Fretless Bass With ONE FRET???

[MoFoTWeeTeR]

Hey guys curiosity is killing me and figured luthiers would have best responses.

Is there such thing as a fretless bass with ONE installed fret at the heel of the fretboard?

My question for this is because i love the smooth clean warm tones of a fretless. However when it comes to slapping and plucking the tone of a fretted bass i feel is far more superior.

I was thinking that ONE and only fret at the end of the fret board would give that desired slap and pluck sound I desire. All while maintaining the smoothness and warmth of a fretless neck when playing traditionally.

Does this exist?
Can it be done?
May be a long shot, but if it has NOT been done and CAN be done, Please incorporate me in the business! Hah!

Thanks all

 

[ffutterman]

This actually sounds like a pretty interesting idea. I approve.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Not exacly but close enough I think

 

[Freddels]

Maybe you could do one retractable fret or a magnetic attachment like Mike Pope's Fodera.

 

[scatbass]

Wouldn't all the fretless notes bottom out or at least buzz against that one fret?? Unless it was countersunk almost flush into the fretboard?

 

[austentaciousC]

Wouldn't all the fretless notes bottom out or at least buzz against that one fret?? Unless it was countersunk almost flush into the fretboard?

That was my first thought...before thinking this was a troll thread

 

[dkelley]

I've been wondering this for about 20 years.... I do'nt know why I've never seen it? you might lose the top 4 or 5 fretless frets of playability, but you'd gain a ton in tone control, even without slapping... just playing hard you'd get that fret compression crunch.

 

[iiipopes]

I've seen a thin brass or steel plate attached to the end of the fingerboard when there wasn't enough room to actually cut a nut slot.

 

[MatticusMania]

I had an idea once for a bass with the first five frets, and then fretless to the bottom of the neck. I dont know if it'd be practical or useful.

 

[awilkie84]

This could be done 1 of 2 ways. recess the fretboard at the end down to allow the fret crown to sit at the level of the board, or use one of those u-shaped frets that sits inside the board. There's a builder that uses the u-shaped ones. Can't remember his name.

 

[MoFoTWeeTeR]

Hah. This is no troll thread...

Yessss. Similar to the video Clef posted. However. No frets whatsoever besides the one at the heel.

I figured the frets would have to be a very low profile. Like some of you are saying.

Would higher action help the potential buzz from the fret?

I would love to get my hands on one of these.

 

[dkelley]

now I want to try and retrofit a fret against the end of my usa sub 5 fretless, just very very slightly higher than the fingerboard, to see if it works! Why the hell I never actually TRIED it before I have no idea.

I guess I need a fret, first of all, which is probably harder than I think it sounds... and the I need to mount it into a piece of wood that I can adjust easily to be just the right height for this test, and for sake of experimenting just tack it on the bass with some temporary fastener.

anyone else planning on trying this too? any ideas how to invent a fret and mount it like this?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

To me, the idea is technically workable, but not with a raised fret. You'd want to set a brass plate or block into the fingerboard at the heel. The top surface of the brass would need to be filed flush with the surface of the fingerboard, and the brass would need to extend back to the edge of the heel.

That way, when you played lightly, the string wouldn't contact the brass, and you could play warm notes all the way up the fingerboard. But when you smack the string hard, it would slap the back edge of the heel of the fingerboard, which would be brass.

 

[dkelley]

ah, I get what you mean now!

clever.... more work, but clever.

Hmmm... one of my favorite fret slap sounsd is warwick bell brass. wouldn't that be a cool block? ;-)

I do have a feeling though that it won't really sound the same as a fretted bass even if we hold our left finger incredibly rigid as though it's fretted. My suspicion is that having lots of frets contributes to the tone, not just one fret.

However when I've slapped on fretless on a hard-as-nails type of board (epoxy or similar) it really does sound more convincing than bare wood, typically. So maybe this really is all we'll need to give us that flexibility.

I've been slapping on fretless since the late 1980s, even on albums, and it's always been a cool sound, just a little too woody to be typical slap sounding.

 

[Scottkarch]

When I try and slap/pop with my fretless It seems that the string is hitting the fingerboard somewhere halfway along its length.. I can't get a good slap sound with my fretless. I've heard others say it can be done.

I love the idea of trying it. I'm wondering what a fret would do differntly than, say, a metal plate at the end of the fingerboard... I'm guessing since the fret is raised, everything greater than a certain amount of string movement will start to fret out at that fret. I'm thinking you might get some strange.. possibly cool.. overtone since you will ALWAYS be getting the string breaking at that one note.

Even if you're not playing the note fully, I wonder if it will start coming across in certain higher frequency overtones.. I hope you try it. Post some audio if you do.

You can probably get soft brass or copper rod that you can use... a little CA might be required to get it to stick.. not sure how you'd do it otherwise.

Keep updating.

 

[dkelley]

will do. This reminds me of a bass I heard about once (I don't know if it was real or not, I don't recall now) that has a lever to switch between fretted and fretless modes.

or that ibanez bass that has 4 fretted strings and two fretless ones (or something like that).

Everyone wants the best of both worlds.

I always wanted a multi-neck bass to do it, but that sounds heavy and lopsided.

I'll probably start by just messing with some piece of metal there held up by cardboard to see how it sounds in general. something easy like that to see if it's even vaguely successful or not.

 

[Dominic D]

Here are some fretless basses with metal at the end of the fingerboard for slapping:

 

[jonathanhughes]

My bass teacher in the 80s had a Carl Thompson fretless with that. He called it a slap plate". I seem to recall it sounding cool when he slapped. Sort of halfway between freteed and fretless sounding.

 

[dkelley]

Sweet! Ok I'm going to get this done....

 

[Smilodon]

If your bass has a bolt on neck you could get a piece of thin brass sheet that you cut to the with of the neck and place between the heel of the neck and the body (Into the neck pocket.). The play in the screw holes will probably allow this without any modification.