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Roundwounds on a Fretless?

#22
bholder said:
They do chew up the board faster, but oh that sound.
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Ha ha, yes ... I did likewise for 30 years, and felt like a maverick doing so ;)

Thought I finally switched to flats last year, but no -- I just checked and it's still roundwounds on the fretless. I did buy some flats for the fretless last year but haven't got around to installing them yet. Now I'm thinking, maybe I shouldn't mess with a good formula: it sounds good, why change?
 
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#23
I'm really happy with chromes on my SR370EF, which came with rounds. I think the chromes actually sound better on this bass. I think if I had an unlined with an Ebony board I might give rounds a shot on that. I have black tapes on my SR1350B and I think they would be too loose and sloppy feeling on the fretless SR - - prefer the tension, and super low set-up with the chromes.
 
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#26
I certainly think it can chew up your fretboard (I have pics if you don't believe it). Elixirs are a lot smoother, so perhaps that would mitigate a fair amount. I also think flats are a lot more conducive to sliding around the way you should on a fretless. I've never had trouble getting mwah with flats. I just make sure the relief is non-existent or flat and action is low. Tapewound are another option. If you get one made with rounds it might get you closer to rounds than flats. Obviously, do what you want, but I speak from the point of view of someone who sees a fair number of nice basses people "customize" except I'd say more like abuse.
 
#27
Here are the facts:
  • Yes, roundwounds will mark your fingerboard. This is completely superficial, unless you’re using poor technique
  • Once done, the marking will not get any worse. Unless you’re using poor technique
  • Flatwounds and half-rounds will also mark your fingerboard. This is also completely superficial, unless you’re using poor technique
  • Poor technique basically means bending the strings. For vibrato, use orchestra technique, which is a motion parallel to the strings. Do not bend the strings perpendicular to the fingerboard
  • Don’t use poor technique
  • You’ll be fine
 
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#30
All depends on the sound and feel you want. I've only owned one bass with tram lines down the fingerboard from rounds and that was an ancient Guild with a rosewood board. My boards now are either ebony or Pau ferro and it would probably take decades of hard play with rounds to do anything to them. However I will never know as I prefer the sound and feel of flats :)
 
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#31
40-ish years of using rounds on most* of my fretless basses. It hasn’t killed me yet. Sunbeams are my fretless string of choice.

In that time I have had to occasionally dress a fingerboard very lightly. That’s play wear and it would have happened with flats as well. Those instruments just had a lot of play time on them and needed routine maintenance. Just as a point of perspective, upright basses, which are almost exclusively strung with flats, also need their fingerboards dressed occasionally. Even with perfect technique, metal is harder than wood and strings will eventually cause some wear.

*I keep flats on three of my fifteen or so fretless basses and it has nothing to do with concerns about wear. I happen to like the way those basses sound with flats. Two of them wear Ernie Ball Group IV and one wears TIs.
 
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#32
Acoustic356 said:
Steve Bailey says yes... along with Jaco, Pino, Gary Willis, and other pros are round wound users...

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You know, this subject comes up so often, it oughta be a "Sticky" thread. Anyway...
It's YOUR fretless bass; put whatever strings that make you happy on the thing. As you can see, you'll have lots of company, if you want to use rounds on your fretless...
Personally? All my 30 basses wear flats - or tapes. All but one of my 4 fretless basses wear flats. Not because I'm worried about ruining the fingerboards; it's because a) I like the sound of flats on a fretless; and b) my often frostbitten, nerve-damaged-by-vibration fingers cannot stand to play round wound strings any more. They feel like I'm trying to play a very coarse file... The one fretless that doesn't wear flats, wears tape wounds. It wears them because it's a very custom, Canadian-made bass, that was designed to emulate an upright bass as closely as possible. It's pickups were wound to work best with tape wounds; it actually sounds like two alley cats fighting, with anything else... My G&L Kiloton fretless came to me with EB Slinkys on it. Would have liked to have kept them, 'cause it sounded really good. But, that coarse file thing made me change them. But, the La Bella LTF-4A flats that replaced them sound - and feel - really good, too... :cool:
 
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#37
DrBnz said:
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
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I think chrome flats are super clanky and suck. I put dunlops on and wow, the bass has way more mid focused tone. Flat choice is a big deal
 

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