Fender Tony Franklin Fretless Precision Bass - Black Reviews

I have been thinking about getting a fretless bass for a while. I have a Fender Player P Bass and a Kala U-Bass, both of which are good in their own ways. I read reviews on line and was brousing various. The Tony Franklin Bass ultimately seemed to be what I wanted. I was not able to find one to actually play let alone any fretless basses locally so I was hesitant at first in ordering through Sweetwater. Not that I have an issue with them, I have just never had an instrument shipped to me in this way. I went ahead and ordered it. Nate Burkhart assured me that it would ship safely. However, I did not know we were going to have a week and a half of cold weather, snow and ice. The delivery was delayed, understandably. I called Nate in the midst of this delay and he again assured me that it would arrive safely. Once it did arrive I followed the opening instructions and there was a perfectly pristine, beautiful custom P Bass. It plays great, sounds great and I am completely satisfied with it. The drop D tuner is very neat and will add a nice variability when needed along with the dual pickup combination.

For me, this Tony Franklin fretless is the best bass guitar I've ever played or owned. It sounds great and plays like a dream. Even the black color -- with a wonderful neck and fretboard -- is beyond compare. I never again want to go back to a bass with noisy frets. I could go on and on with my praise of this, but if you are at all inclined to play a fretless electric bass, this is the one. The color of the bass doesn't change the sound or playability, of course, but I feel that black is simply cool. Like cool jazz played after dark. But this bass can rock, as well.

Go to my daughters wedding last weekend in Ft Wayne, went home with a new son in-law and a sick bass!! Was looking at the Jaco bass but when I put the Frankenstein in my hands I couldn't put it down! Will be my main axe from here on out! Last one in stock, and a unbelievable deal they game me!

Originally I was considering the Lake Placid Blue version, but settled on the Black, mainly for the fretboard on the serial number I picked.
The bass has the slightest neck dive, but I surmise that is due to the added weight of the Hipshot Extender D-tuner. Not enough to worry about.
I think at this price point Fender could have gone with the Hi-Mass bridge for string through capability (my only real wish for it), but understandably the vintage bridge is true to Mr. Franklin's original 1977 Firm bass, and he kept it spec'd for his Signature instrument (; I had actually emailed Tony and this is verbatim from his response).
The instrument has a lot of tonal variations, and plays like I've had it for a long time.
It is truly inspirational, and I look forward to creating and playing this bass for years to come.

You think Fretless,you think Jazz only. Not on this bass! This rocks as well as it swings.

This is actually one of the few bass's that you can use the pickup selector switch as a pedal to get different tones/sounds on the fly.
Pickup all the way to the neck position, bold tradition P-bass boom !
Mid position switch, the tradition mid sweep bass tone used on a a lot of genre's plus the freedom of a bit of the "MWUAH" for a kick to that traditional tone.
Then throw it towards the bridge and you get the huge MWUAH fretless Jaco thing, except no volume drop because the pickup is really hot and punchy.

A great and useful axe to have in your arsenal ...It wont sit around !

Although I didn't get the bass from Sweetwater ( because it I found one used at half off) I 90% of the time do buy from Sweewater.....Always my go to first for supplies.A great company

Easily the nicest, best playing bass in the stable right now. The TF signature not only feels great to play and sounds fantastic, but it throws an attitude out there like no other instrument I own. It is visually striking, with the ebony neck and black-on-black body and pickguard, and seems to immediately demand attention on stage.

Fender made a beautiful piece of gear here, with craftsmanship to rival that of much more expensive custom shop basses. A nice range of tones is achievable with the pickup selector and tone, and I was surprised to find that I can quickly go from very aggressive and grindy to a more mellow, Jaco-esque vibe. I attribute some of that aggressive sound to the roundwounds, which give the bass a unique character.

Fit and finish are top notch, straight and tight, the way a professional-quality axe should be. My bass featured an actual DiMarzio jazz pickup in the bridge position instead of the Fender-designed one that is mentioned in some descriptions and reviews. When I asked "the man," TF about this, he indicated that the intention was to bring the bass closer back in line with what his original fretless had on board. It sounds incredible.

You can"t go wrong here, especially for this price point. It"s worth every penny. I can see this axe becoming my main go-to for most of the work I currently do. After focusing on 5-string for many years, it is nice to have a bad-a** fretless 4 to shake things up a bit; this bass accomplishes that and then some.

As usual, thanks to Will and the Sweetwater crew for their excellent service and instrument set up. Simply amazing!

This bass is easily the best in my arsenal, and I have a whole stable of four and five strings. The build quality, playability, and sounds of this bass just blow me away every time I pick it up. It is as beautiful as it is easy to play. After selling my old Fender fretless Jazz back in the day, I wondered why I would ever need to replace it. After playing this in rehearsals, I can say that it just fits into anything I am playing. It can sound like a P. It can sound like a J. It can take on a really aggressive sound when I dig into it, or it can have that mellow muaaaah that players dig in a fretless. It is just so easy to play.

Now, all I must do is grow out a Tony Franklin coif, and I"ll be good to go. As always, Will Newbill and Sweetwater took amazing care of me, and set me up with a sweet deal. Thank you so much!

This is my second fretless bass, after a Spector Legend 5 Classic, and my third Fender bass, after an American Elite Precision and an American Deluxe Jazz Bass V. I have two other basses. The Tony Franklin is rapidly becoming my favorite of all. It's very easy to play, with a wide variety of sounds available. As one of the other reviewers commented about finding new voices, I find that the more I play this bass, the more expressive it becomes. I will be trying flatwounds on it in due course (my Spector has Ernie Ball Cobalt flats which are superb) but for I'm really enjoying the versatility of the fitted roundwound Fender NPS strings it comes fitted with. The neck is a joy, pretty slim, modern-C shape and feels very slick under my fingers. The instrument is slightly neck heavy, but not a problem at all.

Of course, it came beautifully set up from Sweetwater and almost perfectly in tune. Usual great service from my Sweetwater SE Andrew Plassman.

This is the 2nd fretless bass I've owned and by far the very best. Playability and tonal variations seem endless. I had Sweetwater change the stock strings to half-rounds (thanks Charlie Davis) it arrived in perfect pitch and setup. I would highly recommend this bass to anyone thinking of making the transition to fretless. I've had nothing but praise from other musicians on its unique sound and the fact it doesn't get lost in the on stage mix. Thanks Fender! Fit and finish are flawless. My Warwick is now officially retired.

Best customer service. Wonderful bass, was a demo but great guitar. It sings. thanks

This bass is hands down the smoothest playing bass I've ever tried. I decided playing fretless was something I would like to get into, and research led me here. I was a bit concerned a P-bass wouldn't suit me, I really wanted a J-bass for the versatility, however, I have not found this to be an issue at all, I am still able to get varying tones, all with a fantastic sound. The action on this bass is remarkable, and I highly recommend it. Sweetwater did an awesome job with the inspection and even made a photo album of my bass for me! This is now my favorite instrument, it is a quality fretless bass and I am in love with it. Also love the black color, it is very unique and stands out from the typical sunburst look many basses have.

This Bass is awesome. the action is terrific all the way down the scale I would recommend this bass to anyone people think a fretless might may be hard to play but this one is just awesome it's definitely one of my go to basses.

i had had this bass a few weeks now and just love it. i don't know if i will ever play my fretted p-bass again. bottom line this is a bass you can rock out with and also play some smoother stuff if you like. the added pickup sound is kick ***. it's a bit heavier than my american special p-bass but it is very solid and feels it. only thing i had to do was adjust the pickups to my liking - the hex bolts seemed a bit high but was easy to fix. also still getting use to tuning with the drop D hipshot. - minor details. thanks to Devin my Sweetwater rep for helping my wife place the order for my birthday as a surprise!

This is an instrument that you can grow with. I'v been playing bass for 30+ years, and am not easily blown away. This bass does that for me. The more I play it, the more voices I find. I own several basses. This is by far the most expressive that bass I own. Plays great, sounds great, and is still confortable at the end of the night. It is wonderful in the studio, too. I am a very happy owner.

I wanted this bass strictly for the Fret less action. I own 2 other basses which are fretted. I was amazed at the smoothness of the fingering. I do have plenty of "adjusting" on my part to get this down, but with this neck action so smooth, I can't miss. This is also my first Fender owned bass. I love the way it feels. Not as heavy as I had imagined it to be. I love the sound it produces and I guess Tony Franklin knew what he was doing when he set out to help with Fender to design this bass. Awesome! I may change out the strings to experiment with the sound and more smoothness than the stock NPS strings that come with it. If you want a fret less bass, and no lines, then this is it. Love it! Sweetwater staff are great to organize and ship this baby fast too. :)

This is a great Bass. I normally play Fender products so I am not surprised by the quality, but the features are where this bass stands out. It can be a J Bass or a P Bass or both at the same time. The pickups sound great, there is no noise. My only apprehension to the bass was the P Bass neck. I normally play the J Bass. The neck is extremely fast and after about a minute, you don't realize this is a thickner neck. You will probably not have a chance to play it before you buy it, but that shouldn't matter. Spend with confidence on this bass and you will be pleasantly surprised like I was.

-This bass is a joy to play. The action is silky smooth and the tone is fantastic. That seductive "mwah" tone that most of us are after is easily achieved anywhere and everywhere on the neck.Mine required no set up right out of the box (thank you, Sweetwater)
-The alder body comes in at 9 lbs and some change, so weight is not an issue. My TF has an ever-so-slight tendency to nose dive, but not enough to be anything more than a barely noticeable inconvenience. This very minor point is so outweighed by the overall playability and tone that I hesitate to even mention it.
-Having not played fretless for 30 years, I would comfortable taking this bass right out of the shipping box and straight to the gig. Call Sweetwater's Tom Koch 800.222.4700 Ext 1676 and get yours. You're gonna LOVE it.