=The Warwick Thumb Club=

[Hardy]

Thumb sometimes can do it the soft way ;-)

Fretless Thumb singing

My Thumb 4 string fretless doesn’t sing that way. Do you use effects?

 

[kascollet]

My Thumb 4 string fretless doesn’t sing that way. Do you use effects?

Yes of course. On this particular soundclip, you have a reverb and a tremolo to dress up the sound.
But this old bartolini-fueled NT6 always sings.

Thumb NT6 raw sound

 

[Hardy]

Yes of course. On this particular soundclip, you have a reverb and a tremolo to dress up the sound.
But this old bartolini-fueled NT6 always sings.

Thumb NT6 raw sound

Thanx for this one. Another question: what strings are you using?

 

[kascollet]

Thanx for this one. Another question: what strings are you using?

D’Addario ProSteels in 130-32 gauge.

 

[Hardy]

D’Addario ProSteels in 130-32 gauge.

Roundwound? I don’t dare to wear down the fretboard of my 1990 Jack Bruce signature. So I use flatwounds. Do I care too much?

 

[kascollet]

Yes, you probably care too much. Old African ebony like you and me have doesn’t wear much if setup (low action) and playing (gentle) are suitable. Mine is from 91 and has always had roundwounds, nickel or steel.

EDIT : just saw your video on YT. I guess you have to work on your left hand vibrato and right hand plucking if you want your fretless to sing more ;-)

See what I mean :

 

[Hardy]

Yes, you probably care too much. Old African ebony like you and me have doesn’t wear much if setup (low action) and playing (gentle) are suitable. Mine is from 91 and has always had roundwounds, nickel or steel.

EDIT : just saw your video on YT. I guess you have to work on your left hand vibrato and right hand plucking if you want your fretless to sing more ;-)

See what I mean :

Thanks for the vid! Very nice! You are right that fretless playing is not my main kind of playing. The 8 string fretless is another cup of tea. Because of the octave string it ALWAYS sings. But when I grab my 4 string I want some nice sounds without fighting with the strings. Now I threw three different sets of strings on the 4 string. Everytime the E string makes buzzing sounds around the 9th "fret". Checked it with my Rockbass Streamer fretless - same story. Only the Optima Gold don´t make that annoying buzz too hard, still it´s there. I changed the string action, adjusted the truss rod neck straight/slight bow, changed the bridge hight. Nothing helps. Back to flatwounds and the effect is gone. Mehhhh!!!

 

[Gnermo]

Posted these in another forum, why not here?
Highgloss vintage Thumb's!

 

[BrusselsBass]

Posted these in another forum, why not here?
Highgloss vintage Thumb's!

I like the yellow fretless 5

 

[BrusselsBass]

Roundwound? I don’t dare to wear down the fretboard of my 1990 Jack Bruce signature. So I use flatwounds. Do I care too much?

I bought my '88 from Chris here in the forum; he had rounds - no wear.
I prefer flats on fretless because the slides and vibratos are too noisy with rounds, so not really for the wear but the sound

 

[kascollet]

That's suprising. I don't think any finger noise is ever audible on an electric bass (unless played unplugged). Can you actually hear anything when your record your fretless ?? Can you hear any finger noise on the video I posted yesterday ?

 

[kascollet]

Thanks for the vid! Very nice! You are right that fretless playing is not my main kind of playing. The 8 string fretless is another cup of tea. Because of the octave string it ALWAYS sings. But when I grab my 4 string I want some nice sounds without fighting with the strings. Now I threw three different sets of strings on the 4 string. Everytime the E string makes buzzing sounds around the 9th "fret". Checked it with my Rockbass Streamer fretless - same story. Only the Optima Gold don´t make that annoying buzz too hard, still it´s there. I changed the string action, adjusted the truss rod neck straight/slight bow, changed the bridge hight. Nothing helps. Back to flatwounds and the effect is gone. Mehhhh!!!

9th fret mystery...
If you have it on two different basses, it's not the bass !

 

[BrusselsBass]

That's suprising. I don't think any finger noise is ever audible on an electric bass (unless played unplugged). Can you actually hear anything when your record your fretless ?? Can you hear any finger noise on the video I posted yesterday ?

Yep - when you slide and not press / playing a note, the scratchy noise is audible

 

[kascollet]

That's because it's miked acoustically (mic very close to the bass), but I hear it too now. Is it really a problem though ?

 

[BrusselsBass]

That's because it's miked acoustically (mic very close to the bass), but I hear it too now. Is it really a problem though ?

Not a problem, but obvious. Because I do more slides on a fretless, I prefer flats. But that's really a personal thing.

 

[kascollet]

Ok I get it. My fretless are only married to roundwounds. Too much texture is lost with flats on them. I use TI jazz flats on my PJ Yamaha BB though, for the traditional 4 string feel and sound.

 

[Gnermo]

1991 NT Thumb, MINE.

This bass was for sale 2 years ago , and the seller included some 25 pictures.
So I was super excited to get there, but it turned out the bass had a huge neck crack.

So I told the guy that I would love to buy it, if he got it repaired. Never heard back from him...
Until last week, when the bass popped up for sale again. I still had his phone number , so I shot him some text messages and we called for a bit.
The repair is very well done, and it's not all the way through. Otherwise I think I still wouldn't have picked it up.

I find the pickup holes a little too big, maybe this bass had EMG's originally?
He also gave me 'two old pedals he never used anymore' , can't say no to two vintage Chorus pedals... (maybe as a way of saying sorry for two years ago?)

 

[steembass]

MECs were standard in 1991. The EMGs are not bigger, same size afaik.. Bartolinis are a bit smaller. 1991 those basses were “handmade” that’s why the PU routing might be not so exact than today..today CNC..

 

[BrusselsBass]

1991 NT Thumb, MINE.

This bass was for sale 2 years ago , and the seller included some 25 pictures.
So I was super excited to get there, but it turned out the bass had a huge neck crack.

So I told the guy that I would love to buy it, if he got it repaired. Never heard back from him...
Until last week, when the bass popped up for sale again. I still had his phone number , so I shot him some text messages and we called for a bit.
The repair is very well done, and it's not all the way through. Otherwise I think I still wouldn't have picked it up.

I find the pickup holes a little too big, maybe this bass had EMG's originally?
He also gave me 'two old pedals he never used anymore' , can't say no to two vintage Chorus pedals... (maybe as a way of saying sorry for two years ago?)

Congrats - nice catch! How is the neck below the repair? From the pictures it somehow looked raised. But then judging from pictures is very difficult.

 

[Gnermo]

It’s almost invisible , and you can’t feel a thing!
I think they used sawdust to fill it aswell.