Maple Fretless Fingerboard?

[PocketGroove82]

Anyone ever owned a fretless with a maple fingerboard, of any brand?
I saw Christian McBride play one, some japanese bass, I believe.
And I believe F3nd3r made them for a year or two in the mid seventies.

I'm just wondering, since EBMM guys actually read this forum...
Is there any rare maple out there that is hard enough to be used for a fretless fingerboard? They look/sound so nice! And I want one!

 

[Brim]

Anyone ever owned a fretless with a maple fingerboard, of any brand?
I saw Christian McBride play one, some japanese bass, I believe.
And I believe F3nd3r made them for a year or two in the mid seventies.

I'm just wondering, since EBMM guys actually read this forum...
Is there any rare maple out there that is hard enough to be used for a fretless fingerboard? They look/sound so nice! And I want one!

Christian plays a custom built Pensa-Suhr if I remember correcty. I've seen him live and it is amazing. More amazing is his upright bass skillz...the man is a monster. I don't think ErnieBall makes fretless maple board unless it's a one of a kind type deal and then I've never seen it. I have seen fretless maple boards produced by Fender on some Precisions from the 70's but that's about it.

 

[PocketGroove82]

the human race has light powered robots rolling around the surface of mars.
Yet noone can make a fretless with a durable maple fingerboard?
To that I have to say, WTF.

 

[Psychicpet]

actually it's more do to Gaia (mama de la terra) that hasn't produced a maple that is hard enough without coating to be a fretless board.

I have an early '80s Japanese bass with a coated maple fretless board and Nylon Tapewound strings on it and it smokes!

as for a MusciMan w/fretless maple board..... by a fretted maple boarded bass and get a tech to pull the frets and coat it for ya. they do sound wicked.

cheers.

 

[scottbass71]

I asked the same question about a year ago. If I can recall BP said they just aren't durable enough maple as a fretless. I have seen a Pre-eb on ebay about the same time which was a maple fretless but it went for a lot of coin. There are are few F@#der around with maple I played one but didn't have the MM Fretless sound I like

 

[PocketGroove82]

actually it's more do to Gaia (mama de la terra) that hasn't produced a maple that is hard enough.

So, Psychicpet, you've been holding out on me!
Where can I find this Gaia lady? Imma call her and tell her to get off her ass and start making some harder maple...and I don't care who's mama she is.
Ya got her number?

 

[todd4ta]

I have a '79 jazz-width, maple-board Sabre neck which was converted to fretless. I have it mounted on a Stingray body, and I love playing it. I have a few other fretless basses, so I'm not going to wear the board down anytime soon (with rounds).

 

[ProgHead]

My first fretless was an Ibanez pecision copy (spaghetti logo) with mable fret board. It sounded good.
My second fretless was an 1977 MM SR (modified by our local GC):

I had to sell it because of need of money... I can't describe the beauty of its sound!

Andy

 

[sugarfarmer]

Hello, I believe I have the first or one of the first maple fretless musicman basses made. Serial number is B005726, year is 1977 and it's white. Beautiful bass and plays great.

 

[uOpt]

Carvin offers you a maple fretboard with fretless, using some special "indestructible" paint.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I believe that is called the "hard as nails" treatment. Bunny Brunel has it put on his basses, and it is an unlisted option. From what I hear it's a multi step process, and involves very thin super glue or epoxy, and gradually soaking it into the fretboard, until it's pretty much "hard as nails".

I wonder if anyone has done any experiments with torified maple as a fretless fretboard. I think they use silver maple for most applications, as any harder species, like sugar maple or red maple, becomes super hard, almost too hard to work with. sounds like they would be perfect for a fretless board.

 

[five7]

I have a p-bass fl maple neck made in 1975. Had it treated with a finish they used on golf clubs. It has held up all these years. Used rotosound roundwounds on it. In fact, I have a set from the early 80s still on it.

 

[Moose308]

Of course if you have a P-Bass or J-Bass, aftermarket makers like Warmoth will make you a maple fretless. They don't do MM though. I believe not long ago Fender Japan was making a reissue of the 70's maple fretless. The true Sting bass IMO.

If you are really desperate, get a maple boarded MM and have a luthier pull the frets, and do an epoxy coat.

 

[basschick22]

I have what I believe to be an early 1973 F*nder P Bass with a maple fingerboard. (serial could be '72-'73 and the stamp on the end of the neck is unreadable). It's a nice bass, very "P-sounding." I keep flatwounds on it, to preserve the longevity of the fingerboard.

I don't play it as much as my StingRay.

 

[jlepre]