Here lies the real answer. That and shop employees have everyone convinced that lined is easier and unlined is next to impossible.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
What's with the lines??
- Thread starter DZIB
- Start date
Here lies the real answer. That and shop employees have everyone convinced that lined is easier and unlined is next to impossible.
Exactly. Bass makers discovered that fretless was getting popular but they didn't really want to get serious about building them so they just took fretted necks off the line before the frets went in and made "fretless" basses to cash in on the popularity. And all the noobs are convinced that lines are easier play. Which is not entirely false (when I was a fretless noob I got a lined neck (Carvin) and now I'm sorry), but the difference is quite minor.
So the question of why are there so many lined fretless basses is that the market is flooded with lower end basses that are just quick mods of the regular lines that are sold to beginners who think that lines will help them.
The thing you really got to look out for is necks where the dots are in the fretted positions! Real fretless necks have the side dots ON the frets not between them.
Maybe we can make some progress by convincing the cheap bass makers that they can save even MORE money by not even sawing the fretlines as well as leaving the frets out! Wishbass seems to be making some real fretless progress.
I bought a Fender Jazz, fretted, had the frets removed by a good friend who is also a very skilled luthier, filled the lines with a sort of glue with a syringe, I think. That may have been a dream. Anyway, then coated the board, making it slightly darker. Lines are visible up close, not from a distance
Look fine to me
reminds me of the real old Yammie lined fretboards
from a distance look unlined
but up close you see the darker lines
I agree the unlined options are few and far between for large production basses
There are a few that do unlined on the mass scale:
Warwick Rockbass
Cort Curbow and other models?(dont remember specifics)
EBMM
As far as an unlined Jazz Bass
make one for cheap:
get a loaded Squier Jazz body
slap a Mighty Mite ebonal fretless neck ( P Bass profile at nut )
buy a neck plate with screws
buy 4 Wilkinson Tuners and a string tree
attach tuners and string tree to neck
drill pilot holes for the neck plate
attach neck to bass
string the bass and setup and BAM
You can have an unlined Jazz for cheap and it can be done over a weekend
reminds me of the real old Yammie lined fretboards
from a distance look unlined
but up close you see the darker lines
I agree the unlined options are few and far between for large production basses
There are a few that do unlined on the mass scale:
Warwick Rockbass
Cort Curbow and other models?(dont remember specifics)
EBMM
As far as an unlined Jazz Bass
make one for cheap:
get a loaded Squier Jazz body
slap a Mighty Mite ebonal fretless neck ( P Bass profile at nut )
buy a neck plate with screws
buy 4 Wilkinson Tuners and a string tree
attach tuners and string tree to neck
drill pilot holes for the neck plate
attach neck to bass
string the bass and setup and BAM
You can have an unlined Jazz for cheap and it can be done over a weekend
As I've stated ad nauseum, it's not impossible learning on unlined. Many of us have done it.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,222
- 45,003
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
True. It's do-able to learn on unlined.
and it's do-able to play lined and sound good.
Play what you like...
Or you could really blow them away by adding more lines!! Different colors too. Make some of them crooked, even. Nobody would know what you were up to and would assume you are a god.
