Recently, I did my best friend a complete favor. In the mid 70s, he bought a brand new Fender Jazz Bass and had it defretted. The guy who did it, did an amazingly poor job, but upgraded it with Schaller machine heads and a brass nut. Over the years, my friend became a better player and developed a taste for better instruments with more strings. These days he plays only 6s, one fretted one fretless. His fretless JB sat gather dust and corrosion until he sent it to me. I redid the fingerboard, removing the fretlines, installing a clone of the Darkglass Tone Capsule that I make and resell - I call mine the Bass Lozenge, and gave it an all black "murdered" look.

I had so much fun and the bass turned out so well, that I thought I would buy a similar bass and do it again. I had no experience with ebanol, so I thought this might be a good learning experience as well.

I bought this bass about a month or so ago from Chris's Gear Garage in Florida for $375. His description was priceless, so I am reproducing most of it here, credit where credit is due.

Here's what Chris had to say:

Ever wanted to channel your inner Jaco Pastorius but remembered your bank account identifies more as "Squier" than "Custom Shop"? Well, today is your lucky day.

Up for grabs is a Fender Squier Fretless Bass that's ready to deliver all those smooth, singing, mwah-filled fretless tones that make people either say, "Wow, that's beautiful!" or "Is your bass out of tune?" (Congratulations—they simply don't understand art.)

Let's address the elephant in the room:

Yes, Jaco famously played a fretless Fender Jazz Bass.
Yes, his signature model costs enough to make your credit card cry.
No, this isn't that bass... but it also hasn't spent decades being thrown around clubs, beaches, bars, and history books. In fact, it's probably in better shape than Jaco's original ever was.

Features:

• 🎸 Smooth fretless fingerboard for all the glorious slides your heart desires.
• 🎵 Classic Jazz Bass-inspired tone that can go from buttery smooth to growling fusion.
• 💰 Costs dramatically less than a Jaco signature bass, leaving money for strings, pedals, tacos, or therapy after attempting to learn "Portrait of Tracy."
• 😎 Instant cool points. (Actual coolness depends on playing ability.)

Whether you're diving into jazz fusion, worship, R&B, blues, ambient soundscapes, or just want to slide dramatically between every note because you can, this bass is ready.

Condition is very good, with only the normal signs of a well-loved instrument. Everything works exactly as it should.

Buy this bass and you'll be one step closer to sounding like Jaco.

(Practice for the other 9,999 steps is sold separately.)

And remember:

Frets are just speed bumps for your fingers.

______________________

My goal was to improve an already good bass and make a great looking, great sounding fretless bass that is ideal for beginners who want to learn fretless without spending a fortune.

Here's what I have to add, based on what I did to the bass.

My friend's bass had a brass nut, so I replaced the cheap plastic nut with an adjustable brass nut.

I like the all black "murdered" look, so I did the following:

The most time consuming part of the upgrade was removing the fretlines. I learned that ebanol is very hard and difficult, much more difficult, to work with than ebony. So, instead of removing the lines, I dyed them. If you look closely or from up close, you can still detect the lines, but from any distance at all, the board looks unlined.

Replaced the machine heads with new Guyker "vintage style" machines (around $35) as well as their black string tree, and their EXCELLENT bridge.

A few words about the bridge. First, if you search for it, you will find a Schaller bridge that looks almost identical to this one. The major difference is that the Schaller costs about $100 more than this one did. The Guyker offers roller saddles, adjustable string spacing, adjustable string height, all for around $40.

To complete the murdered look, I also installed a matte black pickguard and changed the original chrome control plate to a black one.

I had to rewire the bass to make the Bass Lozenge work, so it now has a dual-concentric volume control, one for each pickup, plus a bass control, and another dual-concentric pot for low-mids and high-mids. If you can find one, expect to pay around $200 plus shipping for the Darkglass Tone Capsule. My clone sounds every bit as good, and I resell them for $129.99 Because space was tight, I used three 2032 round watch batteries which will last at least a year. That saved the expense of having to install a battery box.

The final touch was a set of Straploks.

I debated changing the pickups but I waited until I had installed the preamp. I really LIKE the tone of the Designed by Duncan (yes, THAT Duncan as in Seymour Duncan) pickups so I left them.

The bass will come with a gig bag in excellent condition, and, as Chris said in his ad, it will be packed well as both he and I like to make sure that our basses arrive in one piece!

My intention was to sell the bass for what I paid for it $440) plus what I paid for the parts, without adding anything for labor. This was a fun project, not designed as a money-maker.

I arrived at the asking price by tacking on approximately $100 for the parts I bought, and $60 for the preamp which I made (a bit less than half of the retail price). So, that's how I arrived at the $599 asking price. I am open to offers, but I am not desperate to sell, so please no lowball offers.

Please ask any questions or request more pictures BEFORE buying or making an offer.

I am setting shipping at a flat rate of $60, which is about half of what the shipping is likely to be. If half the shipping works out to less than $60, I will refund you the difference, and if it comes to more than $60, I will absorb the difference.