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Fretgrooves?

#22
JoshB said:
To be fair, Marco has stepped up his game since he made mine...

Here's a couple more videos.



My experience with them was that the fretgroove gave you a tone you just can't get from a normal fretless. It has a metallic clank, and I've actually seen people slapping on them with great success. They give you the attack of a fret, but the slide of a fretless.

If I didn't absolutely suck at fretless, I'd still have mine. Marco is a great dude to work with, and is building some amazing instruments apart from the fretgrooves as well. Just a note on top of that...I'm not an endorser or anything, just had the pleasure of working with Marco, and consider him a good friend.
Click to expand...


+1 on the Marco tip. I have a TBL he made and it is SWEET! I plan to try the Fretgroove when I get the free cash.
 
#23
Hey everyone....This is Marco from Marco Bass Guitars. Thank you to all for your inquiry on the Fretgroove. The Fretgroove is not a substitute for a fretless bass - it's like a third option, per say.... It'd be as playing a fretted bass but with a fretless sound. The grooves (at the location of every fret) have a distinctive function: when you play inside the grooves you get the fretted position with a fretless sound and when you play between the grooves it's like you're playing a fretless bass. So, it truly facilitates you playing a fretless bass because you can pitch all the way as if you were playing a fretted bass. I know it's a crazy conception but pretty revolutionary. I have had great reviews from great players that understood the concept right way. if you guys have any further questions or would like to have others' opinions on this, please let me know, I'll gladly answer you. Watch this video - this is actually a guitarist doing an Obscura's cover, playing the Fretgroove:
 
#25
I met Marco Cortes at NAMM 2011 and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Fretgroove is a revolutionary concept in bass design that hopefully will take off. When I first played a Fretgroove, I thought I was about to play something that would feel completely alien (remember interchangeable aluminum finger boards?), but it immediately felt NORMAL, and it is in tune!! What a concept! I played the bass at a competitor's booth and couldn't go back to their proprietary (Chinese) basses. Since then I have played all of Marcos basses (at his house...full of basses), and must endorse this system. It works.

Plus, I have also played his fretted basses and he definitely makes wonderful instruments. His pickups are hand wound and get wonderful,
great big sound out of passive pickups.
 
#26
I think this one's headed for the trash bin. (From what I can hear and deduce) Here's why: What's missing with the 'fretgroove' is that beautiful swelling 'mwah' sound you get with a fretless when you sit on a sustained note. (You might get that between the grooves/frets, but then it's out of pitch). Sorry kids, can't have your cake and eat it.
 
#27
ProfessorKelp said:
What's missing with the 'fretgroove' is that beautiful swelling 'mwah' sound you get with a fretless when you sit on a sustained note. (You might get that between the grooves/frets, but then it's out of pitch). Sorry kids, can't have your cake and eat it.
Click to expand...



I have to disagree with you totally. I have owned a 6 string fretgoove for a while and the mwah is there. I use extremely low action(and very light gauge strings) and a lot of times that mwah sound that you speak of comes from the players technique.


Have you actually held a frtgroove bass in your hand and played one? Do you play any fretless at all?






Marco bass guitars endorser.
 

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