Educate me on fretless setup for mwah

[mozarwasagenius]

I have an ebony boarded G&L L2500 and lately have been frustrated with not getting enough note definition (finger attack... high mids... you name it)

Last night I did something that really opened up the tone

Using roundwound strings I tweaked the neck relief to be almost zero via the truss rod.

It sings now, almost sitar like and some clank when digging in.

I think I like it but it made me realize I have a lot to learn regarding the effect of setup has on tone.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

[john grey]

Flat wounds are nice on a fret-less as it allows you to slide with virtually little to no finger noise. Flats also make a more uniform contact with the surface of the board.

Understanding that your reference is (often) the dot aside the edge of the neck, see if you can find a tuner that either has a "through" plug or work quietly for awhile and determine if you are finding your notes as you would on a fretted instrument. It often helps your reference for a given neck.

On your G&L you have the ability to increase your mids. There are what is referred to as "mircotones" on a fret-less and they often are clearer in that frequency range. You don't want to cut your bottom but boost your mids to see if that helps.

Flats will make a difference. But please don't worry that round wounds will "eat" your board. You may see some denting from R-W strings but once that reaches point of compression it doesn't go too far beyond that. However flat generally take a very long time to even dent a board.

[mozarwasagenius]

Originally Posted by john grey

Flat wounds are nice on a fret-less as it allows you to slide with virtually little to no finger noise. Flats also make a more uniform contact with the surface of the board.

Understanding that your reference is (often) the dot aside the edge of the neck, see if you can find a tuner that either has a "through" plug or work quietly for awhile and determine if you are finding your notes as you would on a fretted instrument. It often helps your reference for a given neck.

On your G&L you have the ability to increase your mids. There are what is referred to as "mircotones" on a fret-less and they often are clearer in that frequency range. You don't want to cut your bottom but boost your mids to see if that helps.

Flats will make a difference. But please don't worry that round wounds will "eat" your board. You may see some denting from R-W strings but once that reaches point of compression it doesn't go too far beyond that. However flat generally take a very long time to even dent a board.

I have found I don't like flatwounds on this particular bass in part because of the difficulty in making the low B "speak". However, as the action is lowered I might revisit that decision.

I'll try the bass out tonight at practice to see how it works out.

[Slowgypsy]

My preferences for fretless are very low action, and low tension strings. I find that if my fretting hand has as little string resistance as possible, it allows me to use finger pressure to help shape the tone I get.

[bassbrad]

Mwah is a balance between a lower set up, having the pups just right and the right plucking hand touch and position. You can use flats, half rounds or rounds whatever you prefer but like you my preference is rounds.
Hand position matters much more on fretless as you can play from over the bridge pup for that middy punchy sound all the way to over the finger board for a more acoustic tone, if I pluck with my thumb at the end of the fingerboard it almost sounds arco or bowed.

[enricogaletta]

i can tell you about my fretless setting, I use a really low action with stainless steel strings. you can't imagine how the sound gain more brightness, attack and definition plus the "fretless sustained sound" is much much better than ever.
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
WebSite

[mozarwasagenius]

Originally Posted by enricogaletta

i can tell you about my fretless setting, I use a really low action with stainless steel strings. you can't imagine how the sound gain more brightness, attack and definition plus the "fretless sustained sound" is much much better than ever.
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
WebSite

What stainless strings do you recommend?