Wooden Frets

[darkstorm]

The frets even if jumbo would still be rather thin strips of wood. So even if heartwood or ebony the frets would wear lots faster then regular metal frets. Does like brass frets somewhat as a nice change from standard type. but not a fan of stainless steel ones. Coated wood frets would be as unappealling to me as maple fretbaords with their clear coat. However if we went back to cat gut for strings like in olden olden days, wood frets would probably be better. Cause metal frets where a bit wearing on them strings. LOl.

Conciders brand names for modern cat gut strings for wooden fret basses. "Lions growl", "Leapord thunder", "Puma smoothies", "'Run the be kind to animals squad is after you".

 

[stepswork4me]

I mean no offense but, this is just a horrible idea.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

maybe we need to think about an alternative to metal for making strings...?? or a different kind of metal? i mean, just for this wood fret idea. i still like metal strings in general, and metal frets for that matter.

If you were to do that, you'd need to move to a piezo type of pickup system. Which tend not to sound too great with fretted instruments anyways IME.

 

[thehangingmist]

wooden frets with nylon strings of some sort sounds like a cool idea

 

[wagstaff]

There seems to be a lot of negativity towards this idea.
Sure is seems a strange thing to do, but if done right, it could produce some interesting results.

Who knows, wood frets could be the future of bass.

Just looks at all other crazy ideas that have become very popular among musicians.

Solid body guitars.
The bass guitar.
Extended range bass.
and many more weird, yet wonderful things have come from just an idea.

Mark.

 

[THand]

Why not just scallop a fretless?

Seems like an (relatively) easy way to experiment with the sound.

 

[chokeslam512]

You could install wood frets on an Ashbory Bass...

 

[Lo-E]

You could make an ebony fingerboard similar to the Muncy idea, but with more of a sawtooth shape. The straight leading edge would remain in the same place even if you needed to re-level the "fret" board.

With tape wound strings the wear would be minimal.

I see no reason why it couldn't work. Sounds like a cool experiment to me.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Wooden frets= ancient history

 

[IronLung1986]

What if you did something like this? You'd problaby have to make some sort of composite.
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cool! that's a sweet idea i'd like to try it.

Yeah, it could work I rekon. I love these kinds of ideas.

Maybe you could use a scalloped fingerboard made from some kind of impregnated wood then put a protective layer of something on top which you would then re-apply from time to time so it never wears off. You could even vary the depth of the scalloping along the fingerboard so maybe it would feel more fretless as you go up and have less chance of string buzz?

By scalloped I mean you would have a fretless board, then scoop away inbetween where the frets would be leaving mountains between your valleys.

I really don't think that this concept would work with wood, but maybe with some synthetic material... Just as an idea:

It wouldn't be frets as such, but the fretboard would have to be 'wave-shaped', like REALLY wide frets, that would give the note some intonation, but also enough 'mwah' to be fretless-esque. Maybe...

Ya, what Mr Keates got to just before me above!

thanks guys those are some good ideas. i especially like the idea of having really wide wooden frets, much wider than regular metal frets. i just think this would give the bass a super woody sound. it would be cool to do a bass where there was as little metal as possible, like wooden tuning pegs and you could do a wooden bridge like someone else mentioned. i'm glad there are at least a few people on here who still like to have fun with these types of ideas.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

wooden frets with nylon strings of some sort sounds like a cool idea

The frets would saw through the string. Quickly. Ashbury strings are notorious for suddenly breaking, and that's a short-scale instrument with no frets and a finished fingerboard.

Again: there are no new ideas. If the OP's ideas were marketable, someone would have patented and marketed them already.

This is why I stopped hanging out with potheads.

 

[spade2you]

I once asked Rob Allen about this and he commented that it wouldn't really sound like a fretless anyway. A lof of the fretless tone is simply due to the flat surface and "sitar" effect.

 

[IronLung1986]

The frets would saw through the string. Quickly. Ashbury strings are notorious for suddenly breaking, and that's a short-scale instrument with no frets and a finished fingerboard.

Again: there are no new ideas. If the OP's ideas were marketable, someone would have patented and marketed them already.

This is why I stopped hanging out with potheads.

just fyi bud, the only thing i'm less interested in than "marketability" would be smoking weed. i did 4 years of business school and have never touched marijuana. humans are intrinsically capable of originality, they just typically repress it for fear of failure or ridicule.

 

[m_bisson]

just fyi bud, the only thing i'm less interested in than "marketability" would be smoking weed. i did 4 years of business school and have never touched marijuana. humans are intrinsically capable of originality, they just typically repress it for fear of failure or ridicule.

zing!

I don't see why so many people are against this idea. Is it just because they didn't think of it first?

 

[Rickett Customs]

zing!

I don't see why so many people are against this idea. Is it just because they didn't think of it first?

I have no issues with a forward thinker..... However, IMO, the disadvantages would outweigh any advantages, at least the way I see it. So this just goes for me.

 

[m_bisson]

Or... it makes a bass sound better and has the rest of us all drooling because we're jealous of the OP.

Pyramids=ancient history, but that doesn't mean they weren't built better than the majority of buildings are today.

 

[grisezd]

I think it's a cool idea worthy of some time with a defretted scrap neck, some thin, hard wood, and some superglue. Yes, wire will wear out the wood and this probably wouldn't be a bass you might use every day, but it's certainly worth some messing with.

I've never played tape wound strings. Would tape wound flats be less aggressive?

Market, maybe not, but could be fun and cool. Not everything has to be marketable or even successful! Go for it!!

 

[Rickett Customs]

Pyramids=ancient history, but that doesn't mean they weren't built better than the majority of buildings are today.

IIRC, Modern engineers tend to work forwards more than backwards.....materials, etc change with the times, due to advent of steel and such..... Besides, I think the Romans did a better job building than the Egyptians

But if wooden frets work, by god do it.

 

[stepswork4me]

It's not all that original...
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Like Rickett said, ancient history....
would need nylon strings and a piezo.... Veillette Minotaur....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWwm9mhCwZs&feature=player_embedded

.... and the frets would still wear quickly.

 

[Webtroll]

Bring back the Bond guitar concept for bass. Not James Bond, mind you. Years ago there was a guitar made with a graphite fingerboard that had steps instead of frets. It had nice low action, but it was hard to get your finger under the string for a bend. I imagine it would work for bass as well and have the same limitations, but it would be an alternative to a metal fret. Or if you had a string enough wood try making steps instead of frets to get the intonation and longer life than a thin strip of wood would provide.

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