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NBD

#22
So first service notes:
Some initial tuning issues. It does not stay in tune as well as my fender and that had a whammy. It's not terrible tuning issues, I just have to get used to checking the running before I play, which I spotted doing because fender. playing the bass was great once I tuned it. This is my first ferrules and I had no real problems with my left hand being off of the notes. the markings on the top of the neck were great for guiding me to the right notes but by the third song u was able to play without looking. For my uses today, I couldn't get much usable tones from the piezo. It just wasn't fitting with the organ. The Barts were great though; cut through the organ and had more than enough bottom. The next service I will be paying with a piano do I might try to ride the piezo. I noticed that I do a lot of dead note popping in my approach that I had to drop. Just a change in playing an unfretted neck. It's almost time for round two. Be back with more updates.
 
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#23
The piezo worked much better with the piano. Unfortunately I didn't get to do as much playing with it as planned. I ended up only playing with the piano for three of thirteen songs. Be warned; if you are not used to narrow Ibanez SR 5 string necks know that this bass how incredibly narrow string spacing. I had an SR905. It's a neck thru model much like this model. It is the same fast neck but with much lower action. This bass is much lighter than the SR905. This is also my first bass guitar with piezo. I am not used to that bright of a tone, I dig it. One thing of note, I have a rehearsal with my Ska band on Friday. The fretless is gonna be my bass for the night. It will be my first time getting a chance to run the bass with guitar and horns as well as get my solo on. All and all its a great flexible bass that will fit in more situations than I gave it credit for out the box. So long as the gig doesn't require slap, this bass can do it and sound good.
 
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#26
basslayer said:
So I decided to play this bass instead of my 3 ton p-bass. I haven't started playing with the choir or organ yet, just getting around the bass. View attachment 508185 As you can see, the bass is marked at the top of the fingerboard. Don't let the lack of lines stop you because the lines on top are a fine guide. I have two services hours apart so I will try to update this post on how my first outing goes without frets. I can say already that I love the weight of the bass. It's well balanced and so light it feels like the bass is mounted on a stand instead of my strap. Control-wise, I would prefer a master volume and a blend knob instead of two volume pots for the Bartolini pickups but that's certainly no deal breaker.
Click to expand...

The way it's lined is somewhat baffling. It looks like it's lined at where frets would be, and on a fretless you only really need one line for each note, not a 'fret zone' - as in, the correct intonation only happens on one spot.

The more I look at it, is it a finger-width zone? Like, you finger goes between these two lines for the note? Weird.
 
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