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Fretted AND fretless on one bass?

S

sickranium

Dec 2, 2007
22
0
46
Vienna, Austria
#1
I was intrigued today by a picture on Basstheworld.com's facebook page:

//since the picture won't show, here's the link to the luthier's facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bond-Instruments/259951714043339

The idea of a bass whose fretboard has a fretted AND a fretless section appeals to me a great deal. Until today I only knew of the Ibanez Ashula, which I tried out at music store cologne (and which sounded FANTASTIC by the way!). Still the idea of having, let's say twelve frets and an upper fretless part sounds like a dream come true.

Anyone know of any instruments beside the one posted by basstheworld.com?

Greatly appreciate your help, guys! ;)
 
#4
There are three types of basses.
The fretted/fretless system with the lever you pull to retract the frets, the Ibanez Ashula style with some strings fretted and some fretless, and the basses that are only fretted up to the 12th fret or so.

The Ashula style seems like a good idea, but you only get two strings that are fretless, and that's pretty useless.

The other two usually give you insanely high fretless action.
 
#8
I like these...

PrecisionJazzDoubleneck-1.gif
 
#10
I'm not a fretless player by any means, but IMHO, the cleanest way to do this with one bass is a doubleneck.

I know they are way more expensive but the other 3 options (retractable frets; some strings fretted, others not; fretted up to a given point and fretless beyond that) are all compromises and BAD compromises at that.

The retractable frets cause problems related to string height and ( I would think) intonation. Plus, they are mechanical systems and what happens to mechanical systems over time? Even the best of them crap out at some point. Then what? What happens if the frets become stuck in an undersirable position? Better yet- how many of your local luthiers will know how to fix them?
The combo fretted/fretless necks impose limits on your range either way you look at it. There are certain sounds that you will never be able to get out of a hybrid neck and you have to accept that limitation.

Just my $.02
 
#11
sickranium said:
Mind elaborating on that a little?
Click to expand...

Double neck: heavy
8 string half fretted half fretless with EADG on each side: Not as heavy, but very wide neck.
Fretted to about the 12th fret then fretless: sky high action on the fretless
Ashula: only 2 fretless strings. Meh and only one pickup for those strings.
Retractable frets: super expensive and the fretless has high action.

Most of these options are simply because folks don't want to committ to a fretless bass.
 
#12
kjpollo said:
The combo fretted/fretless necks impose limits on your range either way you look at it. There are certain sounds that you will never be able to get out of a hybrid neck and you have to accept that limitation.
Click to expand...

That depends on the way you look at it. Of course you can view it als two "incomplete" necks. On the other hand, if you look at it as a whole, a fretted/fretless neck gives you a range no other bass will be able to offer, without having to deal with the price, weight and size of a doubleneck instrument. At least that's the way I tend to look at the concept....
What I mean is, if you try to substitute a full fretted PLUS a full fretless bass with just one instrument, the fretted/fretless concept is bound to fail for obvious reasons. I'll agree with you on that. To me the idea just hast that "best of both worlds"-appeal, and what might be played on an instrument like that sounds great in my head. It's not so much about the "this one does it all", but more of "a little of both, merged into something new" kind of thing. I don't know if I manage to convey the idea, I do tend to get lost explaining concepts that in my head seem to make perfect sense *lol*
 
#14
Unless you want to switch between fretted and fretless on the same song, get a second bass.

I got another Lakland 55-01 to match my fretted bass.

Get a double guitar stand, and an AB pedal. Changes take 2 seconds.

I routinely switch back and forth at church, sometimes 3-4 times a service.
 
#16
keiththebassist said:
There are some manufacturers (who are escaping me at the moment, sorry) That make magnetically anchored fingerboards that can be swapped from fretted to fretless in about 5 seconds. That would be the option I'd go with.
Click to expand...

Roger Sadowsky commented that the fingerboards were prone to warping.

The changes of fingerboards weren't nearly as quick as grabbing another bass.
 
#17
I know ansir makes a few, the one I played is fretted till the 12 and fretless afterwords.. Personally, I think the idea is awful. It sounds like a nice attribute, but it's pretty gimic-y in my opinion. The action is way too high on the fretless sections of the neck, at least for my liking.
 
#18
keiththebassist said:
There are some manufacturers (who are escaping me at the moment, sorry) That make magnetically anchored fingerboards that can be swapped from fretted to fretless in about 5 seconds. That would be the option I'd go with.
Click to expand...

Novatone was a maker. I had one (on a Pre-EB MM Sabre) that worked fine, but as s2y just said, others have reported problems.
 

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