I need to be a little more observant!

[lz4005]

Jaco cheated because he played a lined fretless!

He also had two too many strings.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I just had a break between meetings and watched the whole thing. Tears running down my face, I was laughing so hard.

Yep, it made me pee a little, I was laughing so hard

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Good thing they make all kinds of strings for all kinds of folks otherwise we’d all be stuck like that

Constantly worrying about wearing through a 1/4” thick slab of wood is truly being stuck...

 

[dbsfgyd1]

if you played it for 20 minutes before noticing = you probably became a fretless player....and then walked away from it!



rounds might put some 'use' marks on the fingerboard. "wear out" from rounds takes years. have you played fretless? with rounds?

Just asking, but do you play with a light touch? The reason I ask is back in the day, with as hard as I was yanking the strings, I was getting wear not only on the frets, but significant wear on the finger board as well within a year. Of course, I was playing a lot at the time at least 40 hours a week.

I think neck wear is going to be dependent on how hard you play, the density and hardness of the wood, and the diameter of the wrap wire. I do agree for most bassists, it would take a relatively long time to make it
unplayable

 

[nathan swann]

same thing happened to me years ago at the hollywood carvin store. i kept tuning it, wondering if the intonation was off and often it sounded fine. took me easily half an hour to realize that being said, it was the first time i ever played a fretless...

Really? Wait a minute...what do u mean "it was out of tune?" So when you "fret the sharp" to the open string, its "e,a,d,g sharp?" How is a fretless' any different? I know that your shifting the fingering to where the Fret would LAY, but other than that?

 

[JRA]

Just asking, but do you play with a light touch?

i do sometimes --- as a function of dynamics, but nothing like those who are exclusively committed to that style. i might also play lighter when i have to (want to) play faster. but if i compare my playing to others (fretted or fretless) i'd say that my playing would be seen by most folks as 'aggressive', generally, i.e., i play harder than most.

if you looked at my fingerboards: you'd see marks caused by the roundwound windings. that's it. my 25 y.o. ebony fb will be due for a 'treatment' in the next 5-10 years at the present rate of wear...to get rid of looming, shallow valleys. my rosewood fb's are newer (3-8 years) and show nothing but the roundwound marks. my ebonol fb shows the string marks, but i doubt that it will ever need treated.

also: i don't doubt that some players have worn their fingerboards into ruts. but they are the exception, IME. and some of that fb degradation is not due to just aggressive playing, but also repeated, questionable technique of the left hand.

most of the paranoia re: fretless fb wear on TB = misjudgements about string marks vs. real damage. ironically: those who fear wear the most are those who have the least experience.

 

[nathan swann]

Why put roundwounds on a fretless? Isnt that defeating most of sonic benefits of a fretless bass? What about that "pwah" man?
I tried a set of black nylon wrapped rotos, 115, 100, 75, 65... The strings were low tension, so easy to zip around on, very similar to a double bass... Amazing, but the type i got was not for fretboards because the tension was too low to keep frets in compression, and thus i had 8 frets loosen on their tips on my Tobias Growler, circa 2005... But on a good fretless, i can imagine that theyd sound awesome.

 

[lz4005]

Why put roundwounds on a fretless? Isnt that defeating most of sonic benefits of a fretless bass? What about that "pwah" man?
I tried a set of black nylon wrapped rotos, 115, 100, 75, 65... The strings were low tension, so easy to zip around on, very similar to a double bass... Amazing, but the type i got was not for fretboards because the tension was too low to keep frets in compression, and thus i had 8 frets loosen on their tips on my Tobias Growler, circa 2005... But on a good fretless, i can imagine that theyd sound awesome.

Why use rounds: Because they sound good.
Your understanding of what "the purpose" of a fretless bass is seems very limited.
String tension does not keep frets in compression. That isn't how instruments work.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

i do sometimes --- as a function of dynamics, but nothing like those who are exclusively committed to that style. i might also play lighter when i have to (want to) play faster. but if i compare my playing to others (fretted or fretless) i'd say that my playing would be seen by most folks as 'aggressive', generally, i.e., i play harder than most.

if you looked at my fingerboards: you'd see marks caused by the roundwound windings. that's it. my 25 y.o. ebony fb will be due for a 'treatment' in the next 5-10 years at the present rate of wear...to get rid of looming, shallow valleys. my rosewood fb's are newer (3-8 years) and show nothing but the roundwound marks. my ebonol fb shows the string marks, but i doubt that it will ever need treated.

also: i don't doubt that some players have worn their fingerboards into ruts. but they are the exception, IME. and some of that fb degradation is not due to just aggressive playing, but also repeated, questionable technique of the left hand.

most of the paranoia re: fretless fb wear on TB = misjudgements about string marks vs. real damage. ironically: those who fear wear the most are those who have the least experience.

Good post!