Fretless Players

Echo said:
juzzo71 said:
well originally it was going 2 have them but i dont wanna ruin the beautiful piece of ebony :cry:
il just use sticky stars like wen u use 2 learn violin until i get it down :lol:
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Not a bad idea! If I ever go fretless, I want to do it unlined with dot inlays in the top of the neck but not on the front.
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yer, thats what i was thinkin. just the dots on the side of the neck.

so fretlesses are awesome for jazz and stuff right? will share tonal qualities of a double bass. cause i love jazz so much now! :D
 
You should try to track down one, or several, album of Sadus. It's a technical metal band that has Steve Digiorgio at bass. He plays fretless in a metal setting, and it sounds brutal...

Yes, brutal fretless...
 
juzzo71 said:
Echo said:
juzzo71 said:
well originally it was going 2 have them but i dont wanna ruin the beautiful piece of ebony :cry:
il just use sticky stars like wen u use 2 learn violin until i get it down :lol:
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea! If I ever go fretless, I want to do it unlined with dot inlays in the top of the neck but not on the front.
Click to expand...

yer, thats what i was thinkin. just the dots on the side of the neck.

so fretlesses are awesome for jazz and stuff right? will share tonal qualities of a double bass. cause i love jazz so much now! :D
Click to expand...
Fretless rocks for jazz! :D
 
I am reminded of Psalm 37, verse 8:

Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
 
JanVanHove said:
You should try to track down one, or several, album of Sadus. It's a technical metal band that has Steve Digiorgio at bass. He plays fretless in a metal setting, and it sounds brutal...

Yes, brutal fretless...
Click to expand...

i'm checking these out right now i'm a huge fan of cynic, sean malone is an amazing fretless player but his sound is more conventional fretless, he's also done some solo stuff and plays with gordian knot.

Kris said:
juzzo71 said:
Echo said:
juzzo71 said:
well originally it was going 2 have them but i dont wanna ruin the beautiful piece of ebony :cry:
il just use sticky stars like wen u use 2 learn violin until i get it down :lol:
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea! If I ever go fretless, I want to do it unlined with dot inlays in the top of the neck but not on the front.
Click to expand...

yer, thats what i was thinkin. just the dots on the side of the neck.

so fretlesses are awesome for jazz and stuff right? will share tonal qualities of a double bass. cause i love jazz so much now! :D
Click to expand...
Fretless rocks for jazz! :D
Click to expand...

fretless can sound like double bass but it depends on the pickup placement and strings. Idealy you want some beafy flats with a peizo pickup and play really close to the neck.

I like to think of fretted, frettless and double bass as 3 different sounding instruments each have there own tones, styles and techniques to them...maybe i'm just more a purist :D
 
Although I play both for the variety at my church, my first Warwick was a fretless Corvette. I now have added a Thumb Dirty Blonde that was defretted before I bought it. That bass is a thing of beauty in both looks and tone. It even does a great job of that Pino Palladino and Bathiki Kumalo fretless slap-n-slide for those times I want to be fretless and funky!

Fretless is so unlimiting and fun and expressive!
 
JanVanHove said:
I am reminded of Psalm 37, verse 8:

Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
Click to expand...

hahahaha

thats the best bible verse ive heard in ages!!! thanks for sharing Jan (oh and congrats on your freaky ranking :P )
 
hey guys, i know this is the place to go for this question.

ok fretlessist lol
what strings do you use and why?

thanks lads :D
 
I play both, probably 75% fretted and 25% frettless. The song usually dictates what bass to use. I like playing both, so I will keep the same ratio.

Tim
 
`

100% FL ? I would be, if I had better control over my playing environment, which is one of those "in-your-dreams" dreams.

My main basses are all FL, from 30" to 41". However, I always pack a freddy in case conditions arise such that I can't hear what's going down, or hear myself, well enuf to play in tune.

To me, FL is not about the "Jaco Thing". I just don't like the sound of frets. Not too happy that Warwick uses such emphatic frets [nasty bronze things], but I do have one freddy Wick to back up the FLs. My dislike of frets involves my pursuit of acoustic tone. The less metal iin the sonic stew, the the tastier it is.

`
 
juzzo71 said:
hey guys, i know this is the place to go for this question.

ok fretlessist lol
what strings do you use and why?

thanks lads :D
Click to expand...
`

The "why" is very much about acoustic tone, even from a "non-acoustic" solid body. But I do have some FLs set up for thunder tone rather than for acoustic qualities.

The strings are all flats. Primarily LaBella black nylon and TI Jazz for acoustic qualities, plus GHS Precision and D'Addario Chromes for thunder. Not that I can't get heavy thunder from Jazz flats or LaBella blacks, but thaz how it tends to sort out with my basses. Finally, there's Fender's nylon covered RW's, not true flats [so sue me]. These are for making nastee noises.

I use such a wide variety cuz I have a variety of basses. If I had just a few, it would narrow right down to the black LaBellas and TIJFs.

PS.

The question always arises about Roto vs Labella for black nylon flats. I prefer the LaBella but have a few sets of Rotos cooking cuz the LaBella's were harder to get locally [beyond the basic 34" 4-string].

`
 
I've used loads of flats in my fretless, roto's, d'adario chromes, TI, Labella, Elites, Picato(sp?).

Atm i've gone with a nice set of EMP's so bacially got full reverse on the whole flatwound thing.

I liked flats but they never had the tone i was looking for. I was after a subtle growl with good harmonics and was trying to get a tone similar to the bass on catch 22's first album keasby knights.

Anyway after getting a set of EMPs for my SSI i was like mmm wonder what they are like on my fretless....and BAM! the tone i was looking for right there with these string and my $$ eq flat....most chuffed as you'd expect.

3 months down the line very little fretbaord wear (only reason i played with flats) and i have the perfect tone so i'll be keeping EMP's on it for a long time to come :D
 
I'm with Callum really. I had flats at first... Thomastiks and d'Addarios... but mainly because I was worried about wear on the fretboard. Now I don't worry about wear (it's negligible) and use EMPs. Like Callum... it's the tone I'm after!

Still got flats on my RB.
 
Nylon wrapped steel and flatwound strings are too dull for me. I was enjoying the EMPs, but recently put a set of Yellow Label nickel strings on my Thumb Dirty Blone and LOVE them!

I also have a set of Dean Markley Fret Masters that are flatwound over the length of the fingerboard and roundwound over the pickups to the bridge. They claim to protect the fingerboard, while getting both a smooth acoustic sound and feel and a punchy growl as well. I might go slap those on my Corvette Std. fretless and see how they perform...
 
I'm with Callum and Saxonbass here... First D'Addario Chromes and now EMP's. Just put them on today; amazing for slap! And on a side note: I installed the JAN III last week and it's working wonders! No more stabbing my fingers while in 1st position!
 
Benjamin said:
Let us know, Maddraket, that's quite interesting
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Well, I put the Dean Markley Fret Masters on and tried them out. The package doesn't say they are flatwound, rather the hybrid mix is that they are burnished, which compresses the wrap over the fretboard area to keep from chewing up frets, and full round over the pickups for tone. So this is not a special set for fretless bass after all. I got duped by a salesman... :twisted:

The package claims these give you a smooth feel and a rich piano tone. But when I play them on my fretless, they are sticky and I can't slide my fingers. Also, the tone is not there.

In the end, I have found the Yellow Labels to really do my fretless' justice, and EMP or Black Labels for the rest of my 'Wicks!
 
saxonbass said:
I'm with Callum really. I had flats at first... Thomastiks and d'Addarios... but mainly because I was worried about wear on the fretboard. Now I don't worry about wear (it's negligible) and use EMPs. Like Callum... it's the tone I'm after!

Still got flats on my RB.
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I'd never mix round wounds and rosewood....when i got my RB streamer ages ago after about 20 mins of testing it there was loads of wear to the fretboard.

after the good 3 months of solid abuse my $$ has has with me praticaly beating the crap out of the strings and fretboard still no where near the wear the rock bass had. Ebony can just keep taking the punishment :D
 
maddrakkett said:
Benjamin said:
Let us know, Maddraket, that's quite interesting
Click to expand...

Well, I put the Dean Markley Fret Masters on and tried them out. The package doesn't say they are flatwound, rather the hybrid mix is that they are burnished, which compresses the wrap over the fretboard area to keep from chewing up frets, and full round over the pickups for tone. So this is not a special set for fretless bass after all. I got duped by a salesman... :twisted:

The package claims these give you a smooth feel and a rich piano tone. But when I play them on my fretless, they are sticky and I can't slide my fingers. Also, the tone is not there.

In the end, I have found the Yellow Labels to really do my fretless' justice, and EMP or Black Labels for the rest of my 'Wicks!
Click to expand...

i was duped as well when i got some labella super slappers....the ones with the exposed coil to "increase the harmonic responce". I got all excited and i'd been promised piano like harmonics....never got them....harder to get one out of the strings than my dead flats i'd had on the bass previously.

and the exposed coild seemed far to fragile...ah well not all strings can be like EMP's 8)
 
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