Guitar Flatter
A revolutionary device that will convert a standard electric guitar or bass into a fretless instrument
guitarflatter.com
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Instant fretless bass?
- Thread starter jd56hawk
- Start date
We could have a fretless bass on a stand with an A/B box and switch out to the fretless in less time.
i posted the device in the fretless club a while back = no love.
another thread featured it a few weeks ago = maybe a little interest.
i thought it was a clever idea. hey, it promotes 'fretlessness'! but TBH, i'd never buy it --- nothing to put it on.
another thread featured it a few weeks ago = maybe a little interest.
i thought it was a clever idea. hey, it promotes 'fretlessness'! but TBH, i'd never buy it --- nothing to put it on.
For a few dollars more you could have a cheap fretless.
I don't want to see or play a $50 Fretless bass.
if you want to play fretless, buy a real one not this cheap imitation fretless.
I'll give you $20 for it. I feel like I saw samurai guitar feature one of these on his channel a while back that did NOT have a built in nut and MAY have had velcro seemed like abetter idea than this one
Well…ok then! That’s different.
I don’t want to be guilty of rushing to judgement on this one. A lot of the sound you get would depend on the plastic they’re using and how snug the fit was. My Willcox Saber has a synthetic fingerboard. And it plays and sounds every bit as good as my other fretlesses which have ebony and rosewood boards.
My gut tells me I probably wouldn’t like tapewounds with it. But rounds or pressurewounds might be a different story.
Hmm…I’ve got a JB. For $50 I just might be tempted to take the small gamble of getting one to try out purely for its weirdness factor.
I don’t want to be guilty of rushing to judgement on this one. A lot of the sound you get would depend on the plastic they’re using and how snug the fit was. My Willcox Saber has a synthetic fingerboard. And it plays and sounds every bit as good as my other fretlesses which have ebony and rosewood boards.
My gut tells me I probably wouldn’t like tapewounds with it. But rounds or pressurewounds might be a different story.
Hmm…I’ve got a JB. For $50 I just might be tempted to take the small gamble of getting one to try out purely for its weirdness factor.
Last edited:
I don't hate the idea, i just can't ditch the suspicion it's going to sound rattly.
You end up with a fretless that has a weirdly wide and thick neck, and to those 2 minutes you have to ad the time to rise the bridge to match the new fretboard and re set the intonation and pickup height acordingly (and do it all again when you want to switch back to fretted). And it won't even cover beyond the 14th fret for no aparent reason?
No wonder there's no love for this thing.
Get a cheap fretless, or defret a cheap bass. It will sound and feel better than this thing. Plus, you get a new bass!
No wonder there's no love for this thing.
Get a cheap fretless, or defret a cheap bass. It will sound and feel better than this thing. Plus, you get a new bass!
Ugh this marketing copy: "Used by some of the biggest names in the bass world, such as Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones) and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), fretless basses have received growing popularity and interest over the years, and for good reasons." Nice bait and switch, associating big names with....the fretless bass. Not your product. 
This type of thing is just cringy to me. Like those guitar contraptions that allow you to press one button and play full chords.
So much hatred in this place at times.
If they made one for Stingray 5 strings I’d for sure be picking one up. Even if it was $60, I’d rather spend that and try it than spend another $2000+ for a fretless SR5 that wouldn’t have fret lines.
If they made one for Stingray 5 strings I’d for sure be picking one up. Even if it was $60, I’d rather spend that and try it than spend another $2000+ for a fretless SR5 that wouldn’t have fret lines.
Last edited:
carsonchilders
Carson Childers
Does it tune up like you would expect? Are the fret lines under the material accurate to the notes?
Clever and impractical all at the same time.
A company called Novatone offered switchable metal fretboards back in the '80s, letting you switch between fretted and fretless in an instant. They also made some alternate temperament boards. However it required modding your neck and of course this mod was irreversible, and there were complaints the modded necks had truss rod problems due to lack of wood.
On the surface it’s just a dumb idea but if you dig a little deeper and open your mind it’s a dumb idea that changes the full action of your bass by raising the nut and fingerboard but not the bridge. And you who knows, maybe you like the sound of a loosely fitted plastic finger board.
You’d have to change your intonation. The lines wouldn’t adjust according to the offset.
