Adding to the collection as a home player

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ZonularZonular Frets: 62
Hey guys
I have a ibanez atk400 (four string active bass).
Looking to pick up something a little different and to add to the collection.

What do you think, add a five string or a fretless bass to the herd?
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  • My lad bought a Harley Benton 6 string bass plus one of their 4 string fretless jobs.  He's got a whole new lease of life bass playing wise from them - for the price you could probably get both and let one go down the line without losing much money.
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  • Good shout, looking at some stuff local 
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Both are really cool although you can get most of the fun of a 5 string by just tuning down to drop C or whatever so a fretless would be my pick, or better yet an electric upright.
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  • dazzajldazzajl Frets: 5654
    edited September 2020
    Fretless is a lovely instrument and lots of fun. Really hard to find a proper one these days though, nearly all of them have lines on the board.
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  • Steinberger
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  • Really ? To get my 80's on or am I missing something
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  • Another vote for fretless (as distinct from de-fretted) bass guitar. An unmarked fingerboard obliges the player to pay proper attention to intonation. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    Another vote for fretless. It will make you a better musician, and that's not meant in any way as snobbery against those who only use fretted basses - they are just different, not better or worse. A five-string does the same thing as a four but more of it, a fretless does something distinctly different to your interaction with it.

    I wouldn't worry too much if it does have lines - or simply dots on the side - you don't have to look at them, and they're not actually quite accurate enough anyway, you still have to learn to listen as you play.

    I don't use my fretless to sound like the 80s - despite it being made then, in fact it's one of the most classic of all 80s bass, an Aria SB - I more often use it for synthy sounds with lots of effects, which if anything means that you need to be very accurate with pitch, as well as being able to do big swoopy stuff that you just can't on a fretted one.

    And make sure you get flatwound strings - regardless of Jaco Pastorius. Remember that he had to keep coating his fingerboard with epoxy varnish to stop the roundwound strings chewing it up...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • That reminds me.

    Time to lift the potatoes from the ruts in the fingerboard of my factory fretless Fender Precision Bass.

    I exaggerate for comic effect … but only slightly.
    Be seeing you.
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  • I have a Yamaha bbg5 and im looking at a trade for a fretless Yamaha bbn4f . You guys got any experience with a Yamaha fretless?
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  • Tony Franklin's rules for fretless

    Miss 1 day of practice and I notice
    Miss 2 days and the band notices
    Miss 3 and the audience notices.


    If you really want roundwound sound then half-wounds / pressurewounds / groundwounds do far less damage. DR Sunbeams have a very small diameter wrapwire too - they are popular on fretless for that reason.

    Or get a Status neck / bass and just don't worry about it at all.


    Still - the bass the OP already has is effectively a Stingray (with an extra jazz pickup). One of the better Ray tributes.

    So I'd suggest a Precision.
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  • Zonular said:
    You guys got any experience with a Yamaha fretless?
    I have an old, semi-pointy headstock,  RBX200F. It was a thrift store find worthy of Harry Seven. I fitted my usual upgrades - Gotoh 201B bridge, American pickup and active EQ. Result - a recorded sound to embarrass my 1978/79 Fender.

    Even unplugged, this example does the Jaco/Pino neeeooinggg. Either I got lucky or all Yamaha bass guitars are this well made.
    Be seeing you.
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  • So I swapped my bbg5 for the bbn4f. Good lord I'm a happy man, I mean this thing is killer! Now I'm off to learn "smooth operator"
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    edited September 2020
    Rather snobbish to insist on an unlined fretboard if you ask me. It's a bit like saying that you are a better guitarist if you never look at the instrument. 

    I bought a cheap fretless Harley Benton many years ago. The dots were in the wrong places! They were spaced for a fretted bass. I added lines to the fretboard myself. 
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  • dazzajldazzajl Frets: 5654
    axisus said:
    Rather snobbish to insist on an unlined fretboard if you ask me. It's a bit like saying that you are a better guitarist if you never look at the instrument. 

    I bought a cheap fretless Harley Benton many years ago. The dots were in the wrong places! They were spaced for a fretted bass. I added lines to the fretboard myself. 
    Nothing snobbish about it at all, it just looks far nicer. Playing without them shouldn’t be a big deal to anyone. All orchestral players seem to cope without guides and on much smaller finger boards in most cases 
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  • Lined fretless invites reliance on the visual to achieve accurate intonation. 

    Without lines, the player has to rely on the ear. In extremis, some players practice in the dark. I used to cheat by working by the red pilot light of my amplifier.

    As confidence grows, liberties can be taken with glissando and portamento. These increase expressivity and allow interesting microtonal shit.

    From a luthier’s perspective, an unmarked fingerboard is easier to plane.
    Be seeing you.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    I like having the side dots at the fret positions - they’re useful as a rough guide when you’re warming up, especially if you haven’t played fretless for a while. But I’ve never seen the point in lines on the front - they’re no more useful than the side dots really, because they’re still not accurate enough... you *still* have to learn to play by ear and muscle memory. So why put ugly lines on it?

    It wouldn’t be a complete deal-breaker for me I don’t think, if I found an otherwise perfect fretless which had them, since you don’t have to look at them - but I’d much rather have that beautiful long smooth piece of unbroken fingerboard.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    ICBM said:
     So why put ugly lines on it?

    It's not ugly, that's a matter of opinion. I love the look of a lined fretboard, high gloss and all those lovely thin lines. I don't like the look of an unlined one personally.


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  • Thanks gorgeous
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Zonular said:
    Thanks gorgeous
    no probs hun
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