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Fretless Woes

Shy Guy

Shy Guy

Sep 23, 2008
580
0
Templeton, MA
#1
Recently I've been saving up to purchase myself a fretless and have been intrigued by fretless ray's. However the only fretless ray with an ebony board I've seen so far is a Dargie Delight 2, which even with theperfectbass's discount (no affiliation) is still a solid $100 more than the regular single H fretless ray that isn't on sale. I mention all this because I have heard that pao ferro (fretless ray's board, correct me if I'm wrong) wears faster and has a 'worse' fretless tone. This leads me to ask if there are any fretless basses that can achieve a MM tone that have ebony boards, or if pao ferro is a perfectly acceptable wood? I understand that it's apples and oranges but I want my fretless purchase to be the fretless bass I use.
 
#2
Hey ShyGuy

I've had a few fretless basses. A Carvin B4 with an Ebony board, and 2 StingRay's a 4H and a 5H. I love the sound of the Ray with the Pau Ferro board, very warm round & clear.
I haven't noticed excessive wear on those boards, I run nickle rounds. I don't consider the Carvin to have MM tone but the wear on the board is similar (very minimal). Maybe someone who has played a lot more fretless has had a different experience.

B.
 
#3
dude rosewood isnt as durable as pao ferro and it lasts, my 79' fretless ray has a rosewood board and has only been replaced once since new, and thats with Rounds on it.

for me at least rosewood is the fretless wood, when i grab a fretless i wanna hear a Pino-ish tone and if that or the Jaco thing is what your after then Rosewood is the way forward.

Dave
 
#4
Fingerboard wear is a bit of a myth. It does happen, but soooo slowly that it's essentially irrelevant. As far as sound goes, I don't think the difference between rosewood, Pau Ferro and ebony will make much impact in comparison with the impact of the choice of strings, pickups and your technique.
 
#7
Pau Ferro is a very durable wood. Not as durable as Ebony, but still very durable.

When I ordered my Warmoth neck, it was a choice of Ebony or Pau Ferro, and I chose the Pau Ferro.

After 8 or 9 months of playing, here is the stringwear I have on the E string:
4154030247_9be4cb062d_b.png
 
#9
fretboards can be dressed (sanded down). AS far as I can tell, small grooves in the board do not affect playability or sound. I think you will get many moons of playing out of your fretless. And...of course string type will affect your sound and board life.

People ask about this issue frequently on TB but how often do people comment on how often they have to have their fingerboard dressed, let alone replaced due to too much dressing?
 
#10
Pau Ferro is supposed to be on par with maple as far as sound characteristics go, and harder than both maple and rosewood.

If you are too worried about wear, you can always epoxy the board, which is what I probably do, because if I had a fretless Stingray I would play that thing to death!
 
#11
ChrisPbass said:
AS far as I can tell, small grooves in the board do not affect playability or sound.
Click to expand...

If this were true, I'd have been in trouble for a looong time.
When I received my fretless 'Ray, it came with rounds. After 5 mins of playing, I noticed marks in the fingerboard. So, I stopped playing 'til I received Thomastik flats and used them 'til I started experimenting with grounds, which showed very little wear on the board. I just installed pressure wounds the other day, but not played on it yet. I should say, I got this instrument back in 2001 and play it somewhat heavily.
From what I know, pau ferro is a VERY hard wood and as hard as ebony, which I had on a fretted bass guitar(Carvin BB75).
To the OP, I felt the same way when I special ordered my 'Ray. If you know much about MM's philosophy, you would know that they would not use an inferior wood for their instruments.
 
#12
You might want to consider the Tobias Growler with the wenge finger board. It has a very nice Stingray type tone (plus about 100 other tones).
I would also consider having the board epoxied (whatever you decide on). Then it would be hard as nails.

I find that fret board wear has much to do with the player. If you are a light handed player, then I wouldn't worry about wear. I have had my two fretless basses, (one rosewood, one maple) for decades and haven't worn the boards down a bit. On the other hand, I have a good friend that had to have his board leveled time and time again due to his heavy hand.
 
#13
I had a fretless SR5 for a while, and I played it on and off to change up from my Sonus. A good Ray is on par with the Zon for build and sonics, but it definitely had more of a woody sound and reacted to string type very differently. A set of TI Jazz Rounds I had on there made for a very deep sound, but not thumpy. All told, a fantastic bass. if a fretless Ray is what you want, either save for the exact bass you want, or relax and don't sweat the fingerboard material. You won't be getting a bad bass.

...or find a nice fretless Sonus and eliminate all of the issues. You will have been through a few hand surgeries before you did any damage to that board.
 
#14
to be honest i think that everyone is making a big deal out of fretboard wear. String marks on a fretless are a big part of the tone.

i would try lots of different fretless basses with different fingerboard woods/coatings and pickup combos and do lots of listening to all kinds of fretless players and look for what sounds and feels best, if what sounds best to you is a scared up rosewood fingerboard with rotos on then dont epoxy your fingerboard and play flats because it might last longer. after all music is a hearing art and that should be whats most important.

just to get back to answering the original post the classic fretless stingray tone that you are talking about is achieved with a softer fingerboard wood like pau ferro/rosewood so if thats the sound you want to hear when you play fretless.....
 
#15
Asher S said:
Fingerboard wear is a bit of a myth. It does happen, but soooo slowly that it's essentially irrelevant. As far as sound goes, I don't think the difference between rosewood, Pau Ferro and ebony will make much impact in comparison with the impact of the choice of strings, pickups and your technique.
Click to expand...

+1.

I had rosewood, ebony, ebonal, maple & bloodwood fretless fingerboards - no problems ever. I do prefer the feel of Ebony for fretless, but that's me.
 
#17
I haven't owned a MM fretless, but I played one with a pao ferro fingerboard in the store. I was really impressed how hard, smooth, and grainfree it felt, like it was made of polymer like ebanol. I wouldn't worry about wear on a MM fretless w/pao ferro. Even if you want a roundwound sound and you want a little insurance against wear, there are plenty of good coated roundwounds out there that have plenty of snarl and punch, if that's your thing.
 
#19
MNAirHead said:
Would you guys suggest ground wound, pressure wound or 1/2 round if our OP is concerned about wear..
Click to expand...
I was going to get a set of D'Addario Half Rounds, partly for the pure nickel wrap, partly for the half-round profile, which is pretty smooth--smoother than pressure wound. Then I discovered that SIT strings offers [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] at considerably lower price. My experience with SIT strings indicates they'll be just as good, and they're also pure nickel.

I've tried a bunch of things on my ASAT fretless--TI Flats, D'Addario Chromes, Black Diamond Black Coated rounds, Aurora Coated rounds, and Roto tapewound TruBass 88's. They all have different sonic profiles, but I consider them all safe to use on a fretless.

Of those 6, the Auroras gave the most modern snarly sound, the Roto Tapewounds were pure thump, the TI Flats had a nice uprighty sonic spectrum, the Chromes were a little more modern with less body, and the Black Diamonds present a big, full, powerful, clear, well-focused tone that can be shaped to work with a wide variety of music.
 
#20
Give the guys at The Perfect Bass a call.
I know they go through a lot of Ernie Balls, so they might be able to shed some light on the subject. I just played one of their EB fretlesses the other day - I think the sunburst one. Very nice, but I wanted a more Fender like tone.

I'm not affiliated with them, I just like them a lot.
 

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