Brighter Tone with Fretless Bass

[A. L. McCaslin]

I'm thinking of getting a fretless bass, but I'm a fan of brighter tones. I know flats are generally used, unless you lacquer the fretboard. Are there any flats that have a brighter tone? If not, how hard is it to lacquer a fretboard to put rounds on a fretless? Is there any risk to the bass itself?

 

[Selta]

I use rounds on my fretless, and don't bother laquering. Just put the strings you like on it and play away.

 

[A. L. McCaslin]

I use rounds on my fretless, and don't bother laquering. Just put the strings you like on it and play away.

I heard that that can damage the wood of the fretboard over time. I'd prefer not to do that if at all possible.

 

[StyleOverShow]

I had an ebony fretless fingerboard Grabber from the 70's. It had seen lots of action and was strung with Rotos when I bought it.

There was some wear but nothing major, especially considering it was a 40 year old axe.

I wouldn't worry about the fingerboard. I would rethink why you want a fretless, typically known for its relatively softer sound, and certainly for its absence of fret clank when you like bright sounding bass? Keep to steel strings and whatever you play will be bright. I like DR's myself.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I have a Warmouth Jazz neck that Pedulla coated with "glass kote" epoxy years ago, and it has held up amazingly well. It's noticeably brighter than unsealed wood FB's I've played. Roundwounds are almost too zingy, I tone it down a little with pressure wounds. The ebanol FB on the Squire jazz fretless is very bright, and an excellent deal for the money. Nice mwah for cheap. I've seen a few tutorials on epoxy coating fretless boards, not rocket science, but messy and a bit of work to level and polish.

 

[jd56hawk]

I'm thinking of getting a fretless bass, but I'm a fan of brighter tones. I know flats are generally used, unless you lacquer the fretboard. Are there any flats that have a brighter tone? If not, how hard is it to lacquer a fretboard to put rounds on a fretless? Is there any risk to the bass itself?

The new LaBella Gold tapewounds...very expressive and brighter than their Copper tapewounds.

 

[A. L. McCaslin]

I had an ebony fretless fingerboard Grabber from the 70's. It had seen lots of action and was strung with Rotos when I bought it.

There was some wear but nothing major, especially considering it was a 40 year old axe.

I wouldn't worry about the fingerboard. I would rethink why you want a fretless, typically known for its relatively softer sound, and certainly for its absence of fret clank when you like bright sounding bass? Keep to steel strings and whatever you play will be bright. I like DR's myself.

I like the idea of how much freedom you're afforded without frets. The instrument is more expressive to me.

Plus, they're just plain fun to play.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I heard that that can damage the wood of the fretboard over time. I'd prefer not to do that if at all possible.

Don't bend the strings across the fingerboard. Use a vibrato that's parallel to the neck and you get two benefits... a wider range of pitch shift and less wear.

I've owned and gigged several long term fretlesses over the years. I used nickel roundwounds (DR Sunbeams for the last several years/basses). One of mine has made a few trips to the NAMM show. So far the only time I've needed fingerboard leveling was for a brand new fretless.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I'm thinking of getting a fretless bass, but I'm a fan of brighter tones. I know flats are generally used, unless you lacquer the fretboard. Are there any flats that have a brighter tone? If not, how hard is it to lacquer a fretboard to put rounds on a fretless? Is there any risk to the bass itself?

A finished board will typically yield a tighter, brighter sound while still being able to get very nice warm when you dial it back by use of hands or controls. I prefer finished boards because I can get a fretted or fretless vibe with them more easily than a naked board.

 

[20db pad]

I've been playing a bare ebony board fretless for over 10 years, with rounds. Not my main breadwinner bass, but I play it a lot, even slap technique. It has marks and various artifacts of round wound string use evident on the fretboard. It's just really scratches and there's no depth of damage into the board itself that could affect playability. If you want the round wound sound, play them. For me, I want a fretless to sing, and flats only hum.

Ebony's a good candidate for a glassier, brighter tone because of its hardess and "ping" sort of resonance. The downside is that it's more brittle than other woods, but it seems that proper humidity, maintenance, and environment helps in preventing problems with that.

 

[AltGrendel]

I user LaBella Quarter Rounds. I like 'em.

 

[Zebra]

The wear of rounds on fretless is frequently exaggerated. You will have to have the fingerboard worked on for wear after a decade or so for most normal use. The tone you're after is probably calling for roundwounds anyways. The "fretless tone" that most people are familiar with is typically made with roundwound strings.

 

[J. Wes]

Try some half rounds...

 

[Jim Carr]

I've used TI jazz flats, Pedulla stainless steel rounds, GHS Pressure wounds (hated these!), and Ken Smith Slick Rounds on a fretless 5er strung EADGC. The Ken Smith Slick Rounds are outstanding on fretless. Here is a gratuitous pic of said bass:

 

[basslifter]

I was kind of meh about my fretless Ibby SR375 until....I overcame the fear of rounds. It just sounded kinda dead with the ground-wounds/half-rounds whatever on there. I was going to do some recording with it and I thought I really want to bring the Fretless A game, so I took the chance and went with Nickel roundwounds. Wow....what a difference! The bass is just totally alive and singing now. I love it! I still don't see marks anywhere as yet. It may happen and the board needs some help in 10 years or whatever, but the added joy is worth it.

 

[elgecko]

I heard that that can damage the wood of the fretboard over time. I'd prefer not to do that if at all possible.

Using rounds will also damage frets over time.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I used rounds on a rosewood board for many years and it did need refinishing. After that I used tung oil and it hardened up the board enough that rounds did not damage it further, although it's now strung with flats. I have a Squier VM with TI rounds to tone it down a bit. The rounds don't mark it in any significant way. I have nickel rounds on another fretless with a rosewood board and the wood is a naturally tougher rosewood and is unmarked.

 

[MobileHolmes]

I bought my fretless used. It
Came strung with round wounds. It appears to have been played a lot (there is noticeable body wear), and the ebony board shows zero evidence of gouging

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I'm thinking of getting a fretless bass, but I'm a fan of brighter tones. I know flats are generally used, unless you lacquer the fretboard. Are there any flats that have a brighter tone? If not, how hard is it to lacquer a fretboard to put rounds on a fretless? Is there any risk to the bass itself?

Flats are *not* generally used. Not at all. In fact, I've never had a fretless strung with flats - ever.

 

[TMARK]

I had an MM Sterling that I played into the ground with Rotos. It had a Pau Ferro board. After 15 years it had a slight groove at the C on the A string that caused a buzz. I had the board planed and it was better than new. It wasn't much money to do the repair, maybe $100. It was well worth it to play with rounds.

That being said, I like the tone of DR Legend flats on my Tony Franklin. The ebony board gets a bit bright with new rounds, even mellow rounds like the DR Sunbeams.