Hi Guys, I have been a guitar player for 35 years. I just bought my friends Fender Jazz Bass Special Fretless. I was with him when he bought it new at Guitar Center in Chicago, and it had been sitting under the bed for about 25 years. It was silver when new, but now the finish looks to have faded to a light green color...looks cool. Anyway, the stings on it are so old, and appear to be roundwouds, or maybe what you call groundwounds. I would like to replace the strings, but seems like more string choices than I know about. My style of music is mostly classic rock, 60's, 70's and 80's. Any sting type and guage advice for an old newbie would be much appreciated! Fun Times ahead! Yetti Bass- {}
Nice bass, I like the way that finish ages. String preference is really a personal tastes thing, especially on fretless.
I just don't have experiences with different bass strings to have form a preference yet. lol I would say I like the little bit of snap and bite you get out of normal bass strings, but I don't want to choose a string that will damage the fretless fretboard.
Sounds like a job for ground or compression wounds then (rather than flats). My personal favorites for electric fretless are Ken Smith Compressors and Slick Rounds.
That bass needs some 9050 Fender flats, IMO, at least to get started. There are lots of bass string shootouts on YouTube - that should give you a frame of reference
That's interesting..I would have thought flatwounds would be completely dead sounding with age. The strings on this bass actually sound pretty good, feel smooth...but they have to be at least 25 years old. I typically change my guitar strings every 2 or 3 months, so this bass stuff is new to me. lol
Every string will damage the fingerboard. You're pressing metal into wood. If you play it a lot you might have to get it sanded down a little in 10 years. Don't let that prevent you from using any kind of string that gets you the sound you want. That said, I prefer GHS Pressurewounds on fretless electric. Not because of board wear, but because they feel smoother while doing slides while sounding like broken in rounds. They're basically roundwounds that are run through rollers at the factory to squash the outer windings down a little. {}
I will back up lz4005 on this. I have an '87 Jazz Bass Special fretless I just restrung with GHS Pressurewounds and so far I like the feel. I used the 40-96 set. I have yet to run it through an amp to hear the sound, but if they sound like they play and feel they are excellent. If it matters, I also plan to try the SIT Silencers and the Rotosound Pressurewound before I settle on a choice, but I think that Pressurewounds would be worth looking at.
Hey, Thanks a lot guys for your input and advice. I'm listening to you, and learning...and playing the heck out of this new bass, right 2 fingers fricken hurtin. I came across Dadarrio Half wounds during my string searching. Any experiences with those? I have using Dadarrio Nickel wound for my Strat guitar for years, happy with that.
Chromes, TI Jazz Flats, mmm, maybe Labella Low tension Flats, or................ I'm a flats guy, can't you tell?
My fretboard does needs a little sanding down..it's not too bad, but I noticing a few areas a little grooved out. Since this bass is nice, all original, I have scheduled an appointment at my local luthier in a couple weeks to go thru everything. I'm researching gauges now...Thinking medium is safe, but I am open to opinion on that too. For guitar, I use light guage .009 - .42 {}
One thing to keep in mind about the GHS PWs is they're slightly stiffer than a typical set of rounds. Here are the actual tension numbers: Pressurewound L7200: G 040 - 37.2 (lbs.) D 054 - 36.5 A 076 - 39.3 E 096 - 34.2 Pressurewound ML7200: G 044 - 43.3 (lbs.) D 058 - 41.9 A 080 - 44.6 E 102 - 39.5 GHS Pressurewound M7200: G 044 - 43.3 (lbs.) D 062 - 48.6 A 084 - 47.2 E 106 - 48.0 I personally find the ML7200 the best-balanced of the three both in tension and tone. But that's just me...
I like half-rounds better on a fretted instrument. Well, on some fretted basses, they seem to be just the right thing. My fretless has med. GHS Precision flats: stiff flatwounds which retain some brightness. I'd recommend them on a P/J. On a Jazz, it all depends of how much high you want.
Many Thanks for this. Medium Light pressure wounds sounds like the winner. I'll try em, and report back
The correct answer is Nylon Tape Wounds (LaBella 760N). Clearly, the TBers who know this haven't chimed in yet.
Many Thanks again for the advice Guys! This is a cool forum, I like the online store too...bought a couple sets to try. One set for this Fender fretless, and another set for a recently acquired old fretted bass {} {} {}
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