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The Fretless Club (Part 2!)

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#941
Years ago I made my own copy of the Mauradian Marauder using some second-hand neck- forgot what kind- and took the frets out, replacing them with wooden coffee stirs so it would still have blond fret lines on rosewood. Was pretty good from what I remember... sold it, though.

Recently I scored my first 5-string and second fretless for $60 each.... both Rogue Series II. The pickups suck like all getout, but they both feel pretty good. I used the fretless to play Santana's "Flor de Luna", and the band loved it. They said that for all they knew it was a $600 bass. Still, I don' think that qualifies me for "fretless club" ;)
 
#942
loopee said:
I haven't had a chance to read all the fretless forums, it might take me weeks....lol.....So does anyone here play Rock, Blues and Pop with a fretless?
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Yes I do....and praise music in church. My 1st bass (still have it) is a cheap Ministar Basstar 4F. I figured if I could learn fretless right off the bat, fretted would be easier. Since then, got a couple of Epibirds & a Rogue LX200BF. I LOVE my birds, but like the fretless sound better.....MWAH!!!!! future project will either be defretting the Goth, building a fretless bird, or just giving into my GAS.....Thumb fretless! Pic attached of basses...# please!

2011-02-19165212.jpg
 
#944
lowendfriend

I couldn't have put it better.....duh....when and why did frets show up.....!!!!!!

Of course!!!!!!! Double bass = no frets.......

That's so weird that we think we need frets.......

Well, I picked up that fretless bass at the store last night.....I set it up and intonated it, it was just a little off.....and took it to the jam tonight......I love it, I barely had intonation problems, of course I never took my eyes off the neck......it was so nice to slide, freedom....and I must say the Fender Jazz has "that" sound......it just sounded great, only problem was that after 30 min. my shoulder and neck were in agony and I had to put it down and take up my other bass (fretted).....so I have 30 days before I need to bring it back so I'll play with it at the house, and get really acquainted with the neck.....bring it back to the store.....in the meantime order a fretless neck to put on my other bass (cheaper than making a whole new bass)......
 
#945
lowendfriend said:
Rock cames from the Blues and old blues jams involved stand up bass with no frets. The answer is a question: When did frets start fitting in?
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The Precision Bass?
:hiding:
Leo was a genius - got millions of folks to play the instrument who otherwise may have been put off by the amount of time and effort it takes to develop passable intonation on a blank plank. There's something about the look, sound, and feel of playing a fretless, however, that just can't be achieved with those pesky paperclips all over the neck...
:D
 
#959
Virgin post from a still quite virgin bass player. Started about four months ago after nearly 15 years of not making music (former sax dilletante). Went for fretless to avoid fret noise while practicing in the first place, but really like the freedom it gives me compared to being tied to the 'perfect' intonation of fretted bass.

Like my Squier Vintage Fretless JB a lot, though the Fretless==Jaco equation tends to put me off a bit. Anyway, after getting on quite slowly learning my ways around the fingerboard I found that, to me, the fretlines seem to do more harm than good -- keep trying to count the buggers while playing, which my brain is far to slow for. Now there's duct tape on the side of the neck to hide the lines, with dot marks painted professionally with a sharpie. And yours truly GASsing badly for an unlined fingerboard. I'd never thought that it would be actually easier to play unlined.

I'll see if can make picture sometime soon. If I could get a number ... it would be my first :hyper:
 
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