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Fretless String Opinions Needed

#21
Cleezmo said:
Appreciate the responses so far!

I'm aware of Tapes, but from what I've gathered they are more for the 'try to sound like an upright' tone vs an aggressive tone. I played them years and years ago on a friend's fretless and didn't love them.
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La Bella Gold White tapes. Give them a try, they are quite different from the standard black tapes. Caveat - I only play fours, so I don’t have experience with the B.
 
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#22
Rotosound makes a pressurewound 55 set, which would be optimal with fretless. Their 66s give a lot of mwah on my ebonol board, but the 55 would help with board longevity if you use a wood board. Rotosound strings are also very consistent across low and high strings (as The Ox intended), and would likely help with the low B.
Other options: SIT Silencers are IME similar to Roto 55s. D'Addario Half Rounds are very low output, and they feel and sound more like low-tension flats than pressurewounds.
 
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#23
Cleezmo said:
GHS Pressure wounds ...[snip]... the B string does not have the same clarity and punch as other B strings have had on this bass; it's noticeably less full than the rest of the set
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Yeah, I had the exact same experience with GHS PressureWounds when I tried them on my Warmoth 34" scale 5-string fretless: totally anemic, hollow, lifeless low B, whereas the other four strings sounded fine.

I've been very happy with Labella760N black tapewound strings on my BEADG fretless. But the real sleeper imho for fretless is groundwound strings, specifically Ken Smith "Slick Round" Nickel Iron Medium groundwounds (# AA-SRM). Totally different beast than pressurewound strings. Caveat: I've never tried a groundwound low B, I've only used those Smith "Slick Round" strings on my EADGC fretless. But might be worth checking out.
 
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#24
I play fretless with rounds.
Always have.

The rate and degree of wear that roundwounds cause on a fretless has been GREATLY exaggerated.

If you are not slapping,tapping and doing guitarlike sideways string bends and pushing the heel of your palm down the strings on the fingerboard(Jaco did this occasionally) you will NOT have a great amount of wear.

If you were to sit down and play a fretless with rounds with big piece of white paper under the neck in your lap,(pause.....pause......)you will NOT see sawdust.

I don't slap or tap on mine.
So there are no gouges,grooves or damage.Just faint winding marks after a long,long while.
 
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#25
sunbeast said:
EB Cobalt flats are my favorite fretless string these days, though I haven't tried the 5-string set as of yet- for me the Cobalts are actually growlier than rounds I've tried on the same bass. My favorite string on my last 5-string fretless (several years back) was the Thomastiks flats, and the B definitely wasn't thin sounding (if anything it might have been darker than the other strings IIRC). Those strings tend to be too loose for me on fretted bass, but on a fretless they can feel super expressive. FWIW I used to love Thomastiks the most on a fretless, but the Cobalts really dethroned them for me for their extra grind/growl capabilities. I've had the same set of Cobalts on my main fretless since 2020 and they are still singing! I'm also a big fan of tapewounds on a fretless, and if you choose the right set they definitely aren't too uprighty- the LaBella Whites and Gold-whites are the main ones I've used on fretless and they have some nice growl to them. The Gold-whites are relatively low-output strings, but on a G&L that shouldn't be an issue at all.
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Have you seen any damage on your fretboard because of the cobalts?
 
#26
I'll cast my vote for Black Beauties - I've used them on a 6-string fretless and now also on a short scale fretless. Here's why I like them, in case it rings true for you too:
  • I wanted a roundwound for a more aggressive "mwah" when desired. Flats and tapes give a different vibrato (i.e. like Bunny Brunel) vs rounds (i.e. like Jaco or Manring, or Gary Willis, etc.).
  • I also wanted to reduce "finger-squeak" that is prevalent on regular uncoated rounds.
  • I wanted a very balanced tone across all strings. I've played a few different makes of flatwounds where the B and/or E string was noticeably more "dead" sounding than the other strings.
For me, Black Beauties check all the above boxes. The feel is very similar to regular rounds but without the high-end finger squeak, while still providing full ringing harmonics. They're a bit more muted in the very high end ("darker" sounding). They have a bit of an aggressive growl to them. All the sets I've played have been very balanced in tone and volume output across all strings.
 
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#27
Might consider the Rotosound UltraMag set, which uses the Alloy 52 material, like the GHS Pressurewounds. You might even be able to get just a single UltraMag "B" string to put with the rest of the GHS Pressurewounds.

EDIT: While the same wrap material is used, to be clear, the UltraMags are roundwounds, not pressurewound. The roundwound B string might be more the tone you're after, and might pair well with the other four Pressurewound strings. Or you might like the whole UltraMag set!
 
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#28
srayb said:
I'll cast my vote for Black Beauties - I've used them on a 6-string fretless and now also on a short scale fretless. Here's why I like them, in case it rings true for you too:
  • I wanted a roundwound for a more aggressive "mwah" when desired. Flats and tapes give a different vibrato (i.e. like Bunny Brunel) vs rounds (i.e. like Jaco or Manring, or Gary Willis, etc.).
  • I also wanted to reduce "finger-squeak" that is prevalent on regular uncoated rounds.
  • I wanted a very balanced tone across all strings. I've played a few different makes of flatwounds where the B and/or E string was noticeably more "dead" sounding than the other strings.
For me, Black Beauties check all the above boxes. The feel is very similar to regular rounds but without the high-end finger squeak, while still providing full ringing harmonics. They're a bit more muted in the very high end ("darker" sounding). They have a bit of an aggressive growl to them. All the sets I've played have been very balanced in tone and volume output across all strings.
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Thank for this info, very useful. I've been curious about these as I'm a superfan for DR FatBeams, and also have Sunbeams on another bass. I was wondering if the Black Beauties are somewhat of a 'slightly tamed' FatBeam, in which case I think I'd dig them on a fretless.

One question - you mention they are little darker sounding; if you roll off the tone knob (or treble on an active), would you say they get into the 'faux flat' tonal territory, or do they always retain their growl/punch. Thanks!
 
#29
Cleezmo said:
Thank for this info, very useful. I've been curious about these as I'm a superfan for DR FatBeams, and also have Sunbeams on another bass. I was wondering if the Black Beauties are somewhat of a 'slightly tamed' FatBeam, in which case I think I'd dig them on a fretless.

One question - you mention they are little darker sounding; if you roll off the tone knob (or treble on an active), would you say they get into the 'faux flat' tonal territory, or do they always retain their growl/punch. Thanks!
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In my opinion, they do retain their "growl/punch" even with the tone rolled off.
 
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#31
humbuckaroo said:
Have you seen any damage on your fretboard because of the cobalts?
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Minimal, and no more than any other flatwounds IME! They aren't the smoothest flatwounds I've tried, but neither are they particularly rough and no issues for me on an ebony wood fingerboard. I know the cobalt roundwounds have a reputation of being relatively rough on frets and fingers though
 
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#33
FeltTipPen said:
@Cleezmo, what didn't you like about the Dunlop flats and the G&L?
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It's been a couple years, but what I remember is that I liked them, they were even across the board and the B string was good, but I wanted a bit more zing. My ideal setup on this bass is such that I could play something off of Pearl Jam's Ten album one minute, then flip switches and turn knobs and play Americana or something thumpy the next minute. The Dunlops didn't quite get me to the Pearl Jam tone, which is not a knock on them, they are true flats.

I went from them to the EB Cobalts, to the current GHS Pressure Wounds, looking for a string that straddles flat and round tone and isn't too hard on my board.

My only other experience with Flats is Chromes, which I had on a fretless Jazz years ago and didn't love, and DR Legends, which I have and love on my 'designated old school tone' bass, but I don't think they'd be what I'm looking for on the L-2500.
 
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#34
Cleezmo said:
It's been a couple years, but what I remember is that I liked them, they were even across the board and the B string was good, but I wanted a bit more zing. My ideal setup on this bass is such that I could play something off of Pearl Jam's Ten album one minute, then flip switches and turn knobs and play Americana or something thumpy the next minute. The Dunlops didn't quite get me to the Pearl Jam tone, which is not a knock on them, they are true flats.

I went from them to the EB Cobalts, to the current GHS Pressure Wounds, looking for a string that straddles flat and round tone and isn't too hard on my board.

My only other experience with Flats is Chromes, which I had on a fretless Jazz years ago and didn't love, and DR Legends, which I have and love on my 'designated old school tone' bass, but I don't think they'd be what I'm looking for on the L-2500.
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Thanks Cleezmo and I'm glad to hear you found the strings even with a good low B string. I have Dunlop Flats on a 4 string Tobias Growler fretless and was curious about the low B.

I hear you regarding your specific wants for the tone. I feel like I can get something close with the Dunlop Flats on the Growler fretless (still leaning on the flatwounds side of things obviously) and my custom with the LaBella Copper White Tapes (leaning on the sort of its own roundwound-ish thing but far less zingy).

Sounds like the DR strings might be good option and I'm curious if you do decide to try one of the LaBella White Tapewound varieties!
 
#36
I’ve owned several fretless basses over the years and have experimented with lots of strings on them and I’ve found nothing better than Dunlop Super Brights. The flexibility makes for an almost effortless feel while really adding to a singing sustain. They have a big, complex midrange which really kills.
 
#38
thisheregiraffe said:
Tapes sound brilliant on fretless IME. I especially like La Bella White Tapes (750T) on my fretless J. (It’s a 4-string though and I have no hands-on experience with a tape wound B string.)

White tapes are a bit brighter than the black tapes. They can go from sounding like broken in rounds (in a good way) to thumpy-with-clarity depending on how you set the tone control. Tone all the way off + a foam mute at the bridge can get into the ‘mimic an upright’ territory, but these strings are much more versatile than that.
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+1 for white tapes... Both my p and stingray fretless now have white tapes on them. Amazing.
 
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