Fretless wear and tear

[lowregister]

How hard are roundwounds on a fretless? Would there be appreciable grooving after a year, 2, or more?

My next bass is definitely going to be a fretless

[pringlw]

Depends on what the fingerboard is made of. Ebony can handle pretty much anything. Rosewood is softer and is probably best with flats. Overall though you will get scuffs and scratches (not sure I would say grooves).

[fretlessguy]

My fretboard (fingerboard?) on my carvin 5 fretless is ebony. I have had the bass since '98 and have used nickel rounds and flats on it. I have yet to have it plained or leveled in any way. It has not been coated either.

My 96 Precision P has an uncoated rosewood board. I have only used flats on it, except for once when I used a set of D'Addario nickels on it. The wood is softer than ebony, so I have avoided using rounds for the most part. It has had no maintenance on it either.

I play with light gauge strings and have for years. I am also not very heavy handed in my technique, and use vibrato like a cellist does, so my board wear is minimal.

[Meatrus]

There is one of these threads every couple of weeks, so you should be able to find plenty of info by using the search thingy.

My fretless (rosewood board) came with Nickel wounds on it (don't know what make), and within 4 months there were visible dents from the strings. Not that bad but, it doesn't look nice. This was probably due to me being new to fretless and playing too heavily, and not even thinking of the fingerboard. I'm sure the make of string will make a difference too, I hear Sunbeams are supposed to be smooth, and I may try them some day. Since the initial wear I changed to Roto trubass (flats/tapes) and there hasn't been any wear since.

As someone else said, Ebony would be your best bet if you are worried about the wear and want to use rounds. If you use flats I doubt you will get any wear even on Rosewood, as the wear I got was just imprints of the wound strings.