About fretless basses...

[Tupac]

I really want one because I love their sound, but I hear the strings will eat up the fretboard. I play about an hour a day, so that would be a no-go for me. Is it true? If they do, would flatwound strings solve the problem?

[fuzzy beard]

Dont know to much about it but i know you should use flats or tape wounds!

[49sfine]

Yes, they would.

[snyderz]

Rounds will 'mar' your board, but it mostly depends on your playing style, and the type of wood/coating on the board. Eventually, they could 'groove' your board. Flats will obviously do less damage.

[raymondl3]

Be prepared to replace the board after some years. Other than that, you could go with a graphite composite neck or use flats..if you like flats.

[pacojas]

don't worry about it,... it's practically a non-issue. rounds do minimal scarring. nothing that can't be touched up. if you must, use flats. though, flats are kinda boring on fretless, IMHO.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by pacojas

don't worry about it,... it's practically a non-issue. rounds do minimal scarring. nothing that can't be touched up. if you must, use flats. though, flats are kinda boring on fretless, IMHO.

+1, I gig out 3 to 5 times a week (3 or 4 sets usually) on average. About a third my gigs are on my fretless J. I rehearse maybe a half hour a day. Half my rehearsal time is on fretless (with the rest being on upright). I use rounds on my fretless. While I can see a little wear if I look for it close up in a bright room, it is very light. Doesn't affect tone/playability whatsoever and is not noticeable unless you are really closeup. The whole rounds will eat your board thing is WAY overblown.

At the rate I am playing, I anticipate needing to have the fingerboard sanded down in maybe another 5 or 6 years. That's about what I expect for a fret job on a fretted bass. Eventually the fingerboard will be worn down and need to be replaced, but we are talking multiple decades here before that happens. Don't let the worry about needing to replace your neck 40 years down the line influence your string selection. Periodic maintenance including repair work is just part of playing any instrument.

I did the flats thing for while, but that was for the different timbre. Didn't like it, came back to rounds. By all means use flats if it flats your boat, but do NOT let worry about your fingerboard affect your decision.

PS: I also used to do the epoxy thing. I've done about a half dozen or so epoxy jobs on fretless necks. The excuse I used at the time was protecting the fingerboard. In reality, I think I just wanted to experiment with the sound of an epoxied fingerboard. I enjoyed it but am digging the rounds on wood sound for the moment.

[markkoelsch]

I would not sweat it too much. My fretless is about 10 years old, I play with rounds, and the fingerboard is in pretty good shape.

[voodoobassist]

I just picked up a fretless Warmoth build here with a pristine ebony board. It's strung with black tape wounds. They sound, "okay", but I've always been a roundwound kinda guy. I hate to mar the board with rounds, but it's really only that, a bit of cosmetic damage.

After several years you will probably create a groove or two, but then just take it to a good luthier for leveling. Thats the cost of rounds, no different than having to get a fret job once every blue moon.

[TheCush]

I tried different flats on my fretless jazz, and have tried rounds, half rounds, tapewounds, etc. I finally settled on Fender 9120 black tapewounds, primarily because of timbre, but they are definitely easier on a rosewood board. If you can get a fretless bass with an ebony board, or as others have mentioned treated either with epoxy or some wood hardener, rounds will really no problem.

That said, I did come across an MIJ fretless J that had horrible grooving from rounds. I had to imagine that it took years to get into that kind of playing. But they weren't so bad that my luthier could get it shaved down and into playing shape pretty easily.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by voodoobassist

I just picked up a fretless Warmoth build here with a pristine ebony board. It's strung with black tape wounds. They sound, "okay", but I've always been a roundwound kinda guy. I hate to mar the board with rounds, but it's really only that, a bit of cosmetic damage.

After several years you will probably create a groove or two, but then just take it to a good luthier for leveling. Thats the cost of rounds, no different than having to get a fret job once every blue moon.

Only cosmetic damage FOR NOW!

Yes, rounds DO chew even ebony fingerboards. Flats DO NOT chew them. (leave sort of "polished" marks but no nasty grooves) Also much brighter than flats are ground-wounds (my usual choice). These are GHS brite flats they are called or d'addario half-rounds they are called. A compromise is GHS "pressure wounds" These are rounds run through rollers to not be so chewy. Brighter than non-chewing ground-rounds, but not quite as bright as chewy rounds. They chew but at a much slower rate.

Most round lovers simply regard the chews as a "cost of doing business" and just figure in a neck planing every so often when the grooves get too deep. It's just a minor sacrifice for the tone you love!

[fingerbun]

Just like on a fretted, flats and rounds sound different to each other and different brands of strings have their own sound. Currently one of my fretlesses has rounds and the other has flats. The flats are a nice sound but the rounds are richer and fuller. I use the rounds more, because the flats are more upright-like and I can use an upright for that. I suspect I will end up putting rounds back on the other bass.

As others have said, maintaining the fingerboard is no big deal. I would start with the sound I liked and plan for maintenance on my instruments, which in the case of a fretless includes sanding the fingerboard down from time to time, and ultimately replacing it. Both of which are routine maintenance.

At my busiest I used to spend maybe 3 hours a day average on the fretless. At that time the fingerboard needed to be sanded annually. That bass is an Ibanez Musician with ebony fingerboard. I can't tell you how long it takes before you have to replace the fingerboard, because I had that instrument fretted at one stage (needed frets and couldn't afford a fretted instrument of same calibre). However converting it back to fretless involved replacing the fingerboard and was no big deal.

[raymondl3]

I played fretless exclusively for about 10 years. Started having trouble after 5 years. Had to sand the neck once to twice a year after about 7 years. Finally retired the bass until I can find someone who will replace the board - non Fender instrument, otherwise I would have replace the entire neck. Ebony neck with low action - that's another thing to consider.

[ChrisPbass]

Frets can be replaced. Fretless boards can leveled.
Not
a
big
deal
Play what sounds good.
I really can't imagine settling for a sound when I can simply have the board leveled/sanded/whatever sometime down the line.

[JTE]

Originally Posted by fuzzy beard

Dont know to much about it but i know you should use flats or tape wounds!

ONLY if you want the sound of flats or of tape wounds.

It's a tool for creating musical sounds, so the important part is the SOUND first. I've been playing fretless since 1987, always with rounds. The first fretless neck I had was an MIJ Fender Jazz Bass Special with a rosewood board. That board lasted a good six or seven years before I had to replace it. And most of that wear was caused by the constant dressing and buffing I did to get rid of purely cosmetic string wear. Had I just played it and only dressed the fingerboard about once a year, I'd probably have gotten an easy 12 years out of that board.

I replaced the fingerboard with a chunk of ebony and now I only dress it with a hardware sponge (the equivalent of 0000 steel wool) about once a year. I also have a Lakland 4-94 with factory ebony board that I've had for two years now and haven't had the need to dress the board at all yet.

MOST of the wear that occurs is controllable. Only press down as hard as required to get a good tone, and not any harder. Don't bend the string. Keep the strings and fingerboard (and your hands) clean. Don't attack the strings any harder with your plucking hand than you need to. If you do those things, you can play rounds for a long time and not be worried about excessive fingerboard wear.

John

[FretlessMainly]

Good words from JTE, but not all of us play with that degree of control. I press down hard, bend notes, slide up and down and generally play with reckless abandon at times. I too have a Fender Jazz FL (CIJ, not MIJ, but that's a moot point) and I had LaBella DTB rounds on it for over a year as my main bass, and the rosewood held up pretty well.

0000 steel wool was enough to just clean it up every so often. I've found that the biggest thing to consider if you use rounds is a varnish type of finish that you'll find on maple boards (like my '76 FL P-bass) or like Rickenbacker uses on their basses.

Rounds chewed up my 4003FL quite quickly; even though it was just surface abrasions, it happened after about 8-10 hours of playing. So, what starts as aesthetic can go beyond that with a varnished board (although I don't have any history with it going further, since I've avoided it).

My advice would be to get a FL with either an ebony or rosewood board if you really want to use rounds - I prefer flats, but I like to have the round sound available too. If you must have a maple board, either use flats or be prepared to do some work on it as time goes by.

Or, go with the composite synthetic boards that are, after all, not so new by now.