Fretless action question for MIM J-bass

[bassman_al]

I have a MIM J-bass, passive, 4 string. I use a Gotoh 201 bridge. After lots of tweaking and playing around with and without a shim, lowest action I can achieve without getting a case of the clacketys is 3mm as measured at the 17th fret, fretboard to bottom of the E string. I believe the radius on this neck is 9 1/2" or whatever the standard MIM J-bass neck has. Mine is a regular old neck, 2007 model year.

3mm sound right to you? It plays pretty well, so my question is more of a curiosity than anything else since there is not much info on recommended string height for fretless.

[Turnaround]

That's a bit high - I would think 2 to 2.5mm is in the right range, depending on whether you are an aggressive player or not.

Generally, string height is the same for fretted or fretless. In the case of the fretted, you measure between bottom of the string and the top of the fret - fretless it's to the fingerboard.

[bassman_al]

Good to know. I am trying to resolve this without taking it to a tech. I have heard that the Gotoh 201 has trouble achieving low action due to large barrel heads. Its so pretty, but maybe the stock bridge, which I unfortunately sold, is a better option for me...

Other thoughts?

[Turnaround]

Assuming the bass is properly set up, if the bridge won't go low enough you need to change the neck-to-body angle (i.e. install a shim).

But if you are saying that it won't go low enough without buzzing, then the problem is not with the bridge. It may be that your fingerboard is not true, the neck doesn't have the proper relief, or you are too aggressive a player to have low action.

[Inconnu]

If it helps, I have a fretless MIM with the stock bridge and I can get an very very very low action. So, well, I think Turnaround is right!

[bassman_al]

thanks for the help. I tightened the truss rod last night and got the action down to the 2.5mm that I was going for, but I also looked at the bridge and decided that the barrels could all stand to move forward a little, based on the intonation I was getting. So that helped lower the action some as well. It was playign well after all of that, albeit a very different feel with that lower action!

Today I decided to start from scratch. I had some time this morning so I took the neck off and one last time tried the shim just to see if it felt any better. I loosened the truss rod all the way, then re-assembeled the bass. Even with the truss rod totally loosened, and the barrels raised way up on the bridge, the strings still barely lifted off the fretboard. I took this as a good sign.

From there I took the shim out and tightened the truss rod until I got to that 2.5mm mark. Again, she played nicely at that level. The only clackity I got was when I was really digging away, which is not my style of play on that bass anyway. When I played the jazz songs I normally play, and even some of the rock songs from my other band, it felt and sounded nice!

So I'll keep it at that. Thanks again for the help!

[Skitch it!]

May I ask, is the bass a de-fret or an original fretless board? Just out of curiosity.

[bassman_al]

Factory lined fretless MIM

[bassman_al]

Factory lined fretless MIM. I think she is very pretty

[Skitch it!]

^ Nice indeed

I only inquire because of the couple of de-frets I have, they can take a little while to set-up after the fret height is removed. Mainly trying to get enough adjustment out of the saddles for the extra drop, my action set to 2.5 - 3mm at the last (21st) fret without a great deal of play left in the saddles. Anyways, yours looks very well set, nice job.

[bassman_al]

Thanks. Never had a fretless before and never done a de-fret. I would guess re-filing the nut would be key as well.

[bassman_al]

The saddles are now well forward of the positioning in the pic. And the diamond shaped inlays are vinyl stickers. They work quite well.