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Fretless G&L

metron

metron

Sep 12, 2003
7,759
12,690
#1
Who here uses fretless G&L? I really want to get into fretless this year. I am a really big G&L fan but for some reason in my mind I feel like if I get a fretless it needs to be a Fender J or botique something or other.

Tell me about your experiences with fretless G&Ls. Do they size up to other fretless basses you have experience with? Are they capable of lots of singing midrange mwah? Are they always ebony boards?
 
#2
I'm playing a fretless Tookay, black swirl/ blank ebony board built in '96, alder body, I think. It is very close feel-wise to my #1, a '97 Tookay/ Honeyburst over ash/ rosewood (known as the Crown Royal Tiger), and as such, I have no problems going from fretted to fretless mid-gig. The position markers on the sides are whee the fret would be, rather than in the middle of where the fret would be, ala a de-fretted neck.

Sound-wise, it rips. You can get a really good Jaco bridge p/up burp/ fart/ growl in passive/ series, and the neck p/up will give up the Roger Waters tone on 'Hey You'. In the active modes, the bass just sings, and the 'tone in my head' for fretless ( Pino Palladino's sound on Paul Youngs' 'Between Two Fires' album- monstrous tone and chops!) is in there.

I've used it on 4 hour live gigs without any back-up, and the sound is always rich, cutting and coming to you live from the studios of MWAH-central.

Now, in the YMMV category, a Jazz Bass sounds like nothing else, which is both good and bad, If i had a butt-load of cash, and was gigging enough to justify a vintage or 'boutique'/ foo-foo / cork-sniffy Jazz, then maybe I'd feel different, but for real-world gigs, the 2KFL is perfect. Hey, it's sitting in the #2 chair these days...
 
#3
There are times when I tell myself that I will defret my Tribby JB-2 when I get a USA version. Having had fretless Fender J's in my life at varying times, I know that what I would end up with would be pleasing. Alas, the economy and the lack of time and motivation have me happy to keep the Trib intact for a while.
 
#4
metron said:
Who here uses fretless G&L? I really want to get into fretless this year. I am a really big G&L fan but for some reason in my mind I feel like if I get a fretless it needs to be a Fender J or botique something or other.

Tell me about your experiences with fretless G&Ls. Do they size up to other fretless basses you have experience with? Are they capable of lots of singing midrange mwah? Are they always ebony boards?
Click to expand...

Both my G&L's are fretless, my L2000 is an older 3-bolt model with an unlined ebony board, my L2500 is about a year old with a lined ebony board.

I've attached clips of both. The L2500 clip was when it still had roundwounds on it, I've since put a set of flats on it to calm it down. It's a little closer to the L2000 sound now.
The L2000 was using the bridge PU only, the L2500 both PU's were on. Both were in series mode.

The thing you'll notice, and the thing I like most about the G&L fretless sound, is that they don't sound like fretlesses, at least traditional fretless anyway. Very little muaah, especially with the flats. I personally strive for a more fretted tone tho so this is my preferred type of tone.

My L2000 does have a slight "ski jump" in the neck so I can't get the action as low as the 2500. And it just has a more velvety low midbassy tone.

LS
 
#5
I have a fretless L-1500, it's my first fretless and it plays and sounds great. It has an ash body with unlined ebony fretboard. I use RS monel flats on it and get plenty of mwah if I want it. AFIK made in the US unlined fretless' all have ebony boards, check out the G&L website for current options (I could well be wrong). I personally see no need to buy a Fender, I get the tones I like out of my G&L.
 
#6
unclejane said:
The thing you'll notice, and the thing I like most about the G&L fretless sound, is that they don't sound like fretlesses, at least traditional fretless anyway. Very little muaah, especially with the flats. I personally strive for a more fretted tone tho so this is my preferred type of tone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the MP3s! So this is what I am concerned about. I am looking for a fretless that has a very singing mwah midrange kind of tone. You are saying you don't really get that out of yours but el tookay indicates differently. That leaves me wondering. I would love to just go out and try one but for a fretless G&L that is going to be difficult.

Anyone use roundwounds on their fretless G&L? Is there lots mwah?
 
#7
I have a fretless L2000, with an ebony fingerboard, strung with roundwound strings (DR Sunbeams) and it has tons of mwah, especially when I use the bridge pickup. I've owned quite a few fretless basses in my time, including a couple of Wals and a Fender Jazz. In my experience the best way to get the sound you are talking about, is to use roundwounds and a very low action. But to reiterate, I can definitely get the sound you are talking about from my L2000.
 
#8
metron said:
Thanks for posting the MP3s! So this is what I am concerned about. I am looking for a fretless that has a very singing mwah midrange kind of tone. You are saying you don't really get that out of yours but el tookay indicates differently. That leaves me wondering. I would love to just go out and try one but for a fretless G&L that is going to be difficult.

Anyone use roundwounds on their fretless G&L? Is there lots mwah?
Click to expand...

Yeah I actually have no idea why I don't get muaah out of either of my G&L's. I've even tried, by fitting light guage roundwounds and plucking up by the neck etc, pretty much to no avail. I can get a little bit with the rounds when they're brand new.

My tobias 6 string, on the other hand, muaah's like crazy especially after I epoxied the fingerboard. I actually find it to be too much, but then again I strongly prefer a fretted, deader sound.

I've wondered if it's because of the ebony fingerboards? I havn't gone to any effort to change it, because I like it without the muaah ;)

So I dunno. I'd like to listen to tookay's bass too to hear how it muaahs....

LS
 
#9
I have a fretless L-2500 -- a '98 model, I think, with a lined ebony board. This was my main player for about a year when I was almost exclusively playing FL.

I use TI SuperAlloys on it and they sound fantastic. Yeah, I know, rounds on a FL are supposed to be taboo, but the ebony board is pretty hard and I see very little wear from the strings.

I love the growl of the TIs with the G&L pickups. I mostly use both pickups/active and it really punches.

hth.

FWIW, I also have a fretless Jazz and the G&L is far better sounding to my ears, although I replaced the std J-pickups with Lindy Fralins and it helped the sound quite a bit. Got TI Jazz Flats on that bass.
 

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#10
unclejane said:
I've wondered if it's because of the ebony fingerboards? I havn't gone to any effort to change it, because I like it without the muaah ;)

So I dunno. I'd like to listen to tookay's bass too to hear how it muaahs....

LS
Click to expand...

I think it probably has to do with the setup, specifically how low the nut slots are cut, as I said I have no problem getting plenty of muaah with flatwounds on my L-1500. Mike Lull leveled the neck and set it up for me (installed and cut a new nut too), before he did the work the muaah factor was quite low.
 
#11
walkTheBass said:
In my experience the best way to get the sound you are talking about, is to use roundwounds and a very low action. But to reiterate, I can definitely get the sound you are talking about from my L2000.
Click to expand...

Cool this is what I am hoping for because if I end up going with a fretless G&L it will probably be ordered online.

unclejane said:
I've wondered if it's because of the ebony fingerboards? I havn't gone to any effort to change it, because I like it without the muaah ;)
Click to expand...

I think ebony is quite capable of getting that sound because I get a lot of that out of my upright with it's huge ebony fingerboard. Is it possible that it's your playing style? Since you say you don't really care for mwah maybe you aren't playing in a way to get that sound out of your bass. A lot of it is in the fingers for sure.

earlgray said:
I have a fretless L-2500 -- a '98 model, I think, with a lined ebony board. This was my main player for about a year when I was almost exclusively playing FL.

I use TI SuperAlloys on it and they sound fantastic. Yeah, I know, rounds on a FL are supposed to be taboo, but the ebony board is pretty hard and I see very little wear from the strings.

I love the growl of the TIs with the G&L pickups. I mostly use both pickups/active and it really punches.

hth.

FWIW, I also have a fretless Jazz and the G&L is far better sounding to my ears, although I replaced the std J-pickups with Lindy Fralins and it helped the sound quite a bit. Got TI Jazz Flats on that bass.
Click to expand...

Nah rounds on a fretless should be standard ;) Nice looking bass BTW. I am always tempted by G&L blurbursts.
 
#12
L2k w/ Moses unlined neck. I love it. The G&L preamp allows so much more flexibility in tone than any other fretless I've tried. It can get as warm & thick as you want or thin & crispy. It does the burpy/growly Jaco thing really well. And it stays in tune!

Mwah is very sensitive to string height on mine. I'm running TI Flats on it.
 
#18
walkTheBass said:
I have a fretless L2000, with an ebony fingerboard, strung with roundwound strings (DR Sunbeams) and it has tons of mwah, especially when I use the bridge pickup. I've owned quite a few fretless basses in my time, including a couple of Wals and a Fender Jazz. In my experience the best way to get the sound you are talking about, is to use roundwounds and a very low action. But to reiterate, I can definitely get the sound you are talking about from my L2000.
Click to expand...

And there's part of the sound. I got the idea of using SunBeams from Tony Franklin, and I have bone nuts on all of my basses, cut really low. Not buzzing, but just a hair before. It takes a careful hand to do, and my guy, Barry Ewart, is like a human PLEK machine.

Rounds and super low action get the 'mwah'. Another great string choice is Fender tapewounds. They get the roundwound growl, are pretty flexible, and have almost zero string noise. Also, they won't chew up your board, even if you're playing on un-coated rosewood.

Quickervicar is onto something by using Moses fretless necks. You get exceptional playability and stability, while increasing the harmonic content of your overall sound. Plus, you eliminate any and all of the neck issues that we GLeeks 'do not speak of'. I had Steve make me up a custom one for one of my fretted basses, and I'll be posting pics by the end of the month.

I'll try to put together some soundclips- gives me a chance to try out the Reaper system that fellow TB'er kerryg is using with great success.
 
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