# NBD: Frets are STILL for suckers! (Fender)



## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 8, 2014)

Alrighty boys & ghouls, here's the new toy I picked up while on vacation back in the US last month, a Fender Tony Franklin signature fretless P Bass:


The whole shebang:





Alder body, 3TS nitro lacquer finish, tort guard.





Lemme give y'all some head:





Controls: master vol, master tone, 3-way pup selector.
Bridge: Fender 4-Saddle American Vintage
Pups: Fender Tony Franklin signature P/J set.





Fretboard: Ebony
Scale: 34"
Frets: FUCK 'EM!
Radius: 9.5"
Side dots: Black dots





Another look at that ebony, with the grooves already starting to show from playing it with rounds:





Tuners: Fender vintage 70s style open gear w/Hipshot Bass XTender on the E:





Do she got dat booty doe





Only proof it's a siggie. No stupid inlay for this beauty!:





Maple neck:





Bonus shot of the whole thing with the new amp I also bought while on vacation (Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 & MarkBass Traveller 102P):






Thoughts:

*Pros*

The neck profile is great. I was a little worried about the P width, since I'm used to Js, but I was worried for nothing. I was comfortable on it immediately. The gloss lacquer finish is outstanding, too. Not sticky or tacky at all.

The pickups are pretty snazzy, too. The bridge is actually a touch hotter than I was expecting, but it has hex-adjustable poles and of course can be raised and lowered, so it's no biggie. The neck pup has dat thiggitty thump.

It's surprisingly nice having a 3-way. I'm used to either two volumes or a master blend, which are nice in their own right, but it's handy being able to just flick a switch to go from J to P toanz. It isn't as microadjustable, sure, but I don't think I really need this to be.

*Cons*

Yes, there are some. 

The case it comes with was decent, but nothing I'd have trusted with baggage handling. Luckily I'm friends with the owner of the store I got it from, so he just let me swap the case for some accessories in his shop, and I ordered an SKB flight case for it, which I'm pretty sure is sturdy enough to protect an archaeologist from a nuclear explosion.

There's a problem with the input jack right out of the box. Not a _huge_ problem, since it still works and is no problem unless I'm up and moving around. However, when I _am_ up and moving, if the jack wiggles at all, it crackles and cuts out. Haven't opened it up yet to see if it's a bad solder point or if the jack just needs tweaked a little, but it's still pretty annoying that an $1800 bass would have a stupid problem like this straight from the factory (the shop ordered it for me straight from Fender, so it spent zero time on the sales floor).
*
Random*

It came strung with rounds, which I wasn't expecting. My Ibby fretless came with flats, which were part of what I loved about playing fretless. My intentions were to restring it with flats ASAP, so I went and bought some the next chance I got.

However, after playing it for a couple days before I could go pick up strings, I thought "You know this isn't so bad...", and it still has the rounds on it. I kinda like the tone I'm getting, and it's nice that it sounds a little more like a "normal" bass than it would with flats, so it sounds more appropriate for all styles than my Ibby does. I think the rounds will stay for a while, but I've got a few different brands of flats to try on it when I feel the need, and even a set of halfwounds, just for shits and giggles. Still sounds wonky for slap, though, but I'm kinda just growing to accept that from fretlesses 

I haven't put the XTender to much use at all yet. Don't have much use for it, since I don't use drop tunings. Ironically, the band I played in that broke up right before I went on vacation played in drop D, but I always just used D standard because I didn't like having to retune my bass all the time .


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## asher (Sep 8, 2014)

Hot.

I'd love to hear some clips!


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## Winspear (Sep 8, 2014)

Would slide vigorously.


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## asher (Sep 8, 2014)

Get yo Intronaut on!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 8, 2014)

Oh deary me, I almost forgot a new family shot! I'd forget my head if it weren't attached, I do declare!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 8, 2014)

Oh, and New Amp/Rig Day incoming when I receive the effects portion I'm waiting on. It will be glorious.


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 8, 2014)

Oooh... I like that a lot!


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## rikomaru (Sep 9, 2014)

That thing just hit some sort of weird sweet spot for me that I didn't even know I had..... <3


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## Daf57 (Sep 9, 2014)

Very cool! I've never seen a Tony Franklin before! Congrats!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 9, 2014)

rikomaru said:


> That thing just hit some sort of weird sweet spot for me that I didn't even know I had..... <3



That would be that innate 3TS/Tort P sweet spot everyone has buried away somewhere, waiting to escape.


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## rikomaru (Sep 9, 2014)

^ ha....you may be spot on. Come to think of it, i've been looking at a lot of 3TS gear lately. You add the plate and empty fingerboard and........DAMN. By the way, is that a 210 cab, or did someone at MB get drunk and put out a 212? lol

edit: yeahhhhhhhh........too caught up in the pics to read the captions. Are you making a vid with that rig? (hint hint clue)


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 9, 2014)

Don't even have the capabilities to make a vid. Might record some clips when I have my rig complete, which should be at some point in the next two weeks.


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## Yo_Wattup (Sep 9, 2014)

Put flats on it you crazy man! HNBD!!!


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## Skyblue (Sep 9, 2014)

Amazing bass, HNBD!


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## yingmin (Sep 9, 2014)

Maybe it's just because I'm more of a J man than a P man, but fretless Ps always look a little off to me. Maybe it's because the original purpose of the P bass, and the reason behind its name, is that it allowed guitarists the ability to play bass without having to effectively learn a whole new instrument. In any event, great score, and unlined ebony is always a beautiful thing. Have you gone all Manring on that Xtender yet?


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 9, 2014)

Yeah, I'm aware of the irony behind a fretless P bass . For what it's worth, if there was a Fender J with the same specs as this P, I may well have gotten that instead, since I've played a few Js in my day but this is my first P. The only fretless Js they have, though, are the Jaco sig and the American Standard, and neither of those are P/J.

I haven't fiddled around with the XTender too much yet, but yeah, I have tried (and failed ) to do some Manringesqe harmonic flipping.


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## yingmin (Sep 9, 2014)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Yeah, I'm aware of the irony behind a fretless P bass . For what it's worth, if there was a Fender J with the same specs as this P, I may well have gotten that instead, since I've played a few Js in my day but this is my first P. The only fretless Js they have, though, are the Jaco sig and the American Standard, and neither of those are P/J.
> 
> I haven't fiddled around with the XTender too much yet, but yeah, I have tried (and failed ) to do some Manringesqe harmonic flipping.



Have you ever had a chance to play a Fender Steve Bailey? I'd love to try one of those, but there don't seem to be a whole lot of them out there. I think his more recent Warwick sig is atrocious.

I just searched on eBay for a Steve Bailey, and almost all of the results were for Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled album. It's a great album, but very much not what I'm looking for.

Even more interestingly, searching for the WARWICK Steve Bailey bass returned completely different results, none of which involved Ms. Rae.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 9, 2014)

No, I don't think I've ever even _seen_ one in person. It'd be interesting to try, but I honestly suspect sixers are too much for my girly little hands to get the most out of .

It's no too surprising that the model didn't last too long. I don't think there's too much overlap between people who want a vintage-style Fender bass and people who want a six string bass. I think I'd still like to grab a sixer one of these days just to have one, but I'd probably have to go with something a little.... daintier, like an SR.


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## Tesla (Sep 10, 2014)

yingmin said:


> Maybe it's just because I'm more of a J man than a P man, but fretless Ps always look a little off to me. Maybe it's because the original purpose of the P bass, and the reason behind its name, is that it allowed guitarists the ability to play bass without having to effectively learn a whole new instrument. In any event, great score, and unlined ebony is always a beautiful thing. Have you gone all Manring on that Xtender yet?



I'm intrigued about that, what were the aspects of making it a smooth transition for guitarists?


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## rikomaru (Sep 10, 2014)

I'm also curious. Nut width and string spacing are the typical stats they alter for that type of thing, but is that it?

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just found pics of that Fender SB sig!!!!!!! I honestly didn't think they'd have the nads to make something like that, but now i'll have to keep an eye on the used market for one of those things. It doesn't hit the same sweet spot yours did (scratchplate's fault?) but the concept is more than enough to make up for that. 

I don't even have the money to buy one but i'm already excited to have it alongside my SR1306PM. XD


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 10, 2014)

Tesla said:


> I'm intrigued about that, what were the aspects of making it a smooth transition for guitarists?





rikomaru said:


> I'm also curious. Nut width and string spacing are the typical stats they alter for that type of thing, but is that it?



It's because prior to the Fender Precision bass, if you wanted to be a bassist, you played an acoustic upright bass, which is a _very_ different animal from the guitar. With uprights, the scale is much longer, the technique is completely different, and perhaps most importantly, there are no frets. Leo created his first electric bass with it in mind to have something you could use similar technique to the guitar, had a more manageable scale length, and actually had frets. 

It was the addition of frets that gave it the name the Precision bass, because you could play more _precise_ notes more easily than with a fretless upright. That's why the idea of a fretless Precision bass is kind of amusing: It does away with the very thing that gave it its name in the first place.


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## rikomaru (Sep 10, 2014)

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see..........

Now I just need someone to post that observation over on TB or something so I can have a nice "in the know" chuckle


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 10, 2014)

Rounds give more "mwahh." Keep 'em on there.


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 10, 2014)

Also good amp head choice.


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## mikelink (Sep 11, 2014)

asher said:


> Hot.
> 
> I'd love to hear some clips!



I second this!! ^


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## GenghisCoyne (Sep 12, 2014)

yingmin said:


> Have you ever had a chance to play a Fender Steve Bailey? I'd love to try one of those, but there don't seem to be a whole lot of them out there. I think his more recent Warwick sig is atrocious.
> 
> I just searched on eBay for a Steve Bailey, and almost all of the results were for Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled album. It's a great album, but very much not what I'm looking for.
> 
> Even more interestingly, searching for the WARWICK Steve Bailey bass returned completely different results, none of which involved Ms. Rae.



if you ever see one try out the aria steve bailey sig. i had the five string in highschool, thickest slab of ebony ive ever seen.


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## Fretless (Sep 15, 2014)

I'd love to have me one with some black nylon strings.


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