@AB Nate - Sorry to hear about the wait. You forget all about that afterwards. I think I was well over a year, too. I'm sure you've sent a friendly reminder email or 3? I do remember Sheldon saying he was steering away from epoxy because he got a good supply of ebony. Apparently it is crazy hard to work with (ebony). I love the contrasting fret lines, and was sad to hear he is no longer offering them due to problems with expansion/contraction or something. I've had no issues with my cocobolo ABII with a Jatoba/Ebony fretless neck.
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That’s a beautiful bass. Too bad some of (IMO) the finest sounding and looking woods are hard to get and transport these days(CITES)
The wait is pretty much all good. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. I’ve admittedly been a difficult customer over the course soooo... what it is. I’ve changed a couple things while waiting..... heck I’m having thoughts about more changes but I don’t think I will push for them.
I originally wanted no lines but then I realized I’m just not that good and my hearing isn’t getting better. So I wanted sort of a hybrid design(I can post it if you want to see it)......Dingwall shut me down. It might have to do with working with ebony and the workload that would be required or perhaps it may have to do with the fact that Sheldon would have Ron
(Edit: I don’t know who Ron is but my autocorrect likes him.... sorry. Ron = to. )design it and from what’s I can tell he hasn’t been home much this year with all the shows and such. Either way.... nope at this time I have just found out.
That said, I was given 3 options.
-Side markers(stubby lines),
-luminlay lines
-maple lines
I had also heard Sheldon was moving away from any lines on the fretless builds closer to the beginning of my build but I am now under the obvious impression they have changed back to offering them.
I’ve gone with maple lines and here is why.
Pt .1
I had borrowed(for the second time)a friends unlined fretless Zon. A beast of a bass. Awesome machone but I found this time I had more troubles staying on pitch. I blame this on being solely a fanned fret player for the duration I now have been AND moving to the 6 string. With the six string I found I really had to spend more time on form and you are just dealing with a larger fan period. I THINK this is why I had pitch issues.
Needless to say I got a bit intimidated by the lack of lines. I think I would have faired better on a Dingwall but still. It was a moment that had an impact.
Lines or markers are required of somebody sort (for me) no matter how sexy a naked FB looks.
Pt.2
I’ve had a conversation recently with a proud new fretless Dingwall owner. His identity is not mine to share. I was hesitant to even share this info because it was a private convo but I feel that it is highly relevant and it was a critical convo in my decision making. His bass has luminlay lines. It’s a really stunning looking instrument.
However, it has been mentioned that the luminlay lines can be felt and heard. It is very minor from my understanding and this person is still very satisfied with his instrument but it did make me wary on going that route especially considering my location and how our climate shifts sooo dramatically.
It is my Belief that going with a softener more flexible material closer to the FB material then luminlay would make for a more pliable fretless board that would shift closer to as one as @xnewyorka has mentioned.
So that’s my story..... lol.
But now that I have had experiences with FDVs and the D bird switch in my house, back to back agains other configurations I’m really feeling like smoke may be starting to come out my ears as I am perplexed what electronics I should have installed. Currently spec’d is FDV, DGTC and 3x switch.
Order placed for a 3X rotary pickup selector.
I like the idea of the bridge and middle combined in series, and to be able to tap the bridge and neck, a la Jazz bass.
The traditional 3x switch is no slouch. Great options. I really digging the d bird switch too.
One thing that surprised me how much I liked was the MM postision in parallel=. I’d been using it in series- - on my other basses but in = it’s a really nice tone just less driven. AND!!!! with the toggles switching the pick ups to series is really quite similar still slightly middy.
Lol. Anyways. It’s a lotta fun bouncing sounds through these things. Sooo many tasty flavours.
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