Stupit fretless questions...

[pan_of_qld]

Now I'm not the world's most technical guy . . . .
but I learned a bit about setup and fretless and mwah recently.

My advice is to look into "101 Bass Tips" by Gary Willis and get the Bass Player article featuring Roger Sadowsy etc.which I've seen links for in forums.

Then plug 'n' play and see what you find. My SR5 has good mwah on D and G and I don't really need it any lower. If anyone knows how to get it right across the strings then please tell me.

Playing near the neck brings the mwah out more for me due to the vibration as mentioned previously in this thread. I'm trying KS halfground strings as I don't like flats but I may well go for nickel rounds soon (which I believe give a nicer sound overall).
Find what you like . ..

[Bill]

Cool, Nick!

[strummer]

First time I see a rockabilly player wearing a tux

[Golem]

A fretless Sterling is my #1 bass. I love it. Sterlings will not muwahhhhh quite so much as say a passive J bass, but they will certainly do it.

How dead are the flats? Probably a hard question for you to answer if you just got it. ...........

That's odd. My Ray has mwahh out the wahzoo. It wears 7 yr old flats, too. Action and relief are normal [ie needed no different set up than all the other FLs].

Of course rounds and newer strings would increase the mwahh, but it's odd to hears he's getting little or none. There is a setting on a Sterling that closely approximates a Ray, yes? If you've been playing with a major scoop in the mids, best to reverse that, but there should be distinct mwahh anyway.

[Golem]

.......The bass in question has flatwound strings and a low action. The first thing I want to do is hear the famous "muwahhhh" effect, I can't do it... what am I doing wrong?........

Did you press down on the string with your finger? Open strings won't do it :-)

[Golem]

mmmm love the fretless mwa.....I have actually near-replicated on a normal bass when playing with a guitarist... its all about note timing... someone actually asked me if I was playing a fretless

Just the other day the same occured for me. I combined two products which I will not name here on the EBMM forum, which are a single PU fretted archtop bass and a flatwound set with a non-metalic outer winding. Played well up onto the neck, it's sounds somewhat fretless and somewhat URB-esque.

This not just me reacting to the combination of hollow body and flatwounds. Many of my basses are hollow, flatwounds are normal for me, the exact string type in question is not new to me. Playing up on the neck is also habitual to me. I even have another example of the same archtop strung with metal-wound flats, and it doesn't exhibit the peculiar effects of the 'magic combination'.

You never know where the magic is lurking. I have another archtop that startled me when I got it. It sounds so URB-ish it's spooky. But it has NO piezo PU, and is 30" scale. "The Rules" tell us that longer strings and piezo PUs are the route to URB-ishness, but this ax works it's magic with twin humbuckers on a 30" scale. Go figger.

[Golem]

Funny thing about all this setup stuff. I mean I think it's all true. but I have this borrowed bass that seems to defy everything that's been said here. It's a de-fretted Korean DanElectro DC bass. Now don't get mad BP! ........Anyway, its neck is pretty flat and the action is low, but the nut is cut just like it was when fretted; real high. It's a good thing it has light strings on it or otherwise you'd never be able to play a low F. But it mwahhhhs with the best of them. Talk about a thing that is much more than the sum of its (crummy) parts. .......

Sounds like Fretlessrock's old Dano. Of course it's more the sum of it's parts, considering one of it's best features is that parts were subtracted [de-fretted]. Anyway, if it's the ax I think it is, obviously Fretlessrock has massaged some major Ju-ju into what would otherwise be just anyold POS. He taught it what he wanted it to learn :-)

[Father Gino]

Sounds like Fretlessrock's old Dano. Of course it's more the sum of it's parts, considering one of it's best features is that parts were subtracted [de-fretted]. Anyway, if it's the ax I think it is, obviously Fretlessrock has massaged some major Ju-ju into what would otherwise be just anyold POS. He taught it what he wanted it to learn :-)

Yup, that's the one. It is in many respects still a POS. But it sounds great! I had a brief affair with it. I'd love to try it with flats and make believe I'm Joey Spampinato. Talk about a buy who can sound like an upright with a 30" fretted bass.

But as always, when I get back to playing the Sterling, I feel back home again. I do love that bass. I find it so odd that it has made me want to search for something better than it, but so far I've not found such a thing.

[Psycho Ward]

Ok, I've had a little time with the fretless and have got the "muwahhh" down, I've got roundwound on now, but I was getting good results with the EB flats too.
I love this bass, it's killer and has such a beautiful tone, really sings when played up on the fretboard.

Thanks for all the help guys, you got me having fun right away.

[tkarter]

I don't play fretless but I would reckon lighter strings would get what you are looking for.
I do have an upright and the old strings on it got mwah the same way as you describe. Not the biguns they sound dead.
tk