Flats on a fretless?

Flats on a fretless are like peanut butter and jelly! Give it a try.

 

Interestingly enough, I'm not a big fan of flats on my fretlesses. Tried quite a few. Miss the sustain and definition I get with rounds.

I had, up until a few months ago, a fretted Jazz bass. LOVE the sound of flats on that. Considering getting another fretted bass just to run some of those Fender 9050s on.

 

Flats on my fretless Precisions!

 

My fretless experiences have been really hit or miss. I loved a set of Labella classic black tapewounds on a Carvin AC40 bass i had. I used the same set on a Yamaha cheapy fretless and they sounded great.
For a while i had a Mexican J bass with half rounds,and just thought the metallic sound and the fretless sound didn’t mesh. (I don’t know how Jaco did it!)
I currently have a defretted Rickenbacker Cheyenne ii that has a set of Chromes on it. I like the sound very much, but not the feel. (It might be the setup,too,there’s not much sustain on the upper strings). I had previously tried a set of the black labella tapes on it,and the E string sounded pretty clacky and unmusical to me. Overall,i prefer flats and tapes to rw strings on most of my basses,and especially on fretless ones.
My next string change for that bass is likely going to be a set of Labella low tension flexible flats.

 

Flats on a fretless?
It'll never catch on...

 

I don’t like flats, especially on fretless since I’d be doing a lot more sliding than on fretted. I feel that all the extra friction between my fingers and much more surface area of a flat-wound string holds me back....not that I’m a virtuoso or anything, I just would like less holding me back than my own talent (or lack thereof).

 

What flatwounds are you using?
Most of the flatwound sets i’ve used are super slick feeling, certainly less friction than rw’s.

 

The only flatwounds I have ever used, or suspect I ever will, I have used on my fretless. But I play fretted instruments with roundwounds 99% of the time.

 

I tried a set of D’Addario’s I think, a loooong time ago and took them off the same day. Then I bought a fretless that came with flats. Took those off the same day, too.

 

Flats on fretless?
Freebo on the early Bonnie Raitt records (pre '77 or so) is my halllmark for flats/fretless. There's an astoundingly beautiful performance of "Love Has No Pride" by the two of them on YouTube.

Rick Danko used flats on his freless basses (the Ampeg, a Precision, and a Gibson Ripper).

I believe Bill Wyman's fretless wore flats.

 

Hell yeah, especially if you're going for more of a stand up sound. I have them on my fretless frankentele and love the sound. They're a bit easier on the fretboard over time too.

GBFT-1 by grrg63 posted Aug 13, 2018 at 7:05 PM

 

Yes!

 

Try Cobalt Flats if you want to still have a bright tone. I think half rounds strings are also great and much less prone to causing fretboard wear than rounds.

 

me: only fretless, only rounds, only happy.

OP, you have to do what you think best, but: fretless + rounds = fingerboard tragedy is overplayed here. it takes a long time to wear out a fingerboard...some TB folks are wearing out metal frets way sooner!

 

True, and this goes triple if your fingerboard is ebony.

 

They go together like bread and butter, your gonna love em. Try La Bella Tape Wounds, great mid range and string feel.

 

agreed.

i just removed a 30 y.o. maple/ebony neck from a J: it has wicked string marks after 3 decades but it is not quite ready for a re-do --- it still plays without issues!

 

You could probably sand it down yourself.

 

i will be doing the work! it's probably my best neck (feel)!