making my fretless brighter

[ka0ttic]

I just recently acquired my first fretless, a modded fretless sx (essex) spj-62 with black nylon tapewounds. Very dull sounding even when I try eq'ing my amp. I don't really feel comfortable doing a setup on it myself, so I took it into my local music shop and the guy there said it was most likely the strings and that I should try some halfrounds.

Obviously, with it being a fretless it won't be as bright as my fretted, but what can I do to make it brighter? I'm hoping it just needs some different strings. Roundwounds would probably be the brightest but I don't want the wear on the fingerboard if I can help it.

[saxofunk]

Strings will make a huge difference, especially since you're starting with tapewounds. Half wounds or groundwounds are popular and will not wear the wood. I for one, am a proponent of wearing the wood a bit and using roundwounds.

[rakirksey]

You might also look at different flats. I've used Rotosound 77's and those are about as bright as flatwounds get. Try those and if they aren't bright enough, then you may need to look into groundrounds, halfrounds, or even round rounds.

Also, what is your neck made out of. There are some previous posts/threads discussing how much actual "wear" strings will give on the neck. There are some cats here that have had roundwounds on for decades with minimal wear.

[Mushroo]

+1 if you are looking for any kind of bright, growly, Jaco-esque sound on fretless, roundwounds are the best choice. Don't worry about the wear on the fretboard; worst case scenario, you'll have to pay a couple of $$ every few years to have the fingerboard sanded down (or do it yourself). Tapewounds are just about the dullest sounding string available (some people are into that).

Changing from one type of string to another may require adjustments to the truss rod and/or bridge (and, possibly, nut, though that's a last resort since it's not reversible). There are some good resources stickied here at TB, or just take it to the shop if you're uncomfortable trying it yourself.

Good luck!

[ka0ttic]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Originally Posted by rakirksey

Also, what is your neck made out of.

It has a maple neck and maple fingerboard.

Got the bass back from the shop today. Since he was already doing a setup on it, I had the guy put a set of curt mangan flats on it. Never heard or that brand but it was the only kind of flats they had in stock, so I figured I'd get those at least until I could order something better.

It sounds a lot better. With the EQ flat it's still a little dead sounding, but it's a lot better if I boost the mids/treb a bit, and almost too bright if I turn down the neck p/u (p) and turn up the bridge p/u (j) but something's still off... I can at least jam on it now, where as before I couldn't play more than 5 minutes

I'm horrible at describing tone, but the only thing I can think of to say is that it sounds kind of twangy, almost if there's just a very slight echo, if that makes sense. I get the same sound on my cheapie active dean if I turn the tone knob all the way down.

guess I'll order a set of rounds...

[Davo-London]

I find the DR rounds are pretty sympathetic on the fingerboard.

I have had my neck epoxy'd so I don't worry about it. I only ever use rounds on my Jaco Jazz just like saxofunk.

Davo

[shadowen]

It's probably a little late, but I use D'Addario Half Rounds on my Tony Franklin fretless. That has an bare ebony fret board and the strings are brighter than flats but not as bright as round wounds a nice middle ground (for me anyway).

[billbern]

I've gone to Ken Smith Compressors on my BTB1005 Fretless.
To me they sound like broken in rounds.

hi-fi URL: http://www.soundclick.com/util/getpl...d=6561446&q=hi


Bill

[Kennethfaria]

Yeah roundwounds are great for the most part. THeir good for the first month, because they still have that zing in 'em. But after that, they're your average joes. But you may like it, get a somewhat cheap set, and try it out.

[ka0ttic]

Oddly enough, after playing with the flats on it for a week, the tone has kinda grown on me... for the time being, I think I'm going to leave it alone. weird.

thanks for all of those responses guys.

[Davo-London]

Rounds give more bite and more detail in the upper mids and highs IMHO. I love the fretless/roundwound/solo bridge pickup tone. This makes the harmonics clearer and creates a more exciting - less fundamental tone. It depends what you are after.

Davo

[KrispyJones]

get dr black beauties ! last forever and sound great, wount damage the fingerboard ! (are coated Hi beams)

[Bobster]

Give S.I.T. Silencers a try. They have a compressed outer winding that will minimize noise/wear, but have a more roundwound sound.

http://www.sitstrings.com/show_product.php?id=30

Bob

[JPrinos]

Definitely go to round wound strings.

Additionally, I'd read about epoxying the neck using boat hull epoxy so I tried it myself. I found that I got the growl I wanted and generally didn't have to worry about neck wear.

My $0.02
John