Quote:
Originally Posted by Diego  You can actually get the nut slots as low as you want. You can even let the strings sit on the edge of the fingerboard and use the nut just to guide the strings (this will give you some mwah on the opne strings, but in time will wear the edge of the board. Not to worry though, it can be resurfaced. What I'm trying to say is that on a fretless you can (and I thing you should) get the nut slots as deep as possible. Hope this helps a bit.
Diego |
Ding-ding, we have a winner!
If the neck geometry is correct, there is no need for
any clearance. The only reason for the clearance to start with is to avoid fret interference. No frets, hence, not applicable. In fact any excess clearance equates to string stretch which equates to intonation quirkiness.
There are two ways (at the very least)to set up a fretless bass guitar. One way is with the right amount of "scoop" in the neck. Scoop is, to a fretless, what relief is to a fretted bass. With the scoop adjusted right, every note can be played with no buzz with your normal playing power.
The other way is with a relatively straight neck which will make it easy to get the mwahhhh everywhere on the neck if you are a good player. It also makes it hard for a lesser player to play without the mwah if it's inappropriate.
I haven't had a need to fit a nut to an upright in years, but I remember that I used a piece of brown paper sack as a target for the file. That's just enough clearance to keep the strings off the end of the FB, without adding any excess heigth to the action.
Look at a zero frets' plane to the rest of the frets. The zero fret is identical in heigth to the rest of the frets. The nut hasn't been made that plays as well as a zero fret design.
If you like your bass set up another way, that's fine. That's the advantage of doing your own setups. The absolute RIGHT way is the way the person playing it likes it.
