MTD Kingston 5 Fretless

Nate,

Contact the following person to have all your questions answered.

[email protected] and check his site while you're at it.

http://www.access-bass.com/

 

The fretless has a phenolic board, while the fretteds have rosewood ones. I believe.

 

geshel is right:

Fretted - Rosewood or Maple
Fretless - Phenolic

David

 

Nate,

I'm very seriously considering this bass. In fact, Bass NW has a 4 string version that I plan on demoing this week to see if I like the Kingston fretless feel. Then I will go with the 5 string version. I'll give a report after I give it a try.

Best Wishes,
Bones

 

I have my eye on the newer MTD with MM and J pick ups, I saw them at BassNW.

 

Unfortuneately Keith, MTD only makes the Heir, the bass you referenced, in the Tobacco Burst, fretted version. I would have loved to see this bass in a fretless.

Bones

 

I was'nt aware that the Heir was only available in fretted version. I would still be willing to get one and have it defretted, as I like the sound and feel of a fretless rosewood fingerboard.

 

Tricky to defret an MTD Heir, or any of them for that matter since they have a zero fret- According to Mike tobias, this can be done, but a new nut must be made to compensate for where the zero fret is. its not just a matter of pulling the frets , however.

 

Thanks for that info Adrian. I would not be inclined to get one if defretting is more of a pain in the a$$ than it usually is.

 

Hey Yo Adrian
I just read in your profile that you play in KC and the Sunshine Band. Great funky band, it must be a fun gig.

 

Big Brother, is that you? Glad to see you around!

 

that's right fellas- used to be in KC and the Sunshine Band- on the road- about 3 years-it was fun! now im growing old in Vegas!!- actually, it's great. best gig ever. whatssup ebozz??!!!!!

 

John - i thought the same- its getting fretted as the open note, tight?/ i still dont understand why, but according to Mike Tobias and several others, it has to be rebuilt and a nut has to be made to compensate for the change- i wish i could explain exactly why- what you said makes sense to me, but im not one to argue with Mike Tobias much- he said its a pain in the ass, but can certainly be done- that might be a good question to ask Bill..- peace, Adrian

 

My guess is that since the zero fret is designed to make the open strings sound like the fretted notes, it would have a totally different tonal structure than the same fretted notes on a fretless neck. You'd have a bass with one fret--the zero fret. Maybe it's technically possible, but since they went to the trouble of doing the zero fret, they don't want it out there with just the zero fret. It creates the same kind of imbalance as no zero fret--just in the other direction.

Did that make a damn bit of sense?

 

What about if you left the zero fret in, but notched it down to near the fingerboard with the same file you would use on a nut?

 

Here's the problem with the zero fret, as I see it: ever notice that a fretless nut is cut lower than a fretted nut?

If you removed all but the zero fret, the increased height between the zero fret and the fretboard would make fretting at and near the first fret pretty hard. Of course you could remove the zero fret but that throws the intonation out, as the zero fret and the nut are in different locations, requiring some type of mod to get the nut where the zero fret used to be. You could cut the zero fret down but I'd imagine that would have to be done so precisely as to be a pain in the butt, given dealing with headstock downforce and getting the right height to downforce pressure just right. Which would carry the brunt of the downforce, the notched zero fret or the nut?

All of this needs to be considered because otherwise, on a defretted bass, the lines would be fairly useless as references.

 

A friend defretted a YoSteinberger with a zero fret, and left the zero fret in without any modification. He's pretty happy with it, but the action is not as low as you would expect on a fretless. When I pulled the frets on my Yamaha I was able to get pretty good mwah out of it prior to doing anything to the nut, but it played easier with the nut slots cut lower.

Looking at my MTDB, I can see all the things Brad mentioned coming into play that would make using the zero fret a real problem if it was defretted. It would not be possible to just cut the zero fret, the nut would have to be cut, and then the headstock angle is kind of shallow anyway... I can see why Mike says you have to make a new nut.

elwood