That is very true. I have been learning Bach’s Prelude #1 in C Major, and it is super hard to play some of in tune in the upper register.
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Three Fodera: One Player
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
That is very true. I have been learning Bach’s Prelude #1 in C Major, and it is super hard to play some of in tune in the upper register.
I personally like a an unlined fb, but many prefer the lined FB....so whatever works for you. Close your eyes and you will here the same tone from either one.
Those foderas look/sound (and probably play) nice, but they're a little (a lot!) too rich for my blood. One of those things costs about $1K more than I spent on all 7 of my basses combined.
The second bass guitar I owned (still have it) was a fretless that I traded my beginner fretted bass for. Had a gig two days later. Advice from a non-musician friend in the audience: "You sounded pretty good until you started playing up the neck."
I like to think I've gotten a little better in the 35 years since that first
gig on fretless. 
Edit: I'm as capable of playing radically out of tune on a lined fretless as I am on an unlined one up there where the notes are a fraction of an inch apart.
heh heh touche
The second bass guitar I owned (still have it) was a fretless that I traded my beginner fretted bass for. Had a gig two days later. Advice from a non-musician friend in the audience: "You sounded pretty good until you started playing up the neck."
I like to think I've gotten a little better in the 35 years since that first
gig on fretless. Edit: I'm as capable of playing radically out of tune on a lined fretless as I am on an unlined one up there where the notes are a fraction of an inch apart.
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Exactly.
Practice playing scales, arpeggios, & every bass line you know from 12th fret & above. Use a good fast tuner if that helps you find the right finger positions.
Start with fretted to get your head & hand positions used to it (if need be). Then move onto Fretless.
Then turn the lights out and play along to music while playing above the 12th fret.
And above it. And I may not use it often, but I do use it, and quite effectively if I say so myself
I have a bass that always had a high spot on a fret that choked one note only in the dusty zone. I let it go for a while but eventually I sprung for a fret dressing. I showed it to my friend Birddog Bobby, who does most of my repairs, and I told him about the note. Now here I am playing in an oldies band at the time, and he gives me that "why are you even here?" look. I said, "Listen, I don't care if I use this note all the time or never at all. I paid for that note, too, and I want it."
When he was done, I went to get it and he said, "Play that note." There it was. I might use it, I might not, but at least now I have the option of using it again.
Kind of sums up how I feel about Doc's position.
I played an unlined fretless last year in a luthier store (where I go for all my guitar and bass setup and mod). He put the lines on the edge of the fretboard with the dots, so only the player can see it. Can we call it an hybrid? First time I played a fretless, and my friend said it sounded really good, so it was working for me. And first time I though of getting a fretless 
Dr. Cheese,
Since I’ve played Double Bass since I was in middle school you’d think I’d love playing an unlined ebony fingerboard, but nothing could be further from the truth. Double Bass fingerboards are curved, while Bass Guitars have very slight radius by comparison. I prefer a lined fretless just as much as everyone else does.
My teacher is an accomplished double bassist and he does not care for unlined fretless. I think he is surprised my intonation is as good as it is. My secret is that with a tuner and a Sharpie, I put lines on the side of the neck indicating note locations. I know many would consider that cheating, but it works for me.Dr. Cheese,
Since I’ve played Double Bass since I was in middle school you’d think I’d love playing an unlined ebony fingerboard, but nothing could be further from the truth. Double Bass fingerboards are curved, while Bass Guitars have very slight radius by comparison. I prefer a lined fretless just as much as everyone else does.
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Mike Pope (great player and Fodera preamp designer,) playing an unlined Emperor.
Because lines do absolutely nothing for me as far as playing in tune, which truly is ‘practice/hitting enough clams to inspire more practice’ it comes down to an aesthetic choice.
Rolling out with my unlined fretless Sadowsky (I hope) makes other bassists go ‘this guy ain’t messin around’
That and … when I visually try to line up my finger with the line of a lined fretless I’m paying less attention to actually hearing it in context with other instruments.
Don’t care if you line up (pun intended) a bus load of highly paid influential lined fretless players telling me I’m wrong. That’s the most oft-used logical fallacy I read/hear EVERYWHERE.
Gimme one of them Fodera basses and I’ll be willing to review my opinions. Walnut body will work.
Rolling out with my unlined fretless Sadowsky (I hope) makes other bassists go ‘this guy ain’t messin around’
That and … when I visually try to line up my finger with the line of a lined fretless I’m paying less attention to actually hearing it in context with other instruments.
Don’t care if you line up (pun intended) a bus load of highly paid influential lined fretless players telling me I’m wrong. That’s the most oft-used logical fallacy I read/hear EVERYWHERE.
Gimme one of them Fodera basses and I’ll be willing to review my opinions. Walnut body will work.
I only pull out my upright for musicals and, occasionally, big band gigs —both of which have been nil since Covid.Dr. Cheese,
Since I’ve played Double Bass since I was in middle school you’d think I’d love playing an unlined ebony fingerboard, but nothing could be further from the truth. Double Bass fingerboards are curved, while Bass Guitars have very slight radius by comparison. I prefer a lined fretless just as much as everyone else does.
But, if memory serves me, it’s easier to play (reasonably) in-tune on upright than on an unlined fretless (which is why mine has lines!)...although I haven’t played either recently; whenever I do get back around to it, I suppose my statement will be seriously put to the test.
They’re entitled to their opinion, but I’d always rather play with people who play in tune....and I’ll do whatever needs to be done to be in tune myself...which has included putting marks on the side, and even dots on top of the fingerboard of my upright—in pencil or whiteout — whenever / wherever I’ve needed them, in order to navigate a passage successfully.
I’ll be the first to admit: I’m not a badass; so what? Somebody likes my playing; I still got the gig, right?
TL;DR: If it’s in the service of sounding good; how could that possibly be cheating?
Others call it cheating, so I am just having some fun with it. I have no problems in doing what I need to do to play well.
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See post #30, but mine was done by a luthier with wood instead of Sharpie
lined, unlined, it’s all good…Gary Willis is one of the most amazing fretless players on earth, and he plays a lined fretless ibanez…that’s what works for him…man, those Foderas are legit, I’ve wanted one of those for a long time, but I don’t see one in my future…maybe another ibanez
