Half Rounds on a fretless ...?

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Hey everyone...

I've got a question about strings for my fretless Corvette I V. I currently use Rotosound flatwounds and I love the rich warm tone- but recently I've been dabbling in a metal project and could use a little brighter tone. I was thinking about switching to some heavy gauge half round strings. Do any of you have experience with half rounds on a fretless? Hows the tone and will they eat the fretboard? Thanks.
 
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Ebony is a very hard wood, and the rounds shouldn't damage it what-so-ever. Just keep your fretless technique in mind when playing, and don't dig in so hard. At the most, you'll scuff the wood, which is no biggie. Most Ebony is dyed anyways.
 
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I've had D'Addario Half Rounds on my fretless Corvette and they sounded pretty good; much brighter than flatwound strings. And they don't tear up they board too much, but then again I play with round wounds and they barely do anything to the ebony
 
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I use roundwound EMPs on both my fretless basses, and I've played them hard when gigging (not the fretless way at all, but that's the way I do it). I don't worry about chewing up the board, I think the ebony is well up to it. I did try flatwounds, but the tone wasn't what I wanted at all. Give the half rounds a try, though, they might be just what you want.
 
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Thanks all, I think I'll give the half rounds a shot. Although I should have mentioned, I'm pretty sure my corvette has a wenge board. Its a corvette standard produced in late 2005. It could be ebony but really doesnt look like it. But I've heard that wenge is a tough wood too.
 
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All warwick fretless basses have an ebony board.

The only way it's a wenge board is if it wasn't originally fretless, and someone ripped out the frets.

Assuming it was originally fretless (and therefore, ebony), go right ahead and try the half rounds. You will get superficial surface scratches on the board very quickly, but real lasting damage will take years of solid playing to develop - even with stainless rounds.

Go for it if it's the tone you're after.

;)
 
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Warwick fretless basses have tigerstripe ebony boards, these can be quite figured and a bit confusing if you're expecting a totally black (usually dyed) ebony board. Personally, I much prefer the tigerstripe
 
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wow, I had no idea they were all ebony... thats good to know. Definitely no worries now about using the half rounds. Sounds like theyre going to be what I'm looking for. Thanks.
 
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