Apart from the fact that it looks and sounds like a turd, this is of course a laughable concept. You'd either have a fretted bass with a ridiculously low action or a fretless with a ridiculously high action, both of which aren't very nice. I would never buy it if I could afford it.
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Fret(less) bass - the heck is this?
- Thread starter Stealth
- Start date
It was in old bass player magazines in an ad... like early / mid 90's...
there were these metal things that the string vibrated against and made a twangy sound...
Ill be in Miami where all my old stuff is tomorrow so ill see if I can find it...
HERE it is (with sound clip of Dominique Di Piazza playing it): Invalid Link Removed
That's pretty sweet, but I doubt that it'd work as well as two separate basses. Actually, two separate basses would be cheaper anyway. At least at this point.
Vegier (a French Company) was the originator of this concept I believe. Don't think it is manufactured anymore.
http://www.vigierguitars.com/
DRW
http://www.vigierguitars.com/
DRW
yeah thats what its like... but the one i remember didnt look as slick... they must have improved the look of it...
Gotta admit that the bridge always sounded good when Dominique played it. Every once in a while I think it would be cool to get one on a bass. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Steinberger made one years ago. The knob stuck out of the "headstock" at the end. It did not look as simple as that though. The Steinberger one was kind of ugly, even for a Steinberger (and I play a Steinberger).
http://steinbergerworld.com/
Click on photos and images, then under prototypes.
http://steinbergerworld.com/
Click on photos and images, then under prototypes.
Yeah, but Dominique could make a paper bag full of turds sound great- he is truly a master. Still.....Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I can't help wondering if this isn't illegal under the same laws as switchblades and concealed weapons. 
Seriously, cool idea, but not sure how well it would work in execution. Seems to me that the moving parts and joints are extra things to vibrate and make unwanted noise...
Seriously, cool idea, but not sure how well it would work in execution. Seems to me that the moving parts and joints are extra things to vibrate and make unwanted noise...
It's made by Mikey guitar - the neck has no radius and the frets roll over from a rounded side to a flat side. As stated before, how do have good action for both?
Didn't someone figure that you could buy a really nice fretless and a really nice fretted bass guitar for the same price as that one instrument.
I've thought about this for many years. It's possible to have a radiused fingerboard w. matching frets. But as you say, how to have correct action for both modes? IMO you need to raise and lower the nut and bridge saddles as well as the frets, but then it goes out of tune, so that's no good.
An alternate approach would be to raise and lower the fingerboard instead of the frets, but then to have a smooth surface in fretless mode the frets would have to be flat with no crown, also no good.
So really, to do it right, you have to both raise and lower the fingerboard, AND rotate the frets- a mechanical nightmare.
Still, my hat's off to the maker for having the determination to get as far as he did.
If you've ever dropped a saddle, the first thing you'd notice is that it goes flat.
