about fretless

[hayabusa]

i had d opportunity to borrow a fretless bass for a day. never had the chance to lay my hands on these stuff before and man, it sure was fun.

contrary to my assumption, i found that the fretless was not as hard to play as i had earlier imagined. if you already play bass, it just needs some getting used to. however pity it was equipped with roundwounds instead of flatwound. now itching to strip my fretboard naked!

question: do fretless generally lack volume compared to fretted ? i had to crank up the amp to almost max to get a decent sound. and, are flatwound strings expensive?

so what do you guys think of a fretless?

 

[exin]

fretless basses opens up new tonal possibilities for bass playing.

it's true that it isn't as hard to play as you think, but here's one thing about fretless that is the most difficult to lay hold of ... INTONATION ...

compared to a fretted bass that has the frets laid out for you; on a fretless bass you really have to be dead accurate on your intonation, if not you may just be well playing a few cents off the actual pitch you want to sound out and though your instrument is tuned, it may sound like it's not. that's the danger.

i love the fretless sound totally, always wanted to get my hands on a fretless bass too, played two or three before. i think zero_g will share the same GAS-sentiments as i do ... hahahahahah ...

hopefully i can get one soon ... 5-string warmoth J-bass, ash body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard ... *drools*

 

[Z3r0_G]

haha exin, i think i want my fretless to be neckthru (unfortunately warmoth doesnt do this =C) and be made either out of bubinga or mahogany. endless sustain! =D

 

[rottenramone]

..

i used to have a fretless bass, its a good thing to have man. but i found very few chances of actually bringing it to a gig. not to mention that the roundwound strings will literally eat up your fretboard.

 

[exin]

oh! yeah ... i was so seriously GAS-ing for a bubinga deluxe 5 jazz bass ... but i realised that the only offer bubinga bodies occasionally only.

that's sad

that's why i decided to settle for ash body, does a similar job... hard and dense, ensures you get your sustain.

mahagony can cause your tone to be muddy if you don't match your tonewoods properly ...

get a James bass man! custom make ... he makes nice nice basses .. seriously .. =P

 

[hayabusa]

hmm.. i'm thinking of a full package: fretless + 6 string + neckthrough. what else can i for? :wink:

one good thing about fretless -> no fret buzz. haha.. the one i tried is washburn, don't know which model. it was cheapish looking and had p-j pups. but the price of it just don't justify. for the same price, there're much better fretted around. are freltess always more expensive? i thought should be cheaper because putting in frets involves material + labour. frets alone aren't cheap.

 

[cherns]

If you want a starter fretless, one option is to buy a cheap 2nd hand bass and defret it yourself It's not that difficult

 

[hayabusa]

that's what i'm doing now check my ad. anyone got a spare neck to trash?