Question about nuts on fretless basses...

[bass_lord_mutha]

(I want to preface this by saying that I am familiar with the DDP fretless bridge that gives fretted basses a legitimate fretless mwah to their tone, so this is not what I'm referring to, just FYI lol)

Are there any builders out there that have developed a nut for a fretless bass that gives open strings the mwah that you get when you finger a note on a fretless? I don't use open strings very often but I cannot get over the difference in sound when I'm having to use an open string on a fretless bass, especially during a run or scale.

 

[PhatBasstard]

Although I think some specialty company/builder does something like this (just can't remember where I saw it), I've been thinking about this lately with my Spector fretless.
First, I immediately replaced the brass nut with a softer, teflon style nut. I have the brass nuts on my fretted Spectors as it makes sense that you'd want open notes to sound as similar to the (metal on metal) fretted notes as possible. But since fingered notes on a fretless are metal on wood, an open note brass nut makes absolutely no sense on a fretless.
But, of course, the open notes, even with a softer nut, are still not the same.
I've been toying with the idea of filing the nut slots down to just below the edge of the fingerboard. The idea being that the nut would still do it's job as a guide, but open notes would actually be resting on the fingerboard and (hopefully) have the same "mwah" as the fingered notes.

This concept would work (on paper) for open notes the same way the Dominic D'Piazza bridge works for fretted notes, only in reverse.
Just haven't gotten around to attempting it yet.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Yes, some of us do. My fretless basses all use an ebony "zero block" at the end of the (ebony) fingerboard. It's a small block of ebony which acts about like a zero fret. Behind it is an aluminum nut, which holds the spacing of the strings. The strings rest on the zero block, and its edge sets the intonation for the open string.

The edge of the zero block is trimmed to 0.010" above the height of the fingerboard surface. From experience, I've found that to be about the right setting. Depending on the rest of the setup, plucking lightly gives a clear sound on the open note. Plucking harder brings out a Mwah on the open note.

Filing the existing nut slots down to below the edge of the fingerboard is the right idea in general, but not quite. It may work okay if the fingerboard has some moderate relief in the first several positions. But it's better to have that edge of the fingerboard up about 0.010" above the fingerboard surface. That's why I put the zero block there, in between the end of the fingerboard and the nut. It's the best design I know of for keeping the tone of the open notes as close as possible to the tone of the fingered notes. It's the same reason why I use zero frets on my fretted basses.

 

[PhatBasstard]

It's the same reason why I use zero frets on my fretted basses.

Speaking of which, I recently saw that someone is making nuts with a zero fret built into the front edge to retro fit basses without zero frets. Looks intriguing.

Thanks. The zero block concept (for fretless) seems to make sense. Any pix?

 

[bass_lord_mutha]

I've been toying with the idea of filing the nut slots down to just below the edge of the fingerboard. The idea being that the nut would still do it's job as a guide, but open notes would actually be resting on the fingerboard and (hopefully) have the same "mwah" as the fingered notes.

I have actually tried that, but like Bruce Johnson alluded to with there needing to be relief in the first few fret positions, all that did was create nasty open string buzzing and/or choking out of the notes. YMMV but I won't do that again haha!

Yes, some of us do. My fretless basses all use an ebony "zero block" at the end of the (ebony) fingerboard. It's a small block of ebony which acts about like a zero fret. Behind it is an aluminum nut, which holds the spacing of the strings. The strings rest on the zero block, and its edge sets the intonation for the open string.

The edge of the zero block is trimmed to 0.010" above the height of the fingerboard surface. From experience, I've found that to be about the right setting. Depending on the rest of the setup, plucking lightly gives a clear sound on the open note. Plucking harder brings out a Mwah on the open note.

That is an interesting idea. I've always liked the idea of the zero fret on fretted instruments though I've never owned a bass equipped with one, so this to me makes a lot of sense. I'll have to try that on my fretless, maybe modify the nut to have an ebony graft in the front half nearest the fingerboard. Thanks!