Of all the fretless basses I’ve owned, this one is definitely my favorite. The rosewood in the custom @alperiouspickguard matches the rosewood in the neck, and features Alper’s signature ‘Exotic Shine’ design. This bass was originally a fretted Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray5H, but the team at @13thstreetguitars converted it to fretless using strips of rosewood to replace the frets, PLEK’d it, and set it up for me. The unfinished neck feels great and the tone is fantastic. I use @ernieball cobalt flatwound strings on this bass, which provide a nice blend of modern brightness and transients while still getting that classic flatwound thump. It’s easy to get this bass to produce those quintessential ‘growls & mewls’ that fretless instruments are known for, which is why I named it “Maulladora”.
