Fretted AND Fretless on the same neck?!?!

I've seen basses made that way, but it seems to me that the action would be too high to get much mwaahh.

 

Isn't Bass Guitar's GT-7 done like that? Did I read that somewhere? Maybe he can tell you more.

Lee

 

Curbow was working on a prototype the last time I talked to him that deals with this problem--instead of just having the frets absent, the fretboard itself is level with the lower frets! So, basically, it's fretted to the 12th fret, and then, it's one big fret to the end of the board.

While I don't see the appeal, I guess I can see a reason for it. I'm definitely curious to give it a try when it is done.

 

That sounds like one way to solve the problem, but I would miss having the mwaahh in the 3rd - 7th fret area.

 

Hi all,

Yes, my GT-7 had 5 frets, with the rest fretless.

I am getting my luthier to install 2 more frets to make it 7 frets - I find that I miss those extra 2 frets.

I have consulted Matt Pulcinella about the fret height and high action problem. He basically told me that what he does with his basses is that he uses banjo frets (which are much smaller and flatter) for his basses, and he then files the frets even lower, so that the height of the frets are minimal. This allows for lower action over the fretless section.

My luthier, who is sick at the moment, was going to do this as well, as the current setup has action that is too high - he has decided to just file down the stock frets to see how it goes - if that doesn't work, he will install banjo frets on my bass too.

I find the ability to switch from fretted to fretless instantly on the same bass quite liberating. I do miss my bass... I hope my luthier gets well soon.

 

Kramer offered "half fretless" fingerboards as a factory option on their aluminum necked basses, it had the first nine frets then lines the rest of the way up the neck.

 

how about those that are fretted only on certain strings?

i remember seeing an ad in bassplayer (it was weird too, said it was tuned low b-H, h?) and the bottom two and top two strings were fretted while the middle two were fretless. i believe theres a thread around here somewhere about it.


and man oh man, i just did the king of bumps

 

I think they should have the fretless start at the 13th "fret" that'd be cool.

 

H is B, and B is Bb.

 

yeah, i knew it was something like that but i didnt remember it well so i didnt want to give any wrong info. thanks for clearing it up though

 

Correct.it's patented I spoke with the owner last week his version seems very logical,and I remember the half Fretless Kramers.there is one dealer for the Browns half fretless Basses(in Minn.)and he is selling the 6 string version for 7 grand yes selling,not a list price(his words to me)I talked to the owner about alowing me the permission to put his system on one of my Basses but he said at this point No(but in a very nice way).

 

7k?!

 

Hey that guy that has those fretted/less basses lives about 25 min away from me. Maybe i'll go talk some sense into him...

 

H in German, Hungarian and i dont know how many other languages is what you call B in English - but the tuning is like a Baritone guitar? now that doesnt make sense this way...

 

Oh sorry, i didnt see that you have dissected the previous topic on page two... shouldve read...

Btw what i also wanted to add was that not only are there "half-fretted" boards, but i have also seen (here on TB, of course)a board that was "half-fretted" the other way: one side of the board had frets and separate four strings, and the other side of the board lined and another four strings (so 4 fretted + 4 fretless) on the same neck - what made it even stranger was that the frets and the lines differed from each other ok i know that the actual notes are not always where the frets are, but it sure looked strange

 

well, i probably remembered it wrong, i just remember it had an H somewhere in the tuning part.