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thoughts on strings for fretless??

S

safeshow

Aug 31, 2010
107
0
#1
I just bought a fretless, I first played it with flatwound strings an I hated the sound an feel,, I was gonna pass on buying it but I fiquired I would swap out the strings to round ones,,,,
what a difference,,,,

I put the D'addario round nickel on sounds an feels right,,,,,,

Fender American j bass 2 years old

any thoughts
 
#5
safeshow said:
I just bought a fretless, I first played it with flatwound strings an I hated the sound an feel,, I was gonna pass on buying it but I fiquired I would swap out the strings to round ones,,,,
what a difference,,,,

I put the D'addario round nickel on sounds an feels right,,,,,,

Fender American j bass 2 years old

any thoughts
Click to expand...

Same old story.

If the "old school" flats sound don't do it for you, then change the strings!

However, the issue on a fretless is the strings chewing the fingerboard!

Choices are:

1. Flats. Fat (some say dull) old school sound. No chews.

2. Ground wounds. [round wound strings ground smooth on the outside] As bright as you can get with no chews...It's what is on most of my fretless basses.

3. Pressure wounds. [Round wound strings run through rollers to flatten them] still brighter than ground wounds but do chew the neck slightly. So eventually you will have to have the neck planed. But it will take a LONG while.

4. Rounds. Wonderful bright fretless tone! But will chew the neck. Amount of chew depends on a lot of things including the fingerboard wood and how you play. If you love the tone, just do it. Consider periodic repairs as the "cost of doing business" for having the tone you love!

5. Nylon wrapped are the wild card here. Tone varies quite a bit with brand. Just try them and see if they do anything for you. Soft plastic covering inhibits chews.

That's it!
 
#6
The neck chewing is a red herring in most instances. The amount of damage done to the fingerboard varies greatly depending on many factors beyond whether final wrap wire is flat or round. How coarse is that wire, is it stainless steel or nickle, how hard to you push the strings to the fingerboard, do you move the string across the neck, how hard to you strike the string with your plucking hand, what's the fingerboard made of, how much do you sweat, what's the quality of the fingerboard wood, etc.

I've played fretless since 1988, starting on relatively inexpensive rosewood board (Fender MIJ factory fretless Jazz Bass Special). That bass wore rounds for its entire life, mostly D'Addario XLS series stainless (NOT the EXL nickles, the original stainless alloy). The fingerboard got dressed with 0000 steel wool each time I changed strings, and didn't get any wear deep enough to cause any issues until I'd had it for well over a year. I did dress it out using a radiused sanding block, and despite me being a bit aggressive with that, the fingerboard held up to playing and dressing for quite a few years, probably about 5 or 6.

At that point I opted to have the board replaced with a thick chunk of ebony. That board is still being used, and all I've ever done is buff it lightly with 0000 steel wool about every other time I change strings. I also have a Lakland 4-94 with a fretless ebony board that has worn DR Sunbeams (nickle rounds) the entire time I've had the bass (15 months now) with no negative effects.

Both boards do show some marks, but they're surface marks only, and I can't feel anything on the bare wood with either my fingers nor anything that catches my fingernails. There's simply not any wood chewing going on at all.

Your choices in my opinion should be based on what SOUNDS right first. It's a musical instrument, so its function is to create sounds that allow you to express the music. Therefore, the primary consideration is always sound. The bass is the tool to create the music, not the reason.

Your choices are not merely string type (as bassbenj has outlined very very well), but also how YOU play the strings, and the fingerboard.

In addition to different fingerboard woods, there are also options for treating the boards. Jaco Pastorious used marine epoxy to coat the fingerboards of his fretless basses. This allowed him to use Rotosound RS-66 (among the more abrasive roundwound strings available) without having to replace the fingerboard. Similarly, Pedulla's fretless basses have a coating on the wood.

Go with what sounds right, and as others have said (in the 46,000,000,000,000 threads on TB about fretless strings) count the occasional fingerboard maintenance as part of the cost of doing business, just like buying strings, putting new tubes in amps, and putting up with guitarists).

John
 
#8
My experience pretty much echoes JTE's. I have an ebony board fretless that often has pressurewounds, coated's, flats, or tapewounds, while--tonewise--my rosewood board fretless only seems to like nickel-plated steel roundwounds. I play both basses pretty equally, rehearse extensively with a band weekly (as well as home practice) and we play out mebbe twice a month. So far string chew hasn't been a problem.
 
#9
I am using tapewounds on my fretless, but I also like the sound of rounds on a fretless. Since I like to take 2 basses to gigs (fretted and fretless), I tend towards the tapewounds on fretless and rounds on fretted so that they sound more distinct from each other. But it really doesn't matter. Granted, II use Pedulla bases and they are well coated, but you can still see surface wear on my fretless.
 

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