NBD

mart

Just picked this up earlier today from @lamf68’s paintshop.
I haven’t wanted to play bass so much for ages.
Built by @GSPBASSES. It’s very nice.
https://i.imgur.com/LdFIR7S_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

https://i.imgur.com/tlOoooO_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

JezWynd

Very nice and the Ampeg head is a great match. Are you familiar with long scale fretless? 

mart

JezWynd said:

Very nice and the Ampeg head is a great match. Are you familiar with long scale fretless? 

It does indeed go very well with the Ampeg.

The scale length is just the standard 34”, and yes, I’m very familiar with fretless - over 25 years ago I switched to playing fretless almost exclusively, and have never regretted it.

JezWynd

Yeah, fretless gives you a lot more notes to play with  . I started playing fretless a few months back and now fretted seems a bit boring in comparison. I do find learning new stuff a challenge though. That's a great paint job, good enough to eat.

mart

I saw Alan Thompson playing with John Martyn back around 1990, and it made me realize that fretless gave exactly the sounds I want from a bass.

Winny_Pooh

Lovely

ICBM

Very pretty . There’s something really classy about a piece of plain unmarked ebony that size...

Does it actually say Fretless on the headstock? I can‘t quite see in the pic.

Volume/volume or volume/tone with both pickups permanently on?

mart

ICBM said:

Very pretty . There’s something really classy about a piece of plain unmarked ebony that size...

Does it actually say Fretless on the headstock? I can‘t quite see in the pic.

Volume/volume or volume/tone with both pickups permanently on?

Yes, the decal says Fretless - a bit cheesy, but all the alternative replacements for the F****r word were worse. I’m kicking myself for not putting “imprecision bass” in the small print as that describes my playing perfectly. 

The controls are volume and blend. I never use tone pots on bass - I use my fingers to control the sound, either by playing close to the bridge or over the neck. And I find a blend control works best for the rare occasions when I do need to change the pickup balance, but nearly always it stays at the centre position.

ICBM

mart said:

Yes, the decal says Fretless - a bit cheesy, but all the alternative replacements for the F****r word were worse. I’m kicking myself for not putting “imprecision bass” in the small print as that describes my playing perfectly.

lol

At least it's not actually a fretless 'Precision' .

I think it's cool, not cheesy.

mart said:

The controls are volume and blend. I never use tone pots on bass - I use my fingers to control the sound, either by playing close to the bridge or over the neck. And I find a blend control works best for the rare occasions when I do need to change the pickup balance, but nearly always it stays at the centre position.

I wondered about that too, but didn't bother to write it. I very rarely use the tone pots either - in fact on my Rick 4001 I've changed the bridge tone control to a 'vintage cap' control, so it can be either 'vintage' or 'modern', which makes a big difference with fuzz sounds.

mart

ICBM said:
....

I wondered about that too, but didn't bother to write it. I very rarely use the tone pots either - in fact on my Rick 4001 I've changed the bridge tone control to a 'vintage cap' control, so it can be either 'vintage' or 'modern', which makes a big difference with fuzz sounds.

To be fair, I don’t use fuzz or any kind of drive or distortion - strictly clean sounds only for me. But I can see that you would need some sort of tone control if you do, even if that is just a simple switch.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

At least it's not actually a fretless 'Precision' .

Oi! Cheek! 

fretmeister