Should I convert my Lull V4 to a fretless?

akukulich

akukulich

Gold Supporting Member
Apr 7, 2007
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Lowcountry, SC
#1
I'm just looking for some thoughts here.

I've had a Mike Lull V4 since 2013. Up until I got a Fender CS '60 Jazz Bass a year ago, it was my main bass. I still play the Lull relatively often, though my Fender is my go-to bass. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy with either of them, and they make a great 1-2 combo to have at hand.

But...I need a fretless. I put together a parts bass that is decent, but not great. After continuing to tweak it, I'm not sure it'll ever be what I want it to be, which got me thinking about converting the Lull. It plays and sounds great, and I think it'd make a great fretless.

I've looked at other options including speaking to Spencer Lull about building me a fretless neck, which for perfectly good reasons, wasn't a cost-effective option. I've been looking for another bass, but haven't been able to find a bass that has what I want, and I can afford.

I've defretted two basses before, and the results were less than amazing. That's a big concern. There were reasons for that that I don't think are in play here.

My second concern is that I'm going to ruin the bass by doing this. If I hate it and refret it, will it be the same? Will I have destroyed its value? Do I continue to work with the parts bass trying to make it better?

What do you think?
 
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#3
akukulich said:
I'm just looking for some thoughts here.

I've had a Mike Lull V4 since 2013. Up until I got a Fender CS '60 Jazz Bass a year ago, it was my main bass. I still play the Lull relatively often, though my Fender is my go-to bass. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy with either of them, and they make a great 1-2 combo to have at hand.

But...I need a fretless. I put together a parts bass that is decent, but not great. After continuing to tweak it, I'm not sure it'll ever be what I want it to be, which got me thinking about converting the Lull. It plays and sounds great, and I think it'd make a great fretless.

I've looked at other options including speaking to Spencer Lull about building me a fretless neck, which for perfectly good reasons, wasn't a cost-effective option. I've been looking for another bass, but haven't been able to find a bass that has what I want, and I can afford.

I've defretted two basses before, and the results were less than amazing. That's a big concern. There were reasons for that that I don't think are in play here.

My second concern is that I'm going to ruin the bass by doing this. If I hate it and refret it, will it be the same? Will I have destroyed its value? Do I continue to work with the parts bass trying to make it better?

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I’d talk with Spencer about getting a fretless neck for your Lull. Not exactly cheap, but it would be an excellent fretless, no doubt, and cheaper than a whole new bass from Lull.
 
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#4
Bikeguy57 said:
I'd leave the Lull alone. Part out the parts bass, and pick up a nice used American Standard/Pro fretless. Or you could probably swap the Lull for a fretless pretty easily here.
Click to expand...
I agree, I defretted a very cheap bass and was less than happy with the results, i’d never try to do it myself with a really nice bass like that.
 
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#6
Another vote for leaving the Lull alone. Even if you do a spectacular job at defretting, it will reduce the overall value, probably by a fair amount, unless, maybe, if it was done by Lull, but that would be a spendy penny, too, I would think?

The idea of getting a good-quality Fender or G&L makes sense to me. Look for a fretless. If a fretted comes along that is also super cheap, you can go for that and defret it. In the meantime, enjoy that Lull! :)
 
#7
akukulich said:
I'm just looking for some thoughts here.

I've had a Mike Lull V4 since 2013. Up until I got a Fender CS '60 Jazz Bass a year ago, it was my main bass. I still play the Lull relatively often, though my Fender is my go-to bass. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy with either of them, and they make a great 1-2 combo to have at hand.

But...I need a fretless. I put together a parts bass that is decent, but not great. After continuing to tweak it, I'm not sure it'll ever be what I want it to be, which got me thinking about converting the Lull. It plays and sounds great, and I think it'd make a great fretless.

I've looked at other options including speaking to Spencer Lull about building me a fretless neck, which for perfectly good reasons, wasn't a cost-effective option. I've been looking for another bass, but haven't been able to find a bass that has what I want, and I can afford.

I've defretted two basses before, and the results were less than amazing. That's a big concern. There were reasons for that that I don't think are in play here.

My second concern is that I'm going to ruin the bass by doing this. If I hate it and refret it, will it be the same? Will I have destroyed its value? Do I continue to work with the parts bass trying to make it better?

What do you think?
Click to expand...
What do you not like about the fretless parts bass?
 
#9
akukulich said:
I'm just looking for some thoughts here.

I've had a Mike Lull V4 since 2013. Up until I got a Fender CS '60 Jazz Bass a year ago, it was my main bass. I still play the Lull relatively often, though my Fender is my go-to bass. Honestly, I'd be perfectly happy with either of them, and they make a great 1-2 combo to have at hand.

But...I need a fretless. I put together a parts bass that is decent, but not great. After continuing to tweak it, I'm not sure it'll ever be what I want it to be, which got me thinking about converting the Lull. It plays and sounds great, and I think it'd make a great fretless.

I've looked at other options including speaking to Spencer Lull about building me a fretless neck, which for perfectly good reasons, wasn't a cost-effective option. I've been looking for another bass, but haven't been able to find a bass that has what I want, and I can afford.

I've defretted two basses before, and the results were less than amazing. That's a big concern. There were reasons for that that I don't think are in play here.

My second concern is that I'm going to ruin the bass by doing this. If I hate it and refret it, will it be the same? Will I have destroyed its value? Do I continue to work with the parts bass trying to make it better?

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Unless it is done by Lull, defretting the bass will seriously lessen the value. Either work with the parts bass to improve it, or sell/trade the Lull to fund a purchase.
 
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#13
I'd consider it ONLY if you have a seriously qualified repairman that can do a proper job of it. Without that resource present, NO.

Bear in mind, should that be available to you, do not use plastic for the inlaid lines: If that neck ever gets bigger/smaller with the changing seasons, those plastic lines will induce 'fret sprout' just like metal frets. You always want the fret filling lines to be made with a contrasting wood with similar reactions to weather so that they will come and go WITH the fingerboard.

Before I'd chance it on my own (if you're not a real skilled repair person) or let some half-ass repairman make a mess of it, it would be far cheaper to get a fretless neck from Lull, if not just a whole 'nother bass that's fretless.
 
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#15
Absolutely NOT!
There are easier ways to get a great fretless.

I’m curious as to what the Parts bass was made of, and why was it less than adequate.

As long as you get a really good fretless neck, I don’t see why it wouldn’t come out right.

I put together a fretless parts bass using a Warmoth roasted maple neck, and it’s one the best playing fretlesses I’ve ever owned…and I’ve had a few. Probably the best I’ve owned was a ‘94 Stingray fretless…this one is a close second.
 
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#16
eastcoasteddie said:
Absolutely NOT!
There are easier ways to get a great fretless.

I’m curious as to what the Parts bass was made of, and why was it less than adequate.

As long as you get a really good fretless neck, I don’t see why it wouldn’t come out right.

I put together a fretless parts bass using a Warmoth roasted maple neck, and it’s one the best playing fretlesses I’ve ever owned…and I’ve had a few. Probably the best I’ve owned was a ‘94 Stingray fretless…this one is a close second.
Click to expand...

My parts bass has got an MJT lightweight alder body, with an All Parts fretless neck with a lined ebony fingerboard. It's got a Hipshot bridge and tuners with Nordstrand pickups.

I can live with the All Parts neck, but I don't love it. It's got a chunky profile, much more so than my CS Jazz Bass and the Lull. I've talked to a local luthier about building me a neck based on my CS, and he's willing to do it, but it's a bit of a wait. I'm living with the All Parts neck for the foreseeable future.

I started out with NJ4 single coil J-bass pickups with Alnico 3 magnets. I liked them, but they didn't have quite enough bite. I pulled them out of the fretless and put them in the Lull, and they sound amazing. I putNJ4SE pickups in the fretless next. I've wanted to try these particular pickups for years. They have a strong emphasis on the low mids, but the highs and high mids are suppressed. I think this is a part of the problem.

In fairness, the guys at Nordstrand said they probably weren't the right pickups for me, and they were right. So now I've got a set of the NJ4 single coils with Alnico 5 magnets. I think that once I get those installed, I'll be closer to the tone I'm after.
 
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#19
Geri O said:
I’d talk with Spencer about getting a fretless neck for your Lull. Not exactly cheap, but it would be an excellent fretless, no doubt, and cheaper than a whole new bass from Lull.
Click to expand...

I did talk to Spencer about him building me a neck, and he said that wasn't a service that they offered. If I really wanted them to they'd do it, but the cost was astronomical. I'm not at all being critical of Lull for that decision. They've got to stop their process and do something out of the ordinary, and that costs a business time and money. I get that. Unfortunately, it's just not option.
 
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#20
akukulich said:
I started out with NJ4 single coil J-bass pickups with Alnico 3 magnets. I liked them, but they didn't have quite enough bite. I pulled them out of the fretless and put them in the Lull, and they sound amazing. I putNJ4SE pickups in the fretless next. I've wanted to try these particular pickups for years. They have a strong emphasis on the low mids, but the highs and high mids are suppressed. I think this is a part of the problem.

In fairness, the guys at Nordstrand said they probably weren't the right pickups for me, and they were right. So now I've got a set of the NJ4 single coils with Alnico 5 magnets. I think that once I get those installed, I'll be closer to the tone I'm after.
Click to expand...

I have to admit, mine did need a bit of tweaking as well, pickups-wise.
I started out with Fender Single Coils out of a Marcus Miller signature bass, but wound up putting those into my Fretted with 70’s spacing. I swapped them for Duncan Apollo’s into the fretless. They sounded good, but like you mentioned, high’s were suppressed. I chalk that up to the pickups having a sort of a medium over-wind (12k ohm DCR for 5-string).
I wound up installing 500k volume pots and they did the trick. They sound very close to how my SC’s sound but without the hum.
 
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