Fretless/Fretted hybrid neck: can it exist?

[Barfy]

Just out of curiosity.

Let's say it was fretless up to the 12th fret and then fretted from there to the 22nd/24th. Doing arpeggios and stuff--any kind of noodling at all, in fact--is maddeningly difficult on a fretless above the 12th fret.

Ridiculous, I know. But is it technically possible? (Has it ever even been done?) My guess is that the fret clank would make it useless because the action on a fretless generally has to be low.

 

[eddievanbassman]

Ive seen fretted to the 12th then fretless to the end but not that way.

 

[Stephen]

http://www.brownsguitarfactory.com/

partially fretted/fretless basses in both directions

Bass # 2 is fretted above the 12th fret

 

[dannybuoy]

There's even one on YouTube that had a lever that sinks the frets into the neck for instant fretted/fretless conversion. It was posted here ages ago, can't find it now!

 

[Lo-E]

Possible, but difficult.

This is done pretty frequently on, of all things, old time banjos.

Okay, maybe not frequently, but often enough. Either the fingerboard past the fretless section is relieved to a depth equal to the fret hight, or, more typically, the fretless section is an overlay equal in hight to the frets. On banjos, the overlay is usually a wood veneer, or a metal plate made of brass or nickel-silver.

In either case, the fretless section is raised to fret hight so that one does not interfere with the other.

Might be interesting on a bass, I suppose....

 

[Jonathan1990]

Do you mean this one?

 

[Nobody]

Now there's this.

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[Lo-E]

I believe Emmet Chapman built some Sticks that way; fretless bass side, fretted... um... other side.

 

[LilRay]

Marco Basses Fretgroove. Best of both worlds.

God Bless, Ray

 

[TerrorRhythm]

the new ibanez 2010 limited edition model is fretted on the lower 4 strings and fretless on the G and C

 

[darkstorm]

The bass player for Venom played an aria that was fretless after the 12th fret. But havent seen the opposite like your talking about. But that should be doable too.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I believe Emmet Chapman built some Sticks that way; fretless bass side, fretted... um... other side.

Yes he did. Steve Adelson has one and the bass side is aluminum. Sounds absolutely amazing, of course Steve is an incredible musician so that helps.

 

[J. Crawford]

Now there's this.

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Whoa!

 

[BassBoss]

Siggi Jäger from Human Base has done that:Link Removed

 

[Flaked Beans]

Pagelli custom double neck bass (14 strings)

look at the five string neck

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[Hoover]

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Talk about a solution to a problem that doesn't exist...

 

[Ekim]

Do you mean this one?