Are roundwound strings bad for fretless?

[flea-chilipeppr]

Hey, I had heard somewhere that roundwounds strings are bad for the fingerboard on fretless basses. Do you guys know if this is true?

 

[Jazzin']

It will leave marks/grooves on an unfinished fingerbaord. It slowly digs away. Very slowly though.

 

[James Hart]

It will leave marks/grooves on an unfinished fingerbaord. It slowly digs away. Very slowly though.

so will flats...

Metal > Wood

 

[flea-chilipeppr]

Thanks guys

 

[Reggae Bob]

you could try tape wound or ground wound. They are closer to the round sound but better for the board.

 

[vindy500]

apparently you heard using the search button is bad for you too

 

[tplyons]

It will damage the board, but it can be counteracted by proper vibrato technique (parallel to the strings, instead of parallel to the fretlines) and a softer touch while playing.

Your fingerboard will wear no matter what strings you use. It's proper wear and tear. It can be fixed when it needs to be.

 

[Nick Ioannucci]

play what makes you happy, whether it be rounds or flats. ive got a friend that tells me what i should do and what he thinks is dumb and usually i blow him. we have completely different tastes and preferences, and thats all string choice is. flats and rounds will both wear out your board very slowly.

 

[MarkMyWordsXx]

yes they destroy necks. at least it did on mine. all you need to do is finish your neck. its easy. i used the super glue approach from bass player mag and it worked great. other people are offended by superglue for whatever reason. but it worked for me so.

but deff finish your necks people

 

[Nick Ioannucci]

they dont destroy necks. i am finishing my neck with epoxy because of the great tone though. never heard of the super glue thing though.

 

[tplyons]

yes they destroy necks. at least it did on mine. all you need to do is finish your neck. its easy. i used the super glue approach from bass player mag and it worked great. other people are offended by superglue for whatever reason. but it worked for me so.

but deff finish your necks people

Finishing your neck changes the tone. Some people like this, some don't.

They destroy necks depending on your technique. I played a fretless for over a year with rounds before I noticed any significant wear, and it was hardly significant.

 

[Bassist4Life]

apparently you heard using the search button is bad for you too

+1

This topic pops up frequently. I tend to direct people to Michael Manring. This will give you your answer AND introduce you to one of the most amazing bassists in the universe (no joke).

Joe

 

[honeyculture]

you should marine exopy your board and play roundwounds like jaco, but your not jaco but to each his own.

 

[The Penguin]

Hey, I had heard somewhere that roundwounds strings are bad for the fingerboard on fretless basses. Do you guys know if this is true?

Every one seems to be giving yes or no answers but I feel it's more gray than that. All strings will wear grooves, round wounds just wear faster but most people will make the tradeoff for the tone. Stainless is the worst, nickel is better and flats are the least abrasive of the normal choices. Also among types certain brands will be more abrasive than others.

 

[war_n_peace]

Every one seems to be giving yes or no answers but I feel it's more gray than that. All strings will wear grooves.

 

[Tbirdbassist]

That pic is WAAAAYYYY too big. Not all of us have 20 inch screens.


My Ibanez has a Rosewood fingerboard and is a fretless. It's been a fretless for about a year now and it's only been sanded down once after the original sanding and even then it wasn't much.

I play pretty agressive and slap on it as well and the only wear that's significant is at the end of the fingerboard where the strings hit it. If you care about cosmetics than you can put a peice of plastic or wood at the end to keep it from happening.

Going by the little wear that's on my board now and the way I play. This board has a lot of life left.

 

[dukerutledge]

Yes, they also wear down frets and fretted boards, but nobody complains about that. The fact is its gonna happen, but its gonna happen REALLY slow. No need to worry about your board, chances are you'll be wanted a new bass before there is any real damage.

 

[00Funk]

Is the pope catholic? And this is diamondwood. It dosnt bother me though. I cant feel any grooves when Im playing. I use stainless rounds to.

 

[thepontif]

You can finish the board with a super hard finish, or send it to someone to do it for you. There are places out there that specialize in it. I used to have a Warmoth bass with a fretless ebony board. It held up great. Just like an acoustic bass, you'll have to have the fingerboard resurfaced from time to time. Not a big deal. Fretted basses need the occasional grind and polish too. The grade of wood will matter too. Rosewood won't tend to hold up as well as ebony. Forget about maple unless you epoxy it.

Also, GHS makes (or made) a string called Pressure-wound where the winding is crushed into an oval shape before it's wrapped around the core. It reduces the abrasion on the fingerboard. Dean Markley makes or made a string called a Half and Half which was (if memory serves) half wound from the nut to near the end of the neck, then roundwound on to the bridge. The point of all of it is to retain as much original mass in the string as you can. At least that's the way I remember it. Hope that helps.
-Pope

 

[sloppyjaloppy]

yes they destroy necks. at least it did on mine. all you need to do is finish your neck. its easy. i used the super glue approach from bass player mag and it worked great. other people are offended by superglue for whatever reason. but it worked for me so.

but deff finish your necks people

what is this superglue finish you speak of? i just bought a dodgey old bass that i want to defret as cheaply as possibly, your superglue approach sounds just like that.