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Fretless bass sounds dull

Oct 26, 2008
207
32
36
Chicago
Hey, I've got a Warmoth fretless that I put together about a year ago. I really like the bass and it's fun to play but it sounds really dull to me. I wish it sounded more like a fretted bass! Here's the basics of it.

Warmoth P fretless neck maple and ebony fingerboard with an epoxy coat.

Warmoth poplar P body

Dimarzio model P and model J set.

DR black beauties.

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My first guess is it's the black beauties. I used them because they would look good on this bass and never tried them before. But it could be the pickups too. All of my basses are active and I usually prefer EMG's.

The last thing I was thinking was adding a steel plate on the bottom of the fingerboard. When I play, I usually hit the strings against the frets to get some attack out of it. This has no frets so it goes "clack". Does anyone have experience doing something like this?

I really like how it plays and I like playing it, I just don't like the sound a whole lot. It sounds good when other people play it, but I don't like how it sounds when I play it hahaha.
 
I don't get the joke. What I mean is, if other people make it sound good, the bass isn't the problem. My philosophy is always technique first, gear second.

What I mean is there is a certain kind of sound I expect to hear when I'm playing. When I play this one, I don't get that sound out of it. It sounds "good" as in a 60's p bass with flats into a b15 sounds "good", but it wouldn't sound right to me when I'm trying to play it! There are hundreds of bass tones that sound good, but I would never like to sound like myself. I'm trying to get a little more brightness/zing out of this to better match how I like to sound.

I'll try changing the strings first and see if that will do it!
 
If you have an epoxy-coated 'board, why wouldn't you slap some steels on that puppy? Do it. Now. Also, IME, you can get a little clacky with fretless just by digging in a little harder.

As far as digging in I gets lot's of "clack" i just want some "clank"! That's why I'm thinking of putting a steel plate or something similar at the end of the fingerboard. I figure that should get me some of the sound of strings hitting against frets.
 
As far as digging in I gets lot's of "clack" i just want some "clank"! That's why I'm thinking of putting a steel plate or something similar at the end of the fingerboard. I figure that should get me some of the sound of strings hitting against frets.

Getting clank is going to be tough. Put DR Sunbeams on it and boost the highs and high mids on your amp. Play with your right hand back towards the bridge. Is the action low enough?

I'm confused though that you say you want it to sound more like a fretted. It is kind of like you bought a cat and you're not satisfied because it doesn't bark.
 
Folks, it's obvious from the photos what the real problem is.


It has fretlines! ;) :woot:

Hahaha, fretlines wasn't my first choice, but I got the neck from a TB'er already finished and the epoxy already done for 100 bucks so I can't complain too much!

Getting clank is going to be tough. Put DR Sunbeams on it and boost the highs and high mids on your amp. Play with your right hand back towards the bridge. Is the action low enough?

I'm confused though that you say you want it to sound more like a fretted. It is kind of like you bought a cat and you're not satisfied because it doesn't bark.

I got it for fun and as a challenge and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would as far as feel and playing it goes. Overall I'm happy with it. Now I just want to try to get it to sound how I want! I tend to be a modder so even if I was happy with how it sounded, I'd still probably be trying to mess with it in some way!

Try a 500k ohm tone pot
500k volume pots and a Fender TBX tone control can also work to open up the tone some.

Nice bass, I like the Warmoth bodies and necks.

I've already got 500k pots on there. I figured that would help make up for it being passive.

I've never messed with a TBX before and I don't really know much about it. By the time I went that far, I would probably just build a preamp to jam in there hahaha.
 
+1 to putting rounds on it. I went through the same thing with my fretless (Squier VM Jazz) and the rounds cured it.

I'm confused - are the Black Beauties not round enough?

I have similar issues with my fretlesses. One has crappy electronics and both could really benefit from a lacquered fingerboard. I don't expect them to sound like fretteds, but I do want livelier tone. I'm curious how the steel plate idea would work...
 
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I'm confused - are the Black Beauties not round enough?

I have similar issues with my fretlesses. One has crappy electronics and both could really benefit from a lacquered fingerboard. I don't expect them to sound like fretteds, but I do want livelier tone. I'm curious how the steel plate idea would work...

I think I'm going to stop at the hardware store on my way home and see what I can do. I'll let ya know how it works out!
 
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Some Roundwounds...
and honestly...For Dimarzio pickups...I found Carey, preampts match to them nicely...(Better then Audere in that situation).
 
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