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Roscoe Club

#7,081
DR Highbeams on mine. Tried a bunch of others but always come back. 45-125 on the 5 and 30-125 on the 6.

I keep trying to tell myself I don't need these beautiful basses, save a little money, but they are the best I have ever played.
 
#7,084
Worldeeeter said:
Yeah, and after that, you play with a lint brush!
Click to expand...

...eh, he's not the shed monster, Claire is:
10384442_762392783803462_5733693845135546823_n.jpg


:eek: ;)
 
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#7,091
Nightman said:
Beautiful fretless Roscoe!!!! - Like I said, I don't think I've seen an ugly Roscoe!! But I need the lines. How do you guys play this things without the lines?
Click to expand...

You use the side dots. I'll never purchase another lined fretless again, now that I've learned to follow the dots. I never even look at the face of the fingerboard while playing, if I can help it.
 
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#7,093
Nightman said:
But the side dots are in middle of some of the frets, right? Confusing!
Click to expand...
Yes, the dots are where the frets would be, and no, I don't find it confusing...
What I find confusing, after 5 years of blank boards, is looking at 24 frets. I don't know how anybody can find their place in all that.
I'm getting better at it tho.
 
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#7,094
Nightman said:
But the side dots are in middle of some of the frets, right? Confusing!
Click to expand...
ArtechnikA said:
Yes, the dots are where the frets would be, and no, I don't find it confusing...
What I find confusing, after 5 years of blank boards, is looking at 24 frets. I don't know how anybody can find their place in all that.
I'm getting better at it tho.
Click to expand...

He's right. The dots are right where you need to be. The hardest thing is managing perspective, i.e. - the angle at which the player views the side dots is not straight-on when the bass is hanging from the shoulder, so you have to get used to the "skewed" look of the finger position from an angle. There is one fret line between each side dot, evenly spaced, and two fret lines between the 9 & 12 and 12 & 15 dots. It's very structured and easy to adapt to.
I have to remind myself that the side dots on fretted basses are between frets now, and there's nothing there to play!
 
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#7,095
AudioDwebe said:
For me, it's easy.

I'm always out of tune.
Click to expand...

Fretless bass is a transitional instrument. :D

For me, not being a great fretless player I find the lines screw with my brain. I do better with just the dots. I have had a couple lined Roscoe Fretless basses and have struggled playing them. I can pick up my friends Pentabuzz with no lines and I adjust better. I am not saying the Pentabuzz is a better bass, I just haven't had any time on an unlined Roscoe. Gard is the only one I know who has an unlined Roscoe and I messed with his for about 5 minutes when he had it at the shop.
 
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#7,096
Worldeeeter said:
He's right. The dots are right where you need to be. The hardest thing is managing perspective, i.e. - the angle at which the player views the side dots is not straight-on when the bass is hanging from the shoulder, so you have to get used to the "skewed" look of the finger position from an angle. There is one fret line between each side dot, evenly spaced, and two fret lines between the 9 & 12 and 12 & 15 dots. It's very structured and easy to adapt to.
I have to remind myself that the side dots on fretted basses are between frets now, and there's nothing there to play!
Click to expand...

I have to admit that even with my lined fretless my mind and eyes aren't in sync and I have to really focus on where my fingers should be. Maybe it's because of the lines?

I think if I went with a unlined board I'd have to have side dots at each fret position, but that would probably make things worst.
 
#7,097
Worldeeeter said:
He's right. The dots are right where you need to be. The hardest thing is managing perspective, i.e. - the angle at which the player views the side dots is not straight-on when the bass is hanging from the shoulder, so you have to get used to the "skewed" look of the finger position from an angle. There is one fret line between each side dot, evenly spaced, and two fret lines between the 9 & 12 and 12 & 15 dots. It's very structured and easy to adapt to.
I have to remind myself that the side dots on fretted basses are between frets now, and there's nothing there to play!
Click to expand...

Taking it a step further is going with a half-lined board (which is really .125 long lines) on the top (bass) and side of the finger board. The Zon that I have has this. It actually doesn't have the side dots but I added some rub on dots to help me as I adjust. As Worldeeter states, adjusting to the perspective (extending them down visually) was the main hurdle that I've had to get over but it was easier than I thought.
I really like what Gard did on his fretless. If I remember correctly he has some small markers on the treble edge too. Really looks nice and still gives you a point of reference (when soloing in the upper register).

side dots.jpg
 
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#7,099
I have one lined fretless and one unlined fretless (neither one a Roscoe, unfortunately). I find the lines helpful in reminding myself where I am when playing up above the 12th fret, but not so necessary in the part of the neck where I mostly play.

It's interesting that I find it harder to train my muscle memory on fretless than on upright, maybe because there are fewer points of physical contact with the body of the instrument - for instance, the upright neck heel hits my thumb at Eb on the G string, so it serves as a good intermediate waypoint that isn't there on the fretless.
 
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#7,100
I've tried unlined fingerboards but prefer lined. One thing that helps is setting the intonation so that a note is in tune when your finger is right on the line instead of behind it. Pedulla does this and I adopted the practice for any fretless I own and it works well for me. I use the edge of a credit card to hold the string down on the fingerboard when setting intonation.

I am careful to use "one finger per fret" left hand technique...just as I do on fretted fingerboards and it works well for me. My intonation is good and the notes seem to be right under my fingers..just as they are on fretted bass. I do use the lines as a visual reference when it is difficult to hear the bass clearly and on some shifts.

Use what works for you. The idea that lines make it more difficult to play in tune does not make sense to me. If the lines bother you....just don't look at them.

Through the years I have been required to play upright bass on many jazz gigs and have learned to play with good intonation. Of course the longer scale (typically 41.5") makes playing in tune somewhat easier since small inaccuracies in finger position result in less pitch shift until you get up in thumb position.

My Century 3006 FL is a terrific bass and should begin to get more attention since I recently joined a band that plays music that is best played on electric bass.
 
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