Half-fretted basses

[Isak Pedersen]

I just got an idea and im just wondering if its allready taken.
is there any basses that are fretted but fletless above the 12th fret?
I think that would be great if you want flets but still can move up on the neck for really cool fills or solos

 

[natw42]

Matt Pulcinella used to offer that www.mpguitars.com

I don't know if he does any more.

 

[Bardley]

You mean like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-9wY57AZIs

 

[bassman515]

Look at brown guitar factory, they have a fretted/less bass. I played one at NAMM, it was pretty cool...
http://www.brownsguitarfactory.com/

 

[reedo35]

Kramer used to make a Bass like that.

 

[4-string]

Status Graphite offers half-fretted, or at least something along those lines, as an option for all models afaik.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

A few companies used to do it, but it's not a big market.

 

[Jazzcat]

Kramer used to make a Bass like that.

I think half-fretted was an option on a number of the Kramer basses. Used ones come up for sale once in a while.

 

[JehuJava]

Matt Pulcinella used to offer that www.mpguitars.com

I don't know if he does any more.

I used to have one of these a while back. IIR it was fretted up to the 7th fret then fretless after that. It was an interesting concept, but I found it difficult to adapt to having both.

 

[Joe Smithberger]

Look up the Ibanez Ashula bass

 

[mikeswals]

Ibanez did exactly that with Alphonso Johnson back around 82/83 ish.

 

[Shakin-Slim]

A local player I know has a custom neck that is fretted on E and A and fretless on D and G and he has the fingerboard made of maple on the fretted sections and ebony on the fretless. On top of that he plays it as a right handed bass, left handed, without restringing, so they're upside down.

Link Removed

 

[tkcthulu]

A local player I know has a custom neck that is fretted on E and A and fretless on D and G and he has the fingerboard made of maple on the fretted sections and ebony on the fretless. On top of that he plays it as a right handed bass, left handed, without restringing, so they're upside down.

Link Removed

Does he also play with his tongue?

 

[nurnay]

I saw an old Fender what had fretless & fretted on one neck, but i don't know if it was custom or not.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Can't seem to find it, but I do recall seeing a video of Bill Clements playing a bass that had metal grooves in the neck where the frets should be. The premise was that if you hit down on the 'fret' you got a fretted sound. If you used glissando, you got mmmwah! Looked pretty cool. For Bill Clements it worked well because of his left hand only style. When he 'slapped' at the neck it went clackity, clackity too.

Marco Fret Groove....I just remembered.

 

[Shakin-Slim]

Does he also play with his tongue?

I don't quite understand your insinuation but he is a very good musician regardless of how his bass is something of a gimmick. It allows for some pretty cool sounds. If you're saying what I think, your snide remarks might be better appreciated on another website

 

[sonic assassin]

ive always liked that idea. id like a slant, getting less fretless as it goes down the neck. B string fretless from 12 on. E from the 15th. A from the 17th. might as well make use of those spots somehow, since i dont otherwise.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I'd think the opposite woudl make more sense. After all the higher on the neck you go the closer togehter the notes are, so a tiny amount of difference is more out of intonation. I spend more time on the sub-12th fret zone, and never ahd a problem keeping those in tune anyway. But when you are playing high and fast, it would be nice to have them frets.

 

[Shakin-Slim]

I'd think the opposite woudl make more sense. After all the higher on the neck you go the closer togehter the notes are, so a tiny amount of difference is more out of intonation. I spend more time on the sub-12th fret zone, and never ahd a problem keeping those in tune anyway. But when you are playing high and fast, it would be nice to have them frets.

+1
True that

 

[DerHoggz]

I'd think the opposite woudl make more sense. After all the higher on the neck you go the closer togehter the notes are, so a tiny amount of difference is more out of intonation. I spend more time on the sub-12th fret zone, and never ahd a problem keeping those in tune anyway. But when you are playing high and fast, it would be nice to have them frets.

I think the idea is you are more likely going to solo on the upper range, leaving the lower range for the other stuff.