Steve Bailey says yes... along with Jaco, Pino, Gary Willis, and other pros are round wound users...
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Roundwounds on a Fretless?
- Thread starter Acoustic356
- Start date
They do chew up the board faster, but oh that sound. I like DR Hi Beams on at least one of my fretless basses.
Had DR Fatbeams on an Ibby fretless, mwah for days if you want it. Takes a long time to rut the fingerboard, doesn't affect playing, not hard to fix.
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Always rounds. Im a flats lover and I’ll never put them on a fretless again. Flats will rash your board too.
YES!!! DR Sunbeams! Just like Tony Franklin uses on his! Don't fret over the wear on the fretboard. It's just cosmetic and will not affect the playing until decades later.
I am a fretless player using d'addario nickels since 2008 on all my fretless basses. Part of owning a fretless is maintaining the board. My touch and vibrato (learned) has minimized maintenance to say once every 8-10 years. I am not a fan of coated fretboards(I have one HG Thor epoxy). Agree with Steve Bailey.
My answer isn't yes - it's HELL YES. Life is way too short to cower in a corner in fear of board wear, and never really hear what your bass can sound like. Rounds on a hard board (ebonol, epoxy, etc) are absolutely glorious. Forget having to learn that special technique to coax a tiny bit of mwah out of your bass - enjoy a bass that can't stop mwahing.
I finally put flats on my Jazz fretless because I was sick of hearing about having rounds on my fretless from every bass player and their kids for years within a 5 mile radius of my bass’s location.
I will likely be moving back to rounds soon
I will likely be moving back to rounds soon
When I first got my fretless it had rounds on it and I "thought" they were tearing up the fretboard and they were. So I put flats on it. WOW..... what a way to kill a bass. It lost all the zing in the E and A strings. D and G were ok. I messed with the setup (plenty) and I couldn't get a great tone out of them (Chromes). I put the original strings back on it, quick setup and bam...... I was back in business. So in my experience flats just killed the muwahhhh
I vote yes with a caveat, I often prefer a coated round string on naked boards to avoid rutting. On my Squier VMFJ with the phenolic board I keep D'Addario XLs but on my others currently wear DR Black Beauties. On my oldest Peavey Foundation FL I have an ancient set of Kaman Performers with the Kamfalon coating that just keep on keeping on.
Depends on the species of fretboard too. Indian rosewood is not nearly as durable as ebony and pau ferro.
Don’t bend notes if you can avoid it (and why would you on a fretless).
Beyond that, if you play your bass enough to do material damage to a fingerboard, consider it a win.
Beyond that, if you play your bass enough to do material damage to a fingerboard, consider it a win.
Of course. I'm not sure why this is even a question in 2025 (or '26).
I also wish it wasn’t but this very subject came up in my world just the other day. Education is still required
