Advice on strings for fretless

[Lo-E]

Here you go smart guy. Pino replaces the fretboard on his musicman bass all the time due to the fact that it's a Rosewood board, so it get chewed up faster. Bass Player magazine interview, March 1992, Page 45.

Fair enough. I stand corrected, and thanks for the info.

 

[SneakyT]

Back In college I was lucky enough to get to take a few lessons from Gary Willis. He recommended [This invalid link has been removed] to me for a five string fretless. I was never fond of D'addario strings on anything else but they worked great on a five string fretless. I use Sunbeams on my four string fretless now days. If i still had a five string fretless I'd certainly try some of them again.

 

[grrg63]

But of late, I have found the Fender flats (I think they have a green package) sounding nice and bright for a very crisp tone, but with the smooth feel of a flat wound.

I like Fender 9050 flats, they're brighter than half rounds though I like those too.

 

[SteveCS]

View attachment 652604 Hi to all I am looking for some advice on what kind of strings I can use on my new fretless 5 string that will give me the growl I love from round wounds but won't chew my ebony fingerboard up. I am a huge Pino Paladino and Mark Egan sound fan. And I know Pino used Roto's. But I know Roto's love to eat fretboards. I want to try to use strings that will make my fretboard last a long time. I plan on playing this new bass a lot. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

D

First-off, what a stunning bass! I used to use Rotosound 'Superwound', which was a pressure-wound string with piano-string-design (PSD) ball ends where the winding stops before the saddle and only the core goes over the saddle. These are no longer available, so I now use 'Solo55' (Invalid Link Removed These have the same pressure-wound finish (Rotosound call it 'LINEA') as the Superwounds and they are a really good compromise - not quite as bouncy as the Swing Bass (66) but much smoother to touch and kind to fingerboards under all but the most aggressive of styles. There is a lot of 'new-string zing' and there is an initial sense of roughness to the surface, but once they are played in these both go away and they change very slowly thereafter. I've only recently re-dressed my rosewood fingerboard after 25 years of using LINEA strings...

 

[MD]

I put LaBella black tapes on my main years ago. Subsequently, they went on two other fretless basses. I've never felt a need or desire to try anything else.

 

[BlushResponse]

I may be a fanboy for D'addario half rounds, but I'd be willing to experiment with the black tapewound strings that are out there.

 

[AltGrendel]

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[Jeff Scott]

Here you go smart guy. Pino replaces the fretboard on his musicman bass all the time due to the fact that it's a Rosewood board, so it get chewed up faster. Bass Player magazine interview, March 1992, Page 45.

Cool, but do you have anything more current than a 23 years old interview? What is he doing in 2015?

 

[BlushResponse]

Cool, but do you have anything more current than a 23 years old interview? What is he doing in 2015?

Last I saw him, he was touring with NIN, since Eric Avery from Jane's Addiction decided not to go. Pino still has an amazing fretless tone. Also, it seems like he's switched over to Ernie Ball Slinky flats, so maybe he doesn't need a new slab on his bass lately. I just happened to stumble over that old magazine the other day btw.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Yeah, I have seen the ads for those strings. Eventually, we all figure out that fretless basses sound best with flatwound strings on them.