender owners have the oppurtunity to own multiple necks? Shouldn't we have that oppurtunity as well? Maybe they can mark the necks somehow to avoid fraud.
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There are custom neck builders that could quite possibly make you a fretless neck. It's just gotta have the right Scale & neck pocket dimensions. Where there's a will there's a way.
 
Owdkasd said:
There are custom neck builders that could quite possibly make you a fretless neck. It's just gotta have the right Scale & neck pocket dimensions. Where there's a will there's a way.
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I had not thought of that. Thanks. I doubt that there are any capable luthiers in my town. Could someone point me to someone in southern california or arizona? (I live in Yuma, AZ. It is on the CA/AZ border and interstate 8).
 
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sx bass are ok for the money i have never played a frtless one.i have a p bass copy and the fret work was bad i did a level a polish and the bass is much better.i'm not sure a warmoth neck will fit with out work i would double check that.another option would to buil a complete warmoth 5 stringer get it one pc at a time.and then buil up a killer bass.
 
I can see why Warwick don't sell spare necks, but it's a shame they don't... I'd happily buy a fretted neck for both of my Warwicks and just swap them according to what mood I was in
 
Much to my surprise, I found someone in my town who is able to make me a neck. Wood selection came up in our conversation. To keep my costs down, I was thinking about going with a maple neck and ebony board (~$250). Would this greatly affect the 'warwick growl'?

Or should I spend the $150 more to get a wenge neck with an ebony or ziricote(+$20) board?
 
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