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Steve Bailey on flats vs rounds on a Fretless
- Thread starter Dlew919
- Start date
Without watching it I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the conclusion is just play what you like and don't worry about the board?
Nope. It’s use rounds on a Fretless.
Round wound strings on the fretless Jazz, and flat wound strings on the fretless Pecision. Or, the other way around, if you prefer.
I love flats, but on fretless they don't work for me. Nickle rounds all the way.
I used to be a pure flats/tapes guy, but I've come back to rounds for fretless. Definitely a video for those new to fretless.
This was helpful. Im strictly fretless, have a Smith that is exhibiting some signs of string wear- the “A” suddenly has become difficult to tune, and Im about to restring. I’ve always played flats, but have a set of Ken’s compression wound rounds that I picked up a few years ago, just sitting there. Worth a try-
I've got a black version of that signature bass of his, and it's rounds all the way on that and all of my other fretless basses.
I loved the sound of rounds on the fretless Martin Keith Elfin 5 until I put TI JFs on it. Now I love it even more. YMMV, yada yada.
To each his own; I prefer flats on my fretless basses, that's just me.
It's not just you. I prefer flats on a fretless, too.
I did watch most of it, and this is still the right answer.
My two concerns switching to rounds would be board wear and what they are going to do to my fingers. Also- this is no small thing- changing my right hand approach I’ve honed in on. To be sure, before I make the switch, I’ll have a second new set of flats ready in the event I can’t live with the rounds. I’ve only considered this switch because when i bought the instrument it came with a brand new set of Ken’s compression wound rounds in the case. That was 2020. Regardless, Steve is no slouch. I had a next door neighbor who studied under him @ Berklee, and the guy is a monster.
The title is typical clickbait. Rounds vs flats is exactly like lined vs unlined. Use what works for you. Currently, rounds are doing it for me, but I might try a set of TI flats on the Stingray (or the Sabre...).
I was fretless only for 20 years. I use rounds on everything. On fretless? Resurface the board as needed. Easy.
I played rounds on all my fretless basses (except my upright) until I tried TI Jazz Flats on my fretless acoustic bass guitar. They were perfect in that application. Around the same time I tried my first set of Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats on a couple of my fretted electric basses. They sounded enough like rounds that I thought I would try them on fretless. Now, that’s all I play on fretless electric bass, but not my acoustic fretless. It still wears TIJFs.
I've tried lots of strings on fretless. Different kinds of rounds, flats, groundwounds, tapes... I think they all sound good toward different tonal goals.
I absolutely love the rounds-on-fretless sound (though what I have in my head is more early Mark Egan and less Jaco!), but for me personally, I have very often gravitated toward tapewounds. Not because I'm afraid of ruining the fingerboard, but I really like that sound. Works good for me.
I absolutely love the rounds-on-fretless sound (though what I have in my head is more early Mark Egan and less Jaco!), but for me personally, I have very often gravitated toward tapewounds. Not because I'm afraid of ruining the fingerboard, but I really like that sound. Works good for me.
In addition to the TIs I'm also considering a set of Rotosound Tru Bass tapes. The La Bella white gold tapes have been my favorite tapes so far.
