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Fretless - lined or unlined? Let's survey this question..What's your preference?

#21
I'll bite.

1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y/N

Yes, it's not my main but I use it pretty much exclusively with my least busy band.

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Lined/Unlined

My fretboard is fully lined , also has the dot inlays on the edge and on the front.



3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? -

I'd still get a lined one. I'd put the dots on the edge, but not on the front. I believe the Squire VM fretlesses have this configuration.

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes/No

Yeah, probably.

5) Please describe your view on this subject? - ________________________

Once I had the itch for a fretless, I watched the Warmoth site for In-Stock specials and wound up with my fretless neck. Stuck it on a Squire CV P bass and it sounds good to me.
 
#22
I play fretless a lot, but not exclusively. My bass is unlined, with side dots at the fret positions, including at the 1st position. I prefer lines. For chords and accuracy. I don't try to sound fretless, I play the fretless as I do my fretted, and the fretless in it just comes out. I play my fretted bass ON the frets. Heh. It doesn't matter if it is lined. I like the sound of this bass. But if I ordered a fretless, built from ground up? Lines.
 
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#23
bassmanford said:
Lined fretless basses are virtually unplayable for me, it's like looking at the LA freeway system..I suppose I could learn to get used to one.. .
Click to expand...

Fretless board, lines. and side dots in the wrong place ( for fretless) will do that.
Mask the factory dots, get a tuner, a sharpie, and put a dot at the note, 3,5,7,9.....
Then, lines might make more sense.
 
#24
Pretty much had decided I wouldn't ever be good enough to play fretless. Not exactly tone deaf but definitely not one of those guys that can really play by ear. Saw a used bass at the shop. didn't realize it was fretless until I started playing, since it was lined. Don't think I could play a fretless without the lines (always heard them called cheaters) but I also didn't think I could play a fretless period, which is turning out to be still only partly wrong.

Fretless can be intimidating. Cheaters, less so. Selling more basses probably means lining more necks.
 
#25
bucephylus said:
1) Yes, I have played fretless electric bass since 1976. My first fretless EB was an Alembic Series I which had the frets removed. I used half rounds on that bass and no coating on the board, to get closer to upright tone and NOT be like Jaco. Since then I have gigged both lined and unlined boards.

2) My current fretless is a Zon Sonus 5 with a lined board. I prefer lined boards.

Dream fretless along with a Pentabuzz!

3) If I purchased a new fretless, it would be lined.

Yup.

4) If my preferred builder did not offer lines, I would purchase a different bass with a lined board.

5) First, you will find many threads on this topic. I find players have very strong preferences on this topic and can post rather argumentative opinions. I merely have the following observations to offer.

A) Many, especially younger or newer fretless players believe blank fingerboards look cooler. That's fine as far as individual preferences go; but, reality is that no one in the audience cares what your bass looks like. The personal preference part of this is fine; the macho "I'm a more awesome player because I don't need those training wheels" perspective is foolish, IMO. My goal is to play my parts with excellent pitch discrimination, and I will use any device available to make sure that happens. BTW, I am not pitch discrimination deficit, having tested 96th percentile for pitch discrimination. I also play classical double bass.

I'm probably about 74th percentile and can use all of the help I can get!


B) Players who have learned to target the points in between the frets where the dots are on a fretted instrument can have great difficulty with the markings on a lined board, simply because you have to learn to target different points (on the lines), and that drastically changes the way you see the fingerboard. These folks vastly prefer the visual reference of a blank board with dots on the board edge. I always fingered by targeting the stop right on the back side of the fret; so, the transition to a lined board was more natural.

I'm grateful I learned to play right behind the fret and use my fingertips with as much downward pressure as possible. These days I tend to play my fretted almost on top of the fret.

C) My $0.019 experience gigging the blank and lined boards is that the board edge position markers are perfectly adequate in the lower positions, where markings, such as lines, on the surface of the board are irrelevant. But, parts played up in the upper register above the octave are difficult for me when no markings are present on the fingerboard; because the pitch variation is more location specific, and the dots on the upper fingerboard edge are somewhat triangulated from the player perspective. So, I am OK playing lower positions with the blank board, but more uncertain playing upper register parts, especially when large shifts at rapid tempos with excellent pitch discrimination are required.

I pretty much ignore the upper half of my unlined fretless 6 for this reason. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE that playing in tune is what really matters and look forward to devoting more time to my intonation on my unlined 6 or getting a lined axe.



YMMV
Click to expand...
 
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#26
1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y/N
Yes for the last 2-3 months, since I bought my Ibanez SRF705. I also play fretted electric, and I play at upright bass (a bit) as well.

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Lined/Unlined
The top edge has lines, the face doesn't

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Lined/Unlined
If my current fretless catastrophically dies, which is the only way I'm buying another bass, yes I'll buy another of that exact make and model

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes/No
If it's not what I want, I'm not buying it. I prefer no lines, so no I wouldn't buy a lined fretless bass just because of the brand.

5) Please describe your view on this subject? - ________________________
I dabble at upright so I'm semi comfortable playing entirely unlined, but with the lines on the top edge I am very comfortable playing, even with the face blank.
 
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#27
Unlined w/ dots is the way to go IMO. Lines are very distracting, dots give you a reference but are vague enough that you still need to use your ear to get the notes in tune rather than depending on a visual reference. As an upright player mainly, I can assure you that with practice you can play in tune! Would never bother with a lined fingerboard personally.
 
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#31
bassmanford said:
So let's conduct our own Fretless Bass Market Survey[…]
Click to expand...

1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y/N

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Lined/Unlined [I only have one :)]

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Lined/Unlined [No concrete preference]

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes/No

5) Please describe your view on this subject? -
Bass is HUGE but I'm not a hard-liner. Fretless equates to more potential, no matter which way you slice it, and that's a good thing :)
 
#32
1. No. I did for a bit but I stopped. I sold the bass since I wanted a different fretless, then I just kept seeing fretted basses I wanted more for a bit. I was using an unlined board back then. I'm starting up fretless again, just ordered one.

2. My favorite so far was an unlined bass with dots on the top edge

3. Unlined board, with side dots every 2-3 frets is my preference from my past experience.

4. It depends, a Jaco sig would have lines as would a fretless conversion. I'd be ok with that. However anything new or custom would be unlined.

5. Whatever floats your boat. I just like fretless basses without lines because it looks prettier and is less distracting. The lines are never exact for pitch and it bothers me. I'll try to put my finger exactly over the line in the proper spot due to being a bit OCD, meanwhile ignoring the way the note sounds.

I just ordered a Jazz bass that has no side dots and an unlined board so we will see how it goes. I've heard it doesn't have the same set of anchor points as a upright so it's actually harder to play.
 
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#34
I recently played a used fretless Godin A5. It wasn't the fretless I was looking for but I still wish I bought it ($800 Canadian) the neck was pretty chewed up from heavy use with rounds, it had tapes when I played it. It sounded very uprightish, a fantastic sound. I also found the lines at the top of the fingerboard quite useful as well, but I could go without.

1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Yes

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - my only fretless is currently lined, although I plan to get an unlined one day.

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Unlined. Haven't played one, but I want to. I think not relying on the lines would greatly help my intonation. Plus they look 1000% cooler.

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes.

5) Please describe your view on this subject? - I like the lines on my fretless Jazz, I find them quite useful during songs with fancy fingerwork. But I also find unlined fretless very appealing.
 
#36
bassmanford said:
1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y/N

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Lined/Unlined

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Lined/Unlined

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes/No

5) Please describe your view on this subject? - ________________________
Click to expand...

1) Fretless for only a few months now but play it much more than fretted.
2) Unlined with side dots only (would like some smaller dots at 1,3, 10 and 11 but not a big issue)
3) Unlined
4) No
5) My views on this have changed back and forth during my short time on fretless. I love the look of an unlined neck but would like some more "guidence" up above 12th fret something like the one below. I wouldn't want the top guide lines on the board but on the side. The lines above 12th on the example below are actually set up from the bottom edge of the board so from the players perspective they appear to be between the D and G strings. Once again, i'd want them a bit smaller than these ones, but they would be handy for those notes up high where intonation is much more touchy.

fretless Konig.JPG
 
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#39
1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Unlined

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Unlined

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes

5) Please describe your view on this subject? -

If I had to replace my Godin, I would without doubt get one of these:

MBKoaFront.jpg
 
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#40
bassmanford said:
1) are you a regular fretless electric bassist? - Y/N

2) does the fingerboard or top edge of your favored fretless bass have lines, or is it fully unlined? - Lined/Unlined

3) all other things equal, if you bought your next fretless bass from a brand that offered the choice of either a Lined or Unlined fretless neck, which would you purchase? - Lined/Unlined

4) if you only had the one choice (as with Godin) of your less favored fingerboard preference, from your favored fretless bass brand, would you buy one? - Yes/No

5) Please describe your view on this subject? - ________________________
Click to expand...

1- not presently
2- lined
3- lined
4- no
5- lined freetless makes things easier to me, specially when playing with others
 
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