Acoustic fretless bass guitar - recommendations

[srblue5]

A bit of a long shot but any recommendations for a low- to mid-level priced (i.e. <$1700CAD) fretless acoustic bass guitar?

Looking into purchasing one for a family member's milestone birthday. They're (slowly) learning electric bass but love upright bass sounds and Jaco Pastorius -- unfortunately, they likely won't want or be able to play an actual upright bass, so it'll have to be an acoustic bass guitar.

So far, my search has yielded the Ibanez AEGB24FE (https://www.ibanez.com/eu/products/detail/aegb24fe_5b_01.html) and the Godin A4 Ultra (https://godinguitars.com/product/a4-bass-ultra-natural-sg-fretless-en-sa), the latter of which is out of my budget range.
Not sure if these are any good or if there are any other options that are as good or better at a reasonable price...

 

[bottlenecker]

Flat top acoustic bass guitars are made for disappointment. Even fretless, they sound nothing like a bass violin. Their construction makes so little acoustic volume, I don't think they make sense at all. Archtop bass guitars though, they do kind of get a pizzacato sound. There aren't many out there, but I've seen a few.
Failing that, as a big fan of listening to and playing acoustic double bass, I'd rather have a stick bass (body-less upright bass with piezo pickup) than a flat top acoustic bass guitar, frets or not.

 

[Killing Floor]

I love fretless and have been paid to track one. If you play fretless I certainly respect that. Acoustic bass guitars are fun and I certainly enjoy mine. If that’s what you want then get one. Find one with a preamp because they struggle to keep up with an acoustic guitar. But they’re great for knocking around.

Have you seen the Takamine?
The Godin A4 are nice.
Rob Allen but that may be pricey.
Tacoma Thunder chief, also maybe more than you want to spend.

As a lifer bassist who is comfortable without lines AND has 2 ABGs I mean no sass by this…
You should have no trouble finding options on the used market.

 

[drmordo]

CAVEAT: I have never played or heard one!!!

This is not an endorsement, but I have been curious about the Aria FEB-F2 basses on Reverb. I think they make a long scale and medium scale version, I would 1000% get the long scale. They look like a Chinese knock-off of the Takamine TB10, which is a truly nice instrument that I have played and have lusted over for 15 years.

 

[philosofriend]

Acoustic bass guitars are almost without exception too quiet to play unamplified with unamplified acoustic six string guitars. The fretless feature would only make it quieter. In other words if playing alone or using an amp when playing with others is alright, there's nothing wrong with an acoustic fretless bass!

 

[bholder]

almost without exception

True enough, though there are exceptions, but they are universally extremely large, rare, and expensive. And you'll eventually add a pickup anyway if you're "playing out" at all.

 

[maxvintage]

Like others I think they never produce enough volume to be useful acoustically. There a guy in Europe who makes them out of cello bodies—they sound like an upright bass and get some volume

The Bace – It's short for Bass-Cello

the-bace.com

I’ve been tempted to go on craigslist and buy a used student cello and see if I could adapt it to be an abg

If I were you I’d look for a shallow bodied fretless abg type and assume it would always need to be plugged in if playing with people

 

[srblue5]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and ideas!

I might look into an electric upright fretless option instead, since I’d rather it be useful for the person I’m buying it for rather than a toy or wall art.

 

[Boreas]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and ideas!

I might look into an electric upright fretless option instead, since I’d rather it be useful for the person I’m buying it for rather than a toy or wall art.

In another direction entirely, you may want to try one of the Kala basses. They look like a toy, but are actually quite amazing WRT "upright" tone. They sound good plugged or unplugged. While I have not tried the fretless type, I love my fretted U-Bass. Much easier to take on vacation than a double bass...

All U•BASS® – Kala Brand Music Co.™

kalabrand.com

 

[mexicanyella]

My stepmom took up cello when she retired, and got into it enough to buy two, a nice one and a beater that she calls her “camping and rafting cello.” Cello-enhanced remote campfire performances were a priority for her.

Cellos are still big enough that carrying them with you in a waterproof kind of way is kind of a pain.

They are fun to goof around on as a mini-upright bass, but maybe not close enough to the real thing to be a good compromise for a lot of people.

 

[srblue5]

In another direction entirely, you may want to try one of the Kala basses. They look like a toy, but are actually quite amazing WRT "upright" tone. They sound good plugged or unplugged. While I have not tried the fretless type, I love my fretted U-Bass. Much easier to take on vacation than a double bass...

All U•BASS® – Kala Brand Music Co.™

kalabrand.com

Those are really cool.

Funnily enough, the guy I'm considering the purchase for previously was interested in the U-Bass. I think he's since gone through kind of a purist phase -- he's made all kinds of remarks about my short-scale bass and Squier VI when I've mentioned them, talks of how "Jaco only needed 4 strings" and all that -- and hasn't mentioned the U-Bass since. Maybe I'll test the waters and see if an U-Bass still interests him.

 

[BigPapa-53]

There’s a Guild for sale on craiglist Nashville.

(link removed)

 

[Boreas]

Those are really cool.

Funnily enough, the guy I'm considering the purchase for previously was interested in the U-Bass. I think he's since gone through kind of a purist phase -- he's made all kinds of remarks about my short-scale bass and Squier VI when I've mentioned them, talks of how "Jaco only needed 4 strings" and all that -- and hasn't mentioned the U-Bass since. Maybe I'll test the waters and see if an U-Bass still interests him.

If nothing else, they are inexpensive and easy to play in an armchair.

 

[bholder]

If nothing else, they are inexpensive and easy to play in an armchair.

The ones you can only hear in the armchair are indeed inexpensive.

The ones you can hear outside the armchair, however, are not.

The Emerald Balor. Loudest acoustically ABG that I know of, and I own most of the top contenders.

 

[kctelegas]

I used to lust after one of these, but at four grand, it was never going to happen.

Mouse 30 fretless gallery — Rob Allen

www.roballenguitars.com

 

[dh]

There’s a Guild for sale on craiglist Nashville.

(link removed)

I bought one of these a few months ago. I like it. Neck feels comfortable, sounds good both unplugged or plugged in. I played it during a holiday home tour gig in December and it held its own with an acoustic guitar, both unplugged.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I'm not a bass player but a couple of my friends are. One of them swears that his old Tacoma is about the best acoustic bass he has played. The theory says they should work but they seem to.



While it was on my workbench I sketched its bracing, one transvers right in front of the bridge plate and two A braces under the wings.



It would be relatively simple to pull the frets and convert it if you really want fretless, I've done it to a number of electric bass guitars.

And t he little U-bass really is a remarkably realistic sounding bass, but it is neither acoustic or fretless. Here it is next to a soprano uke



And the stuff that makes it work



A friend plays this in a bluegrass band in lei of a standup bass