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Fretless String recommendations?

Kmus

Kmus

Apr 26, 2013
6
0
#1
Greetings everyone!

A while back I made a thread here asking about the Ibanez SR505F and if it was worth the buy.

The responses were overwhelmingly positive and y'all were right! I absolutely love this bass and haven't even touched my Stingray since buying the SR505F (Mind you I still love the Stingray haha)
I would recommend this bass for anyone, especially for first time fretless players.

I have one question for anyone who plays sans frets. Which strings do you guys prefer? The SR came with stock nickel rounds, which I've heard are somewhat damaging to the neck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone and hope y'all have a great day.

-Kmus
 
#2
On fretless I'm playing musical pit orchestras and big band. For that I like the Tomastik-Infeld (TI) flats. They more flexible that flats generally are, easy on the fingers and have a great warm sound. They last a long time also. A little pricey for sure, but for me, worth it.
 
#3
Round wound damage is WAY overblown. Yes, rounds will eventually eat away at your fingerboard. They also eat away at your frets on a fretted bass. Use whatever strings you want (round or flat) and just count on getting your fingerboard touched up every now and again. No different than a well played bass needing a fret job periodically.

Not knocking flats. If that is the tone you are after, great. Just saying that using flats when you don't want that tone because you are frightened of fingerboard damage is pointless.
 
#5
Kmus said:
I absolutely love this bass and haven't even touched my Stingray since buying the SR505F
Click to expand...

That's just the New Bass Honeymoon talking right there. You'll be back to the StingRay soon enough... ;)

I use TI Flats on my fretless and like them. I would go with them again, if one broke or something.
 
#6
I've preferred DR Sunbeams and nickel Fodera Diamonds on fretless for a long time now. I don't like flats, and if you're careful, nickel rounds will do extremely little wear to your board.
 
#8
That's just the New Bass Honeymoon talking right there. You'll be back to the StingRay soon enough...
Click to expand...

Haha No doubt! It also helps that in the past year I've been listening to a lot of Nica group and Intronaut.

Round wound damage is WAY overblown. Yes, rounds will eventually eat away at your fingerboard. They also eat away at your frets on a fretted bass. Use whatever strings you want (round or flat) and just count on getting your fingerboard touched up every now and again. No different than a well played bass needing a fret job periodically.
Click to expand...

Really helpful man, thanks :bassist:
 
#14
Kael said:
Round wound damage is WAY overblown. Yes, rounds will eventually eat away at your fingerboard. They also eat away at your frets on a fretted bass. Use whatever strings you want (round or flat) and just count on getting your fingerboard touched up every now and again. No different than a well played bass needing a fret job periodically.

Not knocking flats. If that is the tone you are after, great. Just saying that using flats when you don't want that tone because you are frightened of fingerboard damage is pointless.
Click to expand...

^This.

Baba Elefante uses D'addaroio rounds on his fretless, and that guy plays an Alain Caron sig. by F bass! In a clinic he was asked about his string choice and said, "Yeah the roundwound strings wear a little on the board, but so do flats! Strings just do that if you play all the time, so every year or so I'll rub it down with some steel wool and it turns out just fine."
 
#16
Depends on what tone you want. If you want a sound more like an upright then flats are suited for that. If you want the "MWAH" sound rounds are the flavor of the day, and the lighter the gauge the more mwah you get. It really depends on the style you play, although the flats and rounds can be interchangeable on a lot of music types.
I've used these strings on my fretlesses for 15 years, and found all excelled for one reason or another:
Flats: GHS Precision flats, TI Jazz Flats, D'Addario Chromes
Rounds: Fender 7250/5250s, SIT Power Wound Nickels
Other: GHS, Fender, and LaBella Tapes, GHS Pressurewounds
 
#17
I use DR Legends at the moment. They're the best flats I've tried but I still have a hard time getting used to the feel. Going to try out Sunbeams next. FWIW, I've tried D'Addario half-flats on a fretted jazz bass before and found them to be a very comfortable compromise.
 
#18
I had Carvin nickel rounds which I think are 40-100 strings on my Carvin SB4000 fretless with an ebony fretboard and it sounded awesome.....to me. Tried the TI Flats and, although a big favorite here on TB, I didn't care for the tone compared to the light nickel rounds. I have a bunch of string sets laying around so tried the Fender tapewounds and, surprisingly, they sounded pretty close to the Carvin nickel rounds. So, I'm keeping them on the fretless for a while. After you do your searching on TB and on the web, try a few that you think might work for you and it's really up to your ears and taste as to what you end up with. Which is probably why I have about 8-10 sets of strings laying around to try on my next bass. Good luck.
 
#19
Labella tapewounds on almost all my 18 fretlesses because they have life like rounds (almost as bright) but can also be warm depending on technique - nice flexibility to have in your hands

I used rounds RS or Fodera or whatever for 30+ yrs - very little wear ever

If you bend strings like a guitard they will leave grooves but then again a violinist doesn't bend notes or create vibrato like that - you roll the end of your finger back and forth with wrist movement

And yes 0000 steel wool will clean up most marks
 
#20
Labella tapewounds on almost all my 18 fretlesses because they have life like rounds (almost as bright) but can also be warm depending on technique - nice flexibility to have in your hands

I used rounds RS or Fodera or whatever for 30+ yrs - very little wear ever

If you bend strings like a guitard they will leave grooves but then again a violinist doesn't bend notes or create vibrato like that - you roll the end of your finger back and forth with wrist movement

And yes 0000 steel wool will clean up most marks
 

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