What are the Aspects of a Great Fretless Bass

[jaydee]

My personal preferences :

Scale Length - 35" or less... 33" (I use only 4 strings).
Fingerboard Radius - Definitively ebony.
Side markers and Lines - Lined.
Neck construction materials - One piece mapple.
Neckthrough vs. Bolt-on vs. Neck-set - Bolt-on, I prefer the attack of it.
Action and Setup - Low with 20 mm or 19mm string spacing.
Pickups and P/U location. - A single coil placed at 65 mm from the bridge saddle (Fender, Bartolini, Aero, Fralin... with AlNiCo magnet) or a humbucker with S/parralel/H switch (Aero, Bassculture, Bartolini...) and eventualy a piezo system (Ghost).
Electronics - I prefer passive system without preamp.
Body Tonewoods and body construction - Mellow woods for a resonnant and deep tone (Alder, mahogany, limba...) with a clearer tone's top (mapple, walnut...).
Strings - After many tests (flatwound, black nylon...) I prefer roundwound strings (d'Addario XL).

[FretLessSince68]

I thought that I would add a few words about why a good fretless bass is not necessarily just an electric bass without frets.

Some fretted basses do convert into good fretless when defretted, ask Jaco. Although if we were able to interview him today I think he would admit that he had to work with the available axes of the time. That his "Bass of Doom" was a compromise requiring a number of modifications and that his Acoustic amps had a tonal characteristic that compensated for certain deficiencies in the actual bass. The Acoustic 360 amps accentuated the low-mids.

Bass makers often produce fretless basses that are identical to their fretted version primarily for one reason... lower production costs. The jigs are the same, the neck is the same, the fret slots are cut the same, the position markers are the same, the pickup locations are the same, the electronics are the same, the nut is the same.

You can see from this example that a production fretless bass made the same as a fretted, except the fret slots have been filled, has what I would call "birth defects".

• A. Lined instead of unlined.
  B. Side markers in the wrong places (same as fretted).
  C. Fingerboard surface markers (not needed).
  D. Nut too high.
  E. Pickup positions not optimized for fretless (a good topic all by itself).
  F. Pickup voicing not optimized for fretless.
  G. Tone wood(s) in body not optimized for fretless.
  H. Setup probably the same as fretted.

This also explains why some fretless conversions don't come up to ones expectations. It isn't just the lack of frets that makes a good fretless.

Now that I have made some complaints it is only reasonable to post a few suggestions regarding what the makers should do to create a great fretless bass.

It is very obvious but here it is.

• A. Offer unlined fingerboards for those who prefer it.
  B. Side markers in the correct places (exactly on the positions).
  C. Eliminate fingerboard surface markers except as an option.
  D. Cut the nut lower.
  E. Optimize pickup positions for fretless, very close to bridge and in sweet spot.
  F. Pickup voicing optimized for fretless (not scooped or excessively Hi-Fi).
  G. Offer a piezo pickup option.
  H. Tone wood option selected for fretless (warm tone, not edgy, w/low-mid peak).
  I. Offer a very hard fingerboard.
  J. Setup done by someone who "gets" fretless.

Some makers do "get" fretless and make basses that take into consideration the many differences. Roscoe is one, Modulus is another. Mark Egan likes Pedulla, Michael Manring likes ZON. One similarity of all of these basses is a very hard fingerboard.

I would appreciate your recommendations regarding others that I am not aware of.

[MTDSlick]

Hey everybody! It's great to be here! I play and MTD Kingston Artist 4-string fretless which is perfect for me so my tastes are based on its features so here's my take on the aspects of a great fretless (in my humble opinion):

Scale Length: 34" since I prefer 4-string playing
Fingerboard Radius: Larger because it's easier for me to solo and even do chording since I have larger hands.
Fingerboard materials - coatings, woods: Ebonol because of its strength and durability (its flat black finish doesn't hurt either).
Side markers and Lines: I prefer lined so that it's a little easier to keep your intonation in order. I've played unlined before so it's just a matter of your personal taste and getting to know your neck as well as developing your ears for good pitch.
Neck construction materials: I like maple, but I've tried other materials like graphite and and mahogany laminate on neck-thrus which are also great.
Neckthrough vs. Bolt-on vs. Neck-set: Bolt-on is more consistent for me and I think has a stronger tone, but the other types have their own great special feel.
Action and Setup: Lowest without buzzing to make the tension easy on my hands.
Pickups and P/U location.: Humbucker at the bridge ala Music Man and MTD
Electronics: Passive, but active does have a nice bite to take it to the edge.
Body Tonewoods and body construction: Lightweight woods like basswood.
Finish - as it may affect tone: Standard polyurethane.
Strings: Tapewound since it gets me closest to upright.
Craftsmanship: MTD and Music Man. I've owned both but I prefer MTD because of their weight, playability and ergonomic sensibilities. They also incorporate the Buzz Feiten tuning system on all of their instruments which makes a big difference and I highly recommend that. I hope this helps and I encourage you to try as many basses as you can to find your own voice on the instrument. You'll REALLY be glad you did!

[FretLessSince68]

Ebonol = Good for Fretless, and inexpensive.

Looks like the MTD Kingston Artist fretless basses are a serious contender in the under $3000 category.

Some other Asian basses such as Cort, Conklin GT, Fender Squire, more... Also have Ebonol fingerboards.

If you can find one with a really straight neck/fingerboard and the right tone you may have found a gem.