sparquelito Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 (Happy new fretless bass day) I met an awesome local player today, a fellow named Richard, and crossed his palm with eighty dollars American. I have always wanted a fretless, but never wished to drop a thousand or two on a new rig. Enter this happily-beat-up Peavey Patriot (early 1980's) four-string bass, with the original frets surgically removed. Some guy stepped on the bass some time ago right where a cable was plugged in, and broke the jack-hole fitting at the bottom of the scratch-plate. The previous owner did a nice bit of drilling and mechanic-ing, and so the guitar cable now plugs into a nice new aperture in the lower right bout. I epoxied a decorative drawer knob into the damaged crater, and she now looks like something that Jaco Pastorius or Pino Palladino might play. Okay, she looks like something that Jaco Pastorius or Pino Palladino might take one glance at and keep walking past, but I love her already anyway. Smooth neck, nice balance, and a really sublime tone. And of course, I have always been a sucker for black trim and natural dark wood grains. Someday when I change these exceptional smooth strings, I will probably fill in the fret grooves with some boat repair putty, (a la Jaco), but for now, she plays just fine. She's not The Bass Of Doom, mind you. I'm thinking that she's more like The Bass Of A Nagging, Disconcerting Depression. Good times. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 (Happy new fretless bass day) I met an awesome local player today, a fellow named Richard, and crossed his palm with eighty dollars American. I have always wanted a fretless, but never wished to drop a thousand or two on a new rig. Enter this happily-beat-up Peavey Patriot (early 1980's) four-string bass, with the original frets surgically removed. Some guy stepped on the bass some time ago right where a cable was plugged in, and broke the jack-hole fitting at the bottom of the scratch-plate. The previous owner did a nice bit of drilling and mechanic-ing, and so the guitar cable now plugs into a nice new aperture in the lower right bout. I epoxied a decorative drawer knob into the damaged crater, and she now looks like something that Jaco Pastorius or Pino Palladino might play. Okay, she looks like something that Jaco Pastorius or Pino Palladino might take one glance at and keep walking past, but I love her already anyway. Smooth neck, nice balance, and a really sublime tone. And of course, I have always been a sucker for black trim and natural dark wood grains. Someday when I change these exceptional smooth strings, I will probably fill in the fret grooves with some boat repair putty, (a la Jaco), but for now, she plays just fine. She's not The Bass Of Doom, mind you. I'm thinking that she's more like The Bass Of A Nagging, Disconcerting Depression. Good times. :unsure: Congrats on the Fretless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 That's 3 in 6 months....isn't it? B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted December 17, 2017 Author Share Posted December 17, 2017 That's 3 in 6 months....isn't it? B) Five, technically. Don't judge me!! :( :mellow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Five, technically. Don't judge me!! :( :mellow: I am afraid there is nothing to be done. This is incurable and obviously out of control. However, if you can get to Jan 1st 2018 without buying another guitar...... There may just be a tiny ray of hope....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted December 17, 2017 Author Share Posted December 17, 2017 I am afraid there is nothing to be done. This is incurable and obviously out of control. However, if you can get to Jan 1st 2018 without buying another guitar...... There may just be a tiny ray of hope....... I truly am hopeless. Last mid-December, I vowed that I wouldn't buy another guitar until this Christmas. And then, all in the span of a few months, I have totally submitted to my addiction and purchased: The novelty 'machine gun' electric guitar The new Fender Sandblasted Stratocaster Sunburst The new Gibson Les Paul Faded The J Reynolds Tele-copy (promptly sold to a friend just a week later) The Peavey fretless bass, the subject of this thread, and, (sitting in a closet unopened, for my Christmas morning delight), The new Gibson Les Paul Sully Erna Signature. Shoot, that's six, not five. They should make a pill or an elixir for somebody like me. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 It will all be ok until you need to move to a bigger house. Its a gorgeous looker of a bass anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Forrest Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Happy NFBD sparquelito. She looks very cool. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 Not sure a bass that has had the frets torn out of the neck really qualifies as a "fretless" bass, but for $80 I guess you can't go wrong. I always thought the skill of playing a fretless bass was being able to place the fingers precisely to get the correct pitch of the note. You will be cheating a little on that with the grooves from where the frets used to be - but will you have to press down right where the fret used to be? Without a fret there and a void instead does it still sound OK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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