Oh my God! I de-fretted my Wick! (Sound clips ADDED!)

I'll keep the side dots... They serve as a guide when I'm on a dark stage... As long as I know around where the notes are, I'll be able to figure it out.
 
Man, I'm glad to hear you're doing better and that your wife "saw the light" so to speak and appologized and that things are back on track. Also glad to hear this episode has drawn you closer to God! It's amazing how God and life work out. They say it's always darkest before the dawn! :D

As for playing a 6 string fretless bass, if bands won't accept you, then it's for the better - a band that can't handle your bass and talents is a band that will never grow or push the envelope, which means they will never go anywhere - or else they will be the next big one-hit wonder! :roll: You're better than THAT! Move on and keep looking for the guys who will appreciate what you bring to the music. Besides, unless you find a band where they appreciate you and where you can use your 6-string fretless to the fullest, you won't ever be fulfilled and satisfied and it will show in the music. Then this one-hit wonder band you've joined will end up in Hit Parader and MTV news reports about how the band split over "musical differences"... :lol:
 
This is a great project Casey, and turning out really nicely.

I'd love to hear more about how you applied the coats of epoxy!

C'mon - give us the details about the whole process.

;)

:D
 
I have the strings back on it right now just to play around on until I get ready to finish with the final coat of epoxy and then cleaning the whole bass up...

But it sounds great :D - It's taking some getting use to, But I can still manage to do all of my old slapping and tapping, With the extra advantage of alot of sliding now and hitting those weird notes I couldn't before.

I pretty much followed my old de-fret how-to I have posted on here. Except this time around I use an angled wood carving (scraper - I'll post a picture of it in a bit) and I used gorilla tape because it works great at keeping the neck from getting dinged up during what I hate to say... but did a bit... Prying up the frets :P It's a VERY sticky tape so it kept the wenge from splintering.

This time around I also used wenge dust + epoxy for the fretlines because I wanted something dark. And I'm only doing about 4-5 thin coats of epoxy so the wenge retains its tone.

Basicly for applying the epoxy, I mixed it up onto a peice of cardboard and then used that peice of cardboard to wipe it on and level it out. Let it dry and then begin sanding with 400 gritt sand paper until everything is even.

I'll try to post some sound clips a little bit later, And I should start another coat of epoxy tomorrow and hopefully everything will be done by the weekend. :)
 
I have a little more work to do on it... But it's coming along :)
 
Casey said:
I have a little more work to do on it... But it's coming along :)
Click to expand...
I think it still sounds bright, no muddiness there.

Are you using sweeps in the clip, or tapping, or a combo of both?
 
Awesome sound, man!

This is EXACTLY why I'm interested in 6 string, with or without frets. I'm far from your technical prowess (even on my 4-string), but a little motivation never killed anyone...

Back to the woodshed!!
 
(whoops... late on a thread, as usual)

Casey... if anyone else had done this I'd be worried... but you do such a pro job on these things that I'm sure it'll look great... waiting for the final photos though! :wink:

I've never had any problem playing fretless in a rock environment... either conceptually or in the physical playing sense. I think you mentioned earlier, future bands will either be immediately impressed or think you're a weirdo... that's what I've found, but I don't mention I play fretless, I'd just turn up to an audition and say... listen to this!

The sound clip sounds great.

Just 2 tips... feel free to ignore...
I'd experiment with strings... I currently use EMPs (surprise surprise).. the lighter gauge
Spend some time practising in the dark! The first time you get on a stage... you stand in the wrong place, the lights go out... all the side dots disappear :shock: It's nice to feel condident with or without the lights!

Keep us posted on new bands and stuff! :D

By the way... I once saw a band advertising for a new bass player... saying "No Jacks or Jacos!" ... well, f*** them!
 
wow your crazy man!!

but the sound clip still has alot of brightness, and your handling the fretless well so major props to you

good job!
 
Sounds awesome man! that track you put up has a better tone for you style of playing, compared to the other ones.

TBH i'm sure you'll have no problem doing everything you did before just takes a bit of practice!
 
saxonbass said:
...Spend some time practising in the dark! The first time you get on a stage... you stand in the wrong place, the lights go out... all the side dots disappear :shock: It's nice to feel condident with or without the lights!
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this! I don't practice my fretless in the dark, but I do work on not looking at the fingerboard and instead, play by "ear" and "feel", if you will. I listen to the intonation and then get used to the way the intervals and positions feel up and down the neck. I also practice sliding into the note "in tune". Most times I slide "close" to where I want, but "close" won't cut it with fretless! Just knowing what I want to hear and hearing where my hand ends up is not enough. I have to train my hand to slide exactly to the note I want/need. A dark room could help with this too, as shutting out all other distractions and concentrating only on sound/intonation and hand position will be your best friend to experiencing pure fretless bliss!
 
Agreed.

Re-iterates my point on lined vs unlined boards:
 
Lex said:
Agreed.

Re-iterates my point on lined vs unlined boards:
Click to expand...

My Corvette Std. is only side dotted, but my Dirty Blonde is a de-fretted bass, thus it is lined, but I still ignore looking at the lines. If I relied on them, I think I would be out of intonation compared to playing by ear...
 
Yeah, I was REALLY surprised at the brightness on it. I actually have the highs turned down! I boosted the mids a tad along with the bass...

And this is with a worn in set of D'Addario Nickels :P - I have those Fodera light guage steels on order, So I'm really excited to see what those sound like :D

--

For the post above, That was just a bit of 2 handed tapping.

--

Thanks for the comments guys :D
 
Casey said:
Yeah, I was REALLY surprised at the brightness on it. I actually have the highs turned down! I boosted the mids a tad along with the bass...
Click to expand...

Do you think it might be due to the epoxy coating? Totally outside my experience of course... I'm all ebony.
 
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