ilovefuzz.com

So I've been gassing for a fretless bass lately.
Due in part to this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FU6-pcjcxQ[/youtube]
Aside: I am also seriously gassing for a Hax.

I also sat down in a local shop with a beauty fretless Warwick, and while I sounded like shit because I am so used to frets, I could see myself loving it with a little practice.

So my question, can anyone suggest a decent fretless for a good price? (There's no way I could afford or justify that Warwick)
There's a Washburn T14 on the local kijiji but I feel like the seller is asking too much ($350). I was also thinking of just grabbing a Squire.

So, yeah, suggestions?

Also sorry if this has been posted before (and I know it's been posted elsewhere on the internets, but I appreciate ILFers opinions). I tried searching the site but I never have luck with the search function here.

Squier fretless Jazz Bass, or one of the Hohner copies of the Steinberger.

I have a MIM Fender 4 String.
They had been going for just over $500, new...forever. I haven't checked into them lately.
But it's a real bang-for-the-buck beast...and still has the original flatwounds.

Great tone, especially with a tube head.
In fact, within my rig it has the beefiest base tone I've heard, ever, anywhere...no effects nor hundreds/thousands of watts needed.
I'm not being hyperbolic here.

Old cheap Yamahas are actually pretty cool.

Squiers have really stepped up their quality in the last handful of years, I love my VM Jag. I've played the fretless jazz before, and it's a really solid bass.

I played a Fender Fretless Jazz last week at a guitar shop. Would have really loved it if they had it set up at all. It was bowed way out so the strings were an inch off the fretboard. But I could tell it would be nice otherwise.
Wouldn't buy it without playing it first due to that reason, but I bet the Squier version is solid. Both of the Squiers I have now are killer, not just for the price but all around.

dubkitty wrote:Squier fretless Jazz Bass

I grabbed one of these when I was fretless-less for a while and had a two week gig that required one. For the price, it's a really great entry level fretless. The sound was good, playability was nice, and it was solid. It held up to a 18 gig/14 day schedule no problem.

the Squier i played was actually nicer than the MIM Jazz Bass i wound up with. i got the Fender because i was able to trade in a Precision Bass and get it for like $25.

I second the mim jazz fretless a real nice and beefy tone.

I have a Squier fretless Jazz and it is rock solid.

dubkitty wrote:Squier fretless Jazz Bass, or one of the Hohner copies of the Steinberger.

the Squier is quite good, yes

I'm not a bassist, but even i didn't find it THAT hard to play

Thanks guys. Its sounding like the Squire Jazz might be the way to go. I've definitely had better experiences with high end Squires than with MIM Fenders.

I actually spent a few hours at the local shop today wasting some time/most of the day with a buddy. I ended up playing that Warwick quite a bit and it took a lot less time than I though to get used to it (It's a 5 string Corvette fretless with active pickups, by the way, and man is it nice!). I'm definitely picking up a fretless bass as soon as I sell one of my other guitars. Not having frets just opens up such a huge palate of new sounds and opportunities and it's so much fun to play.

Active pickups are the suck. They limit which pedals you can use.

Both Squire & MIM Fender Jazzes have the potential to be great...
But I remember picking up a good half dozen (between the 2) in various stores, in the months after I got mine...and all but one of them were dogs.

Not sure if that's an issue of QC or the fact they were floor models that were beat-on by assholes and not properly setup.

Pays to shop around...

Wishbass

rustywire wrote:Active pickups are the suck. They limit which pedals you can use.

Both Squire & MIM Fender Jazzes have the potential to be great...
But I remember picking up a good half dozen (between the 2) in various stores, in the months after I got mine...and all but one of them were dogs.

Not sure if that's an issue of QC or the fact they were floor models that were beat-on by assholes and not properly setup.

Pays to shop around...

Yeah I wouldn't actually buy anything with active pickups, just happens to be the only fretless in the place. I really wish they had more so I could try them out. I'm extremely wary of buying an instrument without having the chance to play it.