Fretless players; lined or unlined? and why?

[Nephilymbass]

I have both, and generally prefer the unlined basses. I learned how to play bass on an unlined fretless, so that is where I am at home. Part of it is the look of a clean unlined fretboard, part of it is that I like the challenge of getting my intonation right without the aid of lines. That's just what I like though.

I like the look of unlined but lined gives me a little more confidence when playing. For me the best of both world are ghost lines where the lines are done with a darker wood that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb compared to the fingerboard wood or partially lined where the lines don’t go all the way across the fingerboard.

 

[DJ Bebop]

My fretless crap, the P bass had the frets pulled so there's lines. I wanted to play fretless like.... Alphonso Johnson, the Kay came unlined , the Squier VM came with lines. It was inexpensive and I didn't care if it had lines...

 

[Killing Floor]

Carrots have lines. It's something to think about.

Shorty's trombone drainpipe doesn't have lines. More food for thought.

 

[drumvsbass]

Played a lined fretless for years, and probably would have said that is the way to go because why stress. I got an unlined fretless and was thrown a bit for moving around, seeming to prove the point. Now it doesn't matter. As long as there are side dots I'm good. I can almost play it in the dark. But unlined with NO side dots is a state of manliness that I doubt I'll ever reside in.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Carrots have lines. It's something to think about.
View attachment 4170727
Shorty's trombone drainpipe doesn't have lines. More food for thought.
View attachment 4170720

Yup
All you need...

 

[MikePlaysBass]

As the player, it shouldn’t make much difference either way. You use the dots on the side of the neck to find your anchor points and muscle memory to know where all the notes or intervals are from it. Learning to play without constantly looking at the neck is the point. You can’t read sheet music or charts, make eye contact with other band members, or engage with an audience if you’re stuck always looking at your neck.

For the audience, I think it makes a bigger difference. If there are no lines, that makes it a bit more obvious that it’s a fretless. With lines, it’s just a bass to most people.

 

[pingvuiini]

In the past I've had many fretless basses ranging in scale length from 35.25" to 32" and for the most part I've gone without lines. I always had an additional side dot included on the first fret and had no problems with intonation.

I recently got my custom fretless semi hollow uke bass with 23" scale and no lines and I must say things get tricky after the 12th fret. The ultra short scale length requires very accurate intonation, and the fat low tension rubber strings make it even more difficult. But I have been playing it every day since I got it and I am getting better slowly but surely. I am hoping some day in the future that some string manufacturer will be able to come up with a 23" scale steel 5 string set. Or better yet, tapewounds.

 

[N4860]

My fretless crap, the P bass had the frets pulled so there's lines. I wanted to play fretless like.... Alphonso Johnson, the Kay came unlined , the Squier VM came with lines. It was inexpensive and I didn't care if it had lines...
View attachment 4170707

Man I feel like I keep seeing that modded P bass a lot over the last few days and it is awesome. Bet there's not another like it.

I voted unlined because that's what I've used for most of my fretless playing. I did have a MIM fretless jazz for a few years but I just never bonded with it so I didn't really learn much. I got this unlined Stingray (top left in pic) last year and I struggle to put it down once I start playing it.

 

[rashrader]

Yes!! And, just because.

carrots.

 

[juancaminos]

Right now I prefer unlined. I started with lined fretless. Years later I bought unlined fretless bass but put a lined fretless neck on it and put the unlined neck in the closet. A year later I found a Jazz body that I just had to have. For the heck of it I put the unlined neck on and found that I prefer it. I sold my first lined fretless and built another unlined Jazz. Now I don't even line fretted basses. Go figure! After playing unlined so much I find the lined fretless is confusing.

 

[Jon McBass]

I have both, and generally prefer the unlined basses. I learned how to play bass on an unlined fretless, so that is where I am at home. Part of it is the look of a clean unlined fretboard, part of it is that I like the challenge of getting my intonation right without the aid of lines. That's just what I like though.

Voted unlined, just prefer that look.

I am pretty dependent on the side dots, though, since I don’t play fretless it as much as fretted...

 

[Tim Schnautz]

I have both, and generally prefer the unlined basses. I learned how to play bass on an unlined fretless, so that is where I am at home. Part of it is the look of a clean unlined fretboard, part of it is that I like the challenge of getting my intonation right without the aid of lines. That's just what I like though.

viola instruments dont have lines so why should your fretless?

 

[groovepump]

Unlined because it just looks so damn good.

damn straight!

 

[Thumpin6string]

Lined, because I suck.

 

[groovepump]

I prefer unlined, with dots on top of t he neck, not visible from the front (or no dots is OK too).
I'm working on a little Glarry fretless that is 90% done. It won't have a volume knob, and I may just hardwire a tone as well, not decided yet. fender 62 pups and La Bella nylon tape strings. I love this fingerboard . . .

 

[dkelley]

I play upright, so unlined works for me. Although my main fretless electric is a defretted 60s PBass, so it has marks where th efrets used to be. (The other one is a 70s factory fretless, unlined). I very seldom look at the fingerboard when I'm playing anyway with/without frets with without markers.

Just wanted to state my view that electric bass and upright are completely different instruments. The feel points you have on an upright, or classical double bass, don't exist on a bass guitar, which is why unlined doesn't work very well. Just my view and experience. I play violin, viola, and now cello - and tuning aren't an issue due to being able to feel the positions.

 

[dkelley]

My fretless crap, the P bass had the frets pulled so there's lines. I wanted to play fretless like.... Alphonso Johnson, the Kay came unlined , the Squier VM came with lines. It was inexpensive and I didn't care if it had lines...
View attachment 4170707

You're fortunate that you have lines on the two instruments that you can't feel for position, where as on the kay you don't really need that since ( a ) the kay is a far longer scale length, which means it's way less picky about finger placement to be very very close to in tune, and ( b ) it has a neck that you can feel changing shape and a neck join and body edge that let you feel exactly where you are as you go up in positions.

ok, I'll stop making my point now LoL

 

[Bushmaster]

But unlined with NO side dots is a state of manliness that I doubt I'll ever reside in.

I in the early 80s had the opportunity to play a 3-octave (4-string) fretless without side dots (not to speak of other markers) from a French manufacturer named Stimer. It was fun

 

[jamro217]

Unlined. No side dots, either. When first attempting the fretless I wanted so badly to perfect my intonation that I was determined not to cheat with markers of any kind. You have to push yourself through the first ugly months of "unintentional minor second syndrome". After that you get used to it and then when you get a marked neck it looks weird.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I find the dots on the NS Design to be really helpful. They're on the note, likes lines on a fretless would be, so they function as "quasi-lines" while being unobtrusive. Very ingenious and easy to get used to.

I agree, especially on that long neck with no physical reference point... it's the pattern of dots though which is rather strange and looks like an alien code to me