5 string fretless...WHAT

ArturoOsito · #1 11-08-2012, 12:59 PM

So i recently got a Carvin B50F 5 string fretless. I love Carvin products. I have a guitar by them and a micro bass combo, both fantastic. The bass itself was amazingly built and the pickups were fantastic.

HOWEVER: the low B string was totally unusable. Everything from a low C to a G and all the way up the neck buzzed horribly. I raised the action as high as it could go and it was still terrible. So I sent it back to swap the neck for a fretted neck.

The QUESTION is: is this problem simply inherent to five string fretless basses? I love the sound of fretlessness, and I'm looking into a four string, which feels like DEFEAT.

Could y'all please chime in with thoughts on this? Does Carvin just make bad 5 string basses? Are 5-string fretlesses inherently buzzy? (I don't believe that for a second) Was there something more I could have done?? What the heck!!

tZer · #2 11-08-2012, 01:03 PM

I have 2 5-string fretless basses - one being a 5-string electric upright - both built by me - neither behave as you describe.

I'd have to conclude that you got a lemon. There are plenty of 5-string fretless basses out there that have perfectly functional low B strings.

Phalex · #3 11-08-2012, 01:04 PM

My Carvin AC-50F is really fairly awesome! I played it for the first time in years a few weeks back, and I remembered why I loved it in the first place. Plenty of Mwa, no buzzing...... If I get carried away on the open B I can get a bit of fretboard clack, but that's just my ham-fisted technique.

StuartV · #4 11-08-2012, 01:04 PM

Sounds like it just needed a new nut with the B string slot not cut so deep?

neebs · #5 11-08-2012, 01:07 PM

Man that's unfortunate. Fretless is awesome.. I would've asked for a return. Or the least resistance.. strung it EADGC

ArturoOsito · #6 11-08-2012, 01:08 PM

So maybe they messed up the nut? And I got a return but I didn't even think to try another fretless...and the low B is where it's at for me, I really have no interest in a high C...

BrotherEarl · #7 11-08-2012, 01:12 PM

It sounds like the slow for the low B was cut too low.

It also could be an issue of the scale. I know plenty of folks that do fine with a 34" scale. I've never found one that I could stand for very long until I got to spend some time with a Lakland with a 35". To me the difference was like night and day.

JTE · #8 11-08-2012, 01:13 PM

A low nut would cause the open string to buzz, not stopped notes. I would have checked the neck's relief and worked on the whole setup before I returned it.

John

tZer · #9 11-08-2012, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArturoOsito

What the heck...I'm not inclined to believe that I got a lemon. I mean, what would have been wrong with it? I don't get it...it really was awful.

OK, maybe you didn't get a lemon, but I can tell you for a fact that 5-string fretless basses with great sounding B strings are everywhere.

If the one you got was not a lemon, it was at least a good bass with something bad about it's B-string situation. It could have possibly been due to a number of things ranging from the nut slot depth to fingerboard imperfections to a fault in the string itself to the bridge saddle to...

I called it a lemon because that's a term used to describe an instrument brand that in most cases is great - except this one. Any brand can have it's share of lemons. It doesn't mean the brand is bad - it means that a particular unit had a flaw.

Sometimes you can get a funky string too. I'd call that a lemon as well. Again, the brand may have a fine reputation but even the best of brands has it's occasional lemon.

ArturoOsito · #10 11-08-2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTE

A low nut would cause the open string to buzz, not stopped notes. I would have checked the neck's relief and worked on the whole setup before I returned it.

John

I cranked up as much relief as I could...still nothing. I sat there for a half hour adding relief...testing it. Adding relief...testing it. All the way until I could turn the truss anymore. There was just something wrong with it...

tZer · #11 11-08-2012, 01:25 PM

It could have had an imperfection in the fingerboard. The B-string itself could have had an imperfection.

Grateful · #12 11-08-2012, 02:05 PM

I have a Carvin B50 w/interchangeable fretted and fretless necks. It is a fretless 90% of the time.

It's an astonishing bass and I have no buzzing problems whatsoever, and it has the factory nut. I also like my action low and this one has it in spades. Sounds like it could have maybe used used a set-up, or possibly the neck had a twist or something?

FWIW, I also have another B50 and a B25. All Carvins, all 5 strings, all amazing.

HaMMerHeD · #13 11-08-2012, 02:07 PM

I have a (34") fretless 5, and the B string is great.

I made it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

My Carvin AC-50F is really fairly awesome! I played it for the first time in years a few weeks back, and I remembered why I loved it in the first place. Plenty of Mwa, no buzzing...... If I get carried away on the open B I can get a bit of fretboard clack, but that's just my ham-fisted technique.

Now I want a ham sandwich.

dukeisdog · #14 11-08-2012, 02:11 PM

Just traded away my Fretless stingray 5 and didnt find that it had really any amount of buzz aside from the general ballsy digging in tone that I usually get playing aggressive as I do.

bassgod0dmw · #15 11-08-2012, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArturoOsito

I cranked up as much relief as I could...still nothing. I sat there for a half hour adding relief...testing it. Adding relief...testing it. All the way until I could turn the truss anymore. There was just something wrong with it...

It could take hours for truss rod tweaks to take effect.

Clef_de_fa · #16 11-08-2012, 02:41 PM

I have 2 LB76 ( one fretted one fretless ) and I think it is a case of change of weather/humidity or the strings. Because it was shipped from California to somewhere else ... so of course it will have to settle.