The Fretless Club (Part 3)

[E_strat]

Noob question:

Is it safe to play fretless with an unfinished rosewood board?

And also if I had a maple board, would it be ok to finish it in tung oil, or is that too risky? Thanks.

[Shardik]

As long as you don't mind a bit faster wear of the wood, I guess an unfinished rosewood or maple board is not a problem. But that is only if this is an original fretless. For a defretted bass I think bare wood is a bad idea.

[E_strat]

Ok thanks, I know rosewood is normally unfinished when sold on guitars and basses, I just wasn't sure if it went for fretless. I've seen a lot of people coating their rosewood boards with epoxy, so I was just wondering. I'd be using flats anyway.

[spade2you]

I don't think it's necessary if you're using flatwounds. I personally like the sound of flatwounds on uncoated rosewood.

[Matthew_84]

Originally Posted by 3234718

Whats the general consensus on mighty mite ebabol fretless necks?

Well I finally put my Mighty Mite ebonol unlined neck on my Squier Jazz and the neck seems to be very well made. My only kind of concern is that the nut seems to be too high for my taste. I'd file it down myself but those files are expensive

[Matthew_84]

Hey guys, how do you intonate a bridge with an unlined fretless? On my lined, I plucked the open string and then would use a popsicle stick to stop the string right on the 12th line. I would get really accurate intonation across all four strings.

But now that I have an unlined neck, and the pitch is in between the two lines. I'm kind of guessing with my eyes where it should be, and now each string may be a little off from each other, not much, but you know, every little bit helps.

Any tips?

[spade2you]

I honestly don't sweat it.

[mark beem]

Hosted a jam session tonight and used my Ibby GWB35 for most of it. Sounded great! Loving this bass!

[chuck norriss]

Nice. Is that a Gary Willis ?

[chuck norriss]

Making progress, just need to get more screws for the tuners then I can string it up & adjust.

[jamestown94west]

Originally Posted by chuck norriss

Making progress, just need to get more screws for the tuners then I can string it up & adjust.

Gorgeous

[mtb777]

Originally Posted by Matthew_84

Hey guys, how do you intonate a bridge with an unlined fretless? On my lined, I plucked the open string and then would use a popsicle stick to stop the string right on the 12th line. I would get really accurate intonation across all four strings.

But now that I have an unlined neck, and the pitch is in between the two lines. I'm kind of guessing with my eyes where it should be, and now each string may be a little off from each other, not much, but you know, every little bit helps.

Any tips?

If it's the same scale as your other lined bass, you can measure the 12 line and take a sharpie or a pen and mark the strings at the appropriate spots and go from there. The distance will be the same there of course! Just a thought

[chuck norriss]

Thanks
Close-up. I wanted a
String through ash body
next ill try a neck thriugh some day.

[Matthew_84]

I like that a lot. Are you going to put a bridge cover on that as well?

[Matthew_84]

Hey everyone,

I realized that I spend too much time noodling on my computer, mainly here, so I decided to make myself a Windows Wallpaper to help keep me motivated.

It is somewhat personalized, but thought some of you may like it as well.

The stuff on the left with hyphens (ear training, intonation, and improvisation) are things I'd like to do everyday, and the stuff with the asterisks are things that I do afterwards, if I have time. I try to do at least one of them a day, and try to cycle from top to bottom.

As for the "read" part, I have lots of theory books that I need to catch up on.

[mtb777]

Originally Posted by chuck norriss

Thanks
Close-up. I wanted a
String through ash body
next ill try a neck through some day.

I really like the ash body and finish! Great grain! I also like the maple fingerboard as well, having been the previous owner of 2 maple fretless P basses. I, for one, don't like the covers for fretless, especially the bridge as I have a technique for droning notes at the ends of songs usually, by slapping the string right at the bridge saddle with my thumb and slapping the body with the palm of my hand instead of the old rapid three finger(or two) plucking as I'm getting a little arthritis and am slowing down a little in my old age! If I built a bass like that, I think I'd try an ABM bridge like my Pedulla has, as I really like the roller saddles and I also like the side to side adjustment (string spacing) available with those.

[mtb777]

Originally Posted by Matthew_84

Hey everyone,

I realized that I spend too much time noodling on my computer, mainly here, so I decided to make myself a Windows Wallpaper to help keep me motivated.

It is somewhat personalized, but thought some of you may like it as well.

The stuff on the left with hyphens (ear training, intonation, and improvisation) are things I'd like to do everyday, and the stuff with the asterisks are things that I do afterwards, if I have time. I try to do at least one of them a day, and try to cycle from top to bottom.

As for the "read" part, I have lots of theory books that I need to catch up on.

Nice, you need a fretted and fretless version of that, don't you? Lol. Lined and unlined, as well, just so no one argues.

[mark beem]

Originally Posted by chuck norriss

Nice. Is that a Gary Willis ?

Yes, the budget model. Still a good bass. Thinking of replacing the pickup and preamp.

[bassman10]

Originally Posted by E_strat

Noob question:

Is it safe to play fretless with an unfinished rosewood board?

And also if I had a maple board, would it be ok to finish it in tung oil, or is that too risky? Thanks.

I'd suggest a top quality lemon oil to finish your fingerboard...

[chuck norriss]

Originally Posted by Matthew_84

I like that a lot. Are you going to put a bridge cover on that as well?

No those get in the way for me I need that rt hand space.