fear of fretless (a review)

[rottenramone]

i took the fretless out for a spin at the library opening gig today. its my first time using the fretless at a live gig. man what an adventure!

no lines ont the fretboard, only the side dots to guie me along. everything was just an 'agaration' couldn't hear myself very well, so i had a few notes that were pretty off (i think).

but its a totally different animal from using a normal bass. i now know what 'mwah' truly means and i tell you its a totally kickass sound when you can feel your fingertips vibrate with the strings! doing vibrato also sounds soooo much smoother when there are no frets in the way.

the only lacking attribute that i can think of is that lack of attack that frets can give. but if its a soft ballad, then fretless is the way to go!

pics will be up shortly!!

 

[Mr_X]

yea, the way u did vibrato seems different too. was there when u performed. the guy that smiled at u, in red maroon clothes.

 

[lalala]

been trying to take photos of u all up close but u all really move alot! too bad i missed your jump also

 

[azacamis]

talking about fretless, just wanna say that if you want to get bright sound and strings that will not damage the fretboard, then rotosound 77 series will do the job. It is the same string Stever Harris used. Can't find here so when I was in Japan last week, bought mine there for close to SGD60, but it was worthit. Yeah the attack is different from fretted but the slides, man if you love running about the fretboard in between notes, fretless does the job well.

 

[rottenramone]

..

I'm using some old La Bella Criterion roundwounds which i got for $15 at the sweelee sale... looks damn old packaging, but the strings have a nice feel. too bad i broke the D string though.

Emi: You sure you got the right note?

C'monnnnnn... gimme an E dammit!!

 

[ZON_P]

eh there are ppl who actually use pencil to draw the lines at the side of the neck.

there are dots at the side of the neck but not on each fret.
once i read thsi review sayin he draw a small line there so he could rought gauge it beta..

btw how does fretless bass sounds like wif chorus efx ? yucky or nice?
do u use octave wif it?

 

[stars]

btw rottenramone ? i saw ya at LGF set at the g77.1 gig ...

i like ur choreo with elias for the first song .. excellent and superb... ya used ur MM right ?

 

[rottenramone]

..

Thanks stars, I'm glad you liked our song! Yes I used the MM cos I'm very used to the bass lah. Like going back to my first wife

Zon: fretless with chorus sounds amazing man! its has a very singing quality to it.

I hope to use more of the fretless in the future though, need the practice heheheh.

 

[stars]

is the transition from a fretted to fretless difficult ? thinking of getting one but i m not that great yet. is a fretless better for slap and vibrato ?

 

[rottenramone]

..

wah... this one i dunno man. i just wack and pretend to be jaco. hahahahahahah

 

[Pyro]

Actually, you shouldn't slap and pop on a fretless. The force might break the neck.

 

[rottenramone]

..

break the neck? no lah. slapping and popping won't break any neck, fretted or fretless.

smashing your bass ala the clash or dropping it from a considerable height will.

 

[tfaduh]

I think Slapping and popping on a fretless (non epoxied/slap guarded) is bad for the fretboard. Especially using roundwounds. I dunno. How does it sound like. Have you tried?

 

[rottenramone]

..

roundwounds will get the 'mwah' tone. sounds fantastic.

but the strings will scratch your fretboard.... so its a trade off i guess

 

[stars]

hmmz the fretless u used at the library gig quite cool leh .. fender body but MM SR pickup ?

hmmz.. cool cool .. hahaha why ya like MM so much ? no intention to get the Musicman family ?

namely being

4 string [they use MM SR humbuckers]
sub bass X01 (passive)
sub bass X02 (active)

5 string [ // ]
sub bass X03
sub bass X04

sub sterling

musicman stingray SR4

musicman stingray SR5

musicman sterling

Musicman bongo bass