Fretless - Rosewood or P?

[SteveCS]

...
I want to recreate that sound. I'm curious from those of you that have rosewood (or other woods that aren't ebony) fingerboards on fretlesses if you've ever experienced any sound like this. Maybe it was the combination of the rosewood and the P pickup? I keep looking at those Fender Tony Franklins and thinking that might scratch the itch.

What I've learned in nearly 40 years of fretless play is that the outcome is a complex interaction of all parts. Fingerboard material, finish, strings, pickups, preamps, technique and setup all make a difference. But in all of that, strings, setup and technique by far the most significant factors, IME. After that it comes down to diminishing returns, with no single facor being any guarantee of anything.

YMMV

 

[equill]

Could just be what Yamaha were making at the time.

I have an RBX774 from 2002-ish(? whenever they made those) that I had de-fretted, and it sounded wonderful. It aged out a bit, and I started bracing for its imminent death, and now I have several other basses.
Just yesterday I pulled it out of storage, out of curiosity about whether the change of seasons had made it behave any better, and immediately I was struck by its natural "angry piano" tone.

Now I'm wondering whether I can find somebody who'd either grind that fretboard flat again (it was "de-fretted" by grinding them down) or just replace the board altogether, because at this rate it's going to be messed-up and on the verge of death for the rest of my life.

 

[Pyrat]

FWIW, I've never heard a bad word about the Tony Franklins. Folks just seem to rave about them.

And for good reason...it is the finest production bass I have ever played. If the Custom Shop basses are better (minus any relicing stuff the may do) then perhaps they are worth all the money they garner. The old chestnut "tone is in the hands" was never truer than with the Tony Franklin fretless, a person can wrangle most any sound they wish (including thumpy, faux-fretted) from these treasures. I feel incredibly fortunate to own one and I would say they are a worthy investment in a world FULL of tomorrow's garbage~

 

[jimmydean]

Buy a TF bass , you cant go wrong .....great feel , tones , weight and for Fender a fair price .

 

[luciens]

A Tony Franklin isn't really a P bass. It's technically a P-J wired with a 3 way switch. That's not to say it isn't a great bass - I love mine and I use it for everything from an acoustic duo to a 7 piece dance band. There isn't much it can't do in the right hands.

I think of it as a P bass but just without the "P".... But it'll do meat-n-potatoes P bass too, if you raise the action a little bit it takes out a lot of the muah, for example.

Putting flats on mine is TBD project for some point in the future, to see how it sounds that way....

L

 

[iiipopes]

I play a rosewood unlined precision. I had never heard of “mwah” before I came here, and I’ve been on the same neck since 1976. It now resides on a 1999 MIM P body. GHS Precision flats, and I believe it has a Seymore Duncan pickup. It has a great cranky tone when you hit it hard, especially on the thinner strings. I get a lot of compliments on its tone from guitar players.

(satire following) Oh, you get compliments on your G string from guitar players? Oh, my are you going down the wrong road! I mean, guitar players have nothing on bass players about pulling G strings!

 

[micguy]

If someone tells you that the material that a fingerboard is made from doesn't make a difference on a fretless, they simply haven't played a fretless with an epoxied, ebonite, or ebonol board - anyone, and I mean ANYONE that's played a fretless with a set of round wound strings on a really hard board knows what I'm taking about - snarly mwah that is completely unmistakeable. You want snarl, you want a hard board (not just wood) and...for the piece de resistance, a bridge pickup in the mix will definitely take it over the top.

My fretless has an ebonol board. Some people on here will tell you they can make a fretless sound like a fretted bass. On a wood board, I understand, and I could do that, but 43 years into playing fretless, I can't make my fretless sound fretted - there is simply no technique in the world that will turn that mwah off.

 

[micguy]

A Tony Franklin isn't really a P bass. It's technically a P-J wired with a 3 way switch.

Yes, that's what it is, but....the presence of a 3 way switch, rather than the VVT setup, means when you throw that switch to the P side, it is identical to a P in terms of circuitry. It doesn't have the backwards volume controls (which don't really work as volume controls) and the loading of an additional volume control common to most J's and PJ's. The net result is, in that mode, it IS a P bass, the additional pickup that is....just added weight at that point.

 

[Aidenn7]

you had a cheap ceramic slighty over wound pickup on that thing.. combine with a soft finger board.. prolly is what did.. did you have rounds on it?

 

[Stewie]

(satire following) Oh, you get compliments on your G string from guitar players? Oh, my are you going down the wrong road! I mean, guitar players have nothing on bass players about pulling G strings!

Is there a “G” string? Oh, you mean the 15 frets higher than the fat one string.

 

[Lowendchamp]

I started on a Yamaha RBX170 back in 91 and it had the same sound you describe as it was my one that got away as well. There was something special about those cheap USA basses. Good luck.

 

[Jefus]

All the time. Got 4 (yes I have a problem) Cort B4FLs, all rosewood boards. But I also get the same sound out of my Steinberger L2 with an ebonol board. The similarity between them all? Pickups designed to basically be a Precision pickup in a different housing. Snarly.

I also use Rotosounds and that makes a difference. If I use DRs the basses get quite a bit more polite.

Oddly, of all the experimentation I've done with strings, I've never tried Rotosounds. I'll have to put them on something next time I restring.