Fretless bass "fret rattle"?

[SMILEYSIXX]

So I picked up a fretless. Sounds great, but the strings sound like they're rattling against the fingerboard, and sounds like fret rattle. Is this normal or is it just truss rod related and the neck needs straightened?

[darkstorm]

Have you looked down the neck to see if theres indication of backbow or zero relief, too straight? I have known of a few basses and guitars that did have a little bit truss rod rattle to them. Is this possibly what your referring to if neck has a little bit of relief. Allmost dead straight but not quite?

[c_thur]

check the break angle over the nut too. make sure the string tree if present is tight.

[SMILEYSIXX]

Originally Posted by darkstorm

Have you looked down the neck to see if theres indication of backbow or zero relief, too straight? I have known of a few basses and guitars that did have a little bit truss rod rattle to them. Is this possibly what your referring to if neck has a little bit of relief. Allmost dead straight but not quite?

It looks straight to me. Adding a little more give so the strings can pull it over just a little bit more may be beneficial.

Strings are tight over the nut too, so the issue isn't there.

[AmadeusXeno]

Perhaps your action is just a little too low?

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by SMILEYSIXX

So I picked up a fretless. Sounds great, but the strings sound like they're rattling against the fingerboard, and sounds like fret rattle. Is this normal or is it just truss rod related and the neck needs straightened?

Are you a fretless newbie? Fretless strings DO "rattle" against the fingerboard. It creates a characteristic sound that you may have heard people describing as "Mwah". That comes from the fact that if say you slide your finger up the fingerboard to another note, it makes a sound that sort of sounds like that. Of course, you may need to adjust the amount of "mwah" to fit your taste. This is done by the height of the fretless action. The lower the strings are to the fingerboard, the more "mwah" you get.

On the other hand, if the strings at a given note are not especially vibrating against the fingerboard at the point where you are pressing them to the wood, but rather are "rattling" against the wood further down the neck because the neck is not straight or has a slight relief but instead has a raised "hump" down there. That would be a defect and is not normal.