Question about strings on my fretless

[jdthecrazy]

I use round wound strings on my fretless Warwick. It came with rounds on it and I don't like flats anyway. I recently switched from using Warwick strings on it to using RotoSound Funkmasters (I was using RotoSound on all my other basses anyway). I've noticed a lot of ware on my fingerboard since I changed, mostly at the bottom of the neck where my plucking is knocking the stings into the neck. Of course, I know that rounds will ware it down a lot faster than flats, but as I said I don't like flats at all. How big of a deal is this, and is it to repair? I've never had to deal with this on any of my fretted basses, and I've only been playing a fretless for a few years.

[masprague]

I think this seems to happen when people slap and pop on a fretless.

When I worked at a local music store, we saw a few basses like this come in, except most of them were way worst. We would send them down the street to a luthier, who would always come back and say, "tell them to slap on a fretted not a fretless."

So anytime I hear of this wearing happening at the bottom of the fretboard on a fretless, I always think of that.

[Baleen]

I dug trenches in the fingerboard of an old fretless after using some rounds, but mostly GHS pressure wounds for 7+ years. I had to sand them out of the fingerboard twice. Made it play better, too, by getting the neck dead flat (the second time, when I actually used a straight-edge).

I would say keep playing it like you are if it does what you want it to. I'm sure you could get a few sandings out of it. You can also have it looked at by someone and get their opinion on how many times you could have it fixed and for how much.

I use flats on a different fretless now, only because I love the way they're sounding, but I'm looking forward to less sanding.

[Pilgrim]

Rounds will wear frets and fingerboard faster than flats. That's a fact of life, one just has to deal with it. Some rounds seem to wear faster than others. You will get years of wear out of frets anyway, but re-fretting will cost $$.

As an old boss of mine sez: "When you play, you gotta pay." It falls under normal wear and tear.

I'm a flatwound fan so it's not a big issue for me.

[doctorjazz]

It's pretty much expected wear. When it gets really bad (probably a couple years depending on how you play and how much) you can get the board replaned, or buy a radiused sanding block and do it yourself. If it really gets on your nerves, you can get the board epoxied.