Another fretless thread.. Sunbeams, TIs, Nylons....?

[wateroftyne]

Hi all

Just an update to this thread... I've found the tone I was looking for!

A new pair of La Bella FLs and a slightly lower action did the trick. The fact the existing strings were about 8 years old probably didn't help.

I get a lovely URB growl now, that sits perfectly in the mix.

Here's a clip.. zip it on to the 2-minute mark to skip the fretted jazz bit:

 

[Hoover]

Nylon's are not the place to go for definition on a fretless.

Respectfully disagree; I think it depends a lot on what type of bass, and which brand of nylon tapewound string. (As well as your personal definition of "definition"!)

I've used Labella 760N nylon tapewound strings on my last two fretless basses (a Rob Allen MB-2, and before that a Warmoth 5-string Franken-Jazz Bass with EMGs) and both have/had gobs of "definition' -- by which I mean a firm, even, consistent tone up & down the neck that accurately conveys pitch center, envelope, harmonic content, and articulation nuances.

They don't work for every musical situation, but they've become my first choice for fretless strings.

And for those situations where I want a bit more aggressive sound without too much "zing", I've used Ken Smith Compressor Wounds, which are a nickel round wound string with the outer winding squozen (?) flat. -Ish. I us/used these on the Warmoth, as well as a Peavey Unity neck-thru PJ-style fretless I used to have, and they yeilded a punchy, warm, traditional electric bass sound; not quite as much "mwah" as the tapewounds, but more midrange that cuts through a dense mix better.

 

[john-boro]

Yeah - I think I might revise my opinion on this in light of a bit of experimenting I did recently. Had a weekend of lots of rehearsal followed by a gig, and so I tried out 3 options on my fretless. First was fender stainless flats, which were pretty good. Then, TI jazz rounds - very sort of weak sounding for the kind of music it was (jazz, ironically, and funk/disco) with little punch and a tendency to get lost. Then I tried my rotosound nylons again and was really impressed. The roundwound characteristics of midrange power and complexity really come through, there is mid-low thump for days which really supports the band well, and at high volume (I think this is key) the treble has a chance to come through and they even slap well. All-in-all, really pretty great. They have such a meaty sound that everything almost sounds like its being played an octave lower, but you can get really nice high end out of them if you want. The high end is of very different character to other strings, but no less funky for it. Guess you can't judge strings properly until you've played them super loud in a band situation,

 

[the low one]

I like TIJF's. They may sound a bit more upright like than you want. Others seem to swear by Chromes. I also like DR Flats but have not put them on the FL yet. They've been described to me as in between Chromes and TI's. I'd forget tape unless you're really after tubby sounding. I think Gilmour used a combination of P bass and Rotosound flats for PF stuff (Roger didn't play fretless)

Didn't David Gilmour use a Jaydee fretless in PF? I presume that would have been a 2 pickup version with a "Jazz" style pickup configuration.

 

[Billnc]

Didn't David Gilmour use a Jaydee fretless in PF? I presume that would have been a 2 pickup version with a "Jazz" style pickup configuration.

I've no idea, I heard it was a P bass back in the older days, but the more famous Wall stuff and beyond I don't know. I'm also not clear with what David played fretless on and Guy Pratt did.