Fretless Experience

[Mantaray]

I just read some stuff about some people's experiences with their fretless bass. Not unusual. But what exactly made you leave this instrument. Personally, if it wasn't for slapping, I would only play fretless-much more expressive. Perhaps you should try a different approach. Tell me your experiences and there could be several helpful suggestions on the subject.

 

[spectorbassguy]

Our praise and worship team does about 1/2 faster energy stuff and 1/2 slower, worshippy stuff. Now that I have my SR5 LINED fretless I always use it on the slower stuff. Yes much more expressive - I love getting creative with the fills. I have owned several unlined but have sold them because I always sounded bad. The lines really help me a LOT.

I don't use fretless for the energy stuff though. My Bongo's tone is much cleaner and articulate. Hey my Mesa 400+ has two seperate inputs so the combination of Ray and Bongo is unbeatable IMO.

 

[midopa]

Snort five or six silica packs before praise and you're set to go!

 

[spectorbassguy]

Snort five or six silica packs before praise and you're set to go!

Actually I preferred mine sprinkled over breakfast

 

[Mantaray]

Our praise and worship team does about 1/2 faster energy stuff and 1/2 slower, worshippy stuff. Now that I have my SR5 LINED fretless I always use it on the slower stuff. Yes much more expressive - I love getting creative with the fills. I have owned several unlined but have sold them because I always sounded bad. The lines really help me a LOT.

I don't use fretless for the energy stuff though. My Bongo's tone is much cleaner and articulate. Hey my Mesa 400+ has two seperate inputs so the combination of Ray and Bongo is unbeatable IMO.

Personally, I play only unlined. It might sound strange but in a fretless the lines confuse me!!!

Also it looks damn cool

 

[dlloyd]

I just read some stuff about some people's experiences with their fretless bass. Not unusual. But what exactly made you leave this instrument. Personally, if it wasn't for slapping, I would only play fretless-much more expressive. Perhaps you should try a different approach. Tell me your experiences and there could be several helpful suggestions on the subject.

A few years ago I had an unlined fretless Ibanez Musician that I eventually parted with due to my lousy intonation on it.

I defretted my Yamaha BBN4 a couple of nights ago and, while I still need to coat the fretboard with varnish or something to protect it from the strings, I have played it a little. My intonation is much better than it was, maybe due to the lines, maybe due to improved technique.

I can see myself using it a lot.

 

[armybass]

I have an unlined Ray but I dont use it a lot because the board is RW and I want it to last. I dont really use a fretless a lot but it is nice to have. I play upright more than the fretless.

 

[Aussie Mark]

I love my fretless '76 Ray, and despite it's historical significance, I play it regularly because it's such a nice bass to play. Once I got the hang of fretless, I've had no trouble playing it a rock environment. I enjoy fretless so much that I subsequently bought another fretless (not a MM, but a remarkable instrument nonetheless).

 

[dlloyd]

I love my fretless '76 Ray, and despite it's historical significance, I play it regularly because it's such a nice bass to play. Once I got the hang of fretless, I've had no trouble playing it a rock environment. I enjoy fretless so much that I subsequently bought another fretless (not a MM, but a remarkable instrument nonetheless).

That 39" thing? Ouch.

 

[TheAntMan]

Ok, since we're talking fretless

Has anyone tried, seen, smelled or tasted a Hot wire Double Bass?

http://www.hotwire-bass.com/basses/double_bass/doublebass_eng.html

It seems really cool! The sounds of the bass in the mp3 clips are sweet. Nice accoustic tone.

Any thoughts?

Ant

 

[midopa]

If you want a fretless bass with a nasty upright sound, try Ashbories. Tiny little things with huge sound:

http://www.largesound.com/ashborytour/sound/

 

[TheAntMan]

If you want a fretless bass with a nasty upright sound, try Ashbories. Tiny little things with huge sound:

http://www.largesound.com/ashborytour/sound/

Whoa!!...great sound, but, just can't get pass the look! A Bongo is one thing, but, that thing would make me feel like tiny Tim

Thanks for the input midopa. I will keep looking

btw, why no EBMM ebony necks (they make the Onyx with ebony) as a fretless option for StingRays? I love that Ebony look, sound and feel!

 

[oddjob]

I've got an original Guild Ashbory... AWESOME upright sound!!!! A bit of a pain to play (size-wise) and you get a really nice growl out of it. Looks-wise... it fits right in with Kermit the Bongo

 

[TheAntMan]

I've got an original Guild Ashbory... AWESOME upright sound!!!! A bit of a pain to play (size-wise) and you get a really nice growl out of it. Looks-wise... it fits right in with Kermit the Bongo

Sound interesting.....Pics?

 

[oddjob]

Will get them up sometime this weekend

 

[dlloyd]

I've got an original Guild Ashbory... AWESOME upright sound!!!! A bit of a pain to play (size-wise) and you get a really nice growl out of it. Looks-wise... it fits right in with Kermit the Bongo

There's a pre-Guild (?) Ashbory up on uk eBay right now...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=3738423072&rd=1

 

[bassmonkeee]

I'm still waiting on my fretless Bongo, but it'll probably become my main bass. I've also got a couple of custom fretless basses built by Greg Curbow, but one's an 8 string octave, and the other needs a slight fretboard replaning since I've developed a dip around the 5th fret--it's also got a brazilian rosewood fretboard (and neck) so that one is the only one that I want to protect the fretboard on. Everything else will get played with rounds since I view a fretboard the same way I view tires--if they wear out, you replace them.

Right now, I'm playing 4-5 hour gigs with my fretted Bongo and my Ashbory. I couldn't care less what people think about the look of a 6'2 man playing an 18" scale bass and it sounds great--especially when I run it through my Fishman preamp with an optical compressor. The 18" scale and silicone strings make 4 hour gigs easier to deal with by allowing a break from 34" scale and metal strings.

Once the fretless Bongo actually arrives, I'll be taking both Bongos to gigs, but I imagine the fretted will mostly be a backup, or for when I'm wanting to be lazy.

 

[dlloyd]

and the other needs a slight fretboard replaning since I've developed a dip around the 5th fret

How's this for a tale of irony...

A few weeks ago, I installed some straplocks on a bass I had recently defretted. I noticed last week that the rear straplock was a bit loose, so I used the cocktail stick method to give the screw some purchase.

Somehow, as I was waiting for the glue to dry, I managed to knock the bass off the table it was sitting on...

I need more than cocktail sticks for the next repair job.

 

[spectorbassguy]

How's this for a tale of irony...

A few weeks ago, I installed some straplocks on a bass I had recently defretted. I noticed last week that the rear straplock was a bit loose, so I used the cocktail stick method to give the screw some purchase.

Somehow, as I was waiting for the glue to dry, I managed to knock the bass off the table it was sitting on...

I need more than cocktail sticks for the next repair job.

Oops - Maybe ya had one too many cocktails?

 

[Morrow]

I have a 72 maple board fretless Pbass that was my main bass for quite a number of years but it hasn't been seeing much action recently. I was playing it last night for an hour or two and thinking I should bring the old girl out more often.I go in a different zone altogether when I'm playing that bass. I swear my ears stick out when I play it. A guy I play with started doing an E# tuning and with TI's the fretless got a bit mushy so I went back to fretted basses.