Stupit fretless questions...

[Psycho Ward]

What strings are on your SR4 now? Can you put them on your fretless and put the flats on your SR4? Or you could 'borrow' the E-G strings off any of your other basses for a quick tryout. The string lengths should be the same without having to recut them or suffer any trauma.

Why have I never thought of that *hits head with beer bottle*

I'll do that first thing in the morning, I'm too tired now and I gotta sleep down stairs tonight, my Mom got out of the hospital today, she's in great spirits, a little sore, but real happy to be out.

Good night folks, it's been a good night here.

 

[Father Gino]

Father Gino, I don’t know what you do for a living, but you sir, are a teacher!

LOL, Don't take me too seriously, that's just a bunch of stuff I read on the internet Actually, I don't presently do anything for a living. I'm "between jobs" as they say. I tell ya, it's a great way to cure GAS. Suddenly the bass in hand seems quite sufficient. I'm glad it's the Sterling!

The neck is almost flat, but this is new to me, how do you check it on a fretless? I’ve held a string down at the first fret and down at 15th, or so, and you could place a business card, maybe, between the string and board.

Yup, that's fairly flat. You could play with making it flater, but it probably makes sense just to play it like it is for a while.

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! It's a cheap Korean thing made out of recycled newspaper and melted down Studebakers!

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.

I’ve got a set of “Type II” EBMM flats right here in my hand, but I wanted to try them on my SR4.

Nah, just wait till you get the rounds if you want mwahh á la Jaco. +1 on the nickel wrapped rounds too. I think flats are cool on fretlesses as well, but if you want lots o' mwahhh, wait for the rounds. Upright basses all have flats and they mwahhh too, but it's a lot different than a EBG with rounds.

Anyway, I’m already having fun and this is a gorgeous bass, once I get my head wrapped playing on the fret lines (if I were famous I’d get one just like this, except with the side dots marking the fret line and not between them.)

Yeah, I hate that too. I played a de-fretted and therefore essentially lined fretless bass for years. You do get used to it. When I bought my first unlined fretless, I was scared that I couldn't deal without the lines. But low & behold, I found it easier. Them little dots are in the right place now! When you're standing and playing, you can't see the lines on the board anyway. But them dots where they belong are great on a dark stage! The only thing I could say in the defense of the dots in between frets is that maybe it would avoid confusion when going back to a fretted bass.

 

[Bill]

I've been fretless for over 20 years.

 

[Psycho Ward]

Bill, you're a man after my own heart!

 

[Bill]

Aw, shucks!

 

[kakobass]

I had a lovely Sterling fretless with lines for awhile. Most of the time I strung it with TI flats and it mwah OK.

I think the key is to make sure the string have somewhat low tension. High-tension flats will produce no mwah, I would think. Just a thud.

A set of .95s or .100s roudwound EB Slinkys will work well too.

 

[Psycho Ward]

Ok, here's another one...

What do I need to know about pickup height on a fretless? This one seems higher than the pickup on the fretted Sterling, I also can overdrive the pickup or something because I get distortion when I pluck hard, but the Ashdown VU meter shows no spike. I should also change the battery too, just in case.

Thanks

 

[tkarter]

I would guess the pup is too close to the strings myself. I don't think the VU meters are totally correct at all times on those amps. I could be wrong however.

Lower it just a bit it will raise rise back up if you so desire.

tk

 

[todd4ta]

Ok, here's another one...

What do I need to know about pickup height on a fretless? This one seems higher than the pickup on the fretted Sterling, I also can overdrive the pickup or something because I get distortion when I pluck hard, but the Ashdown VU meter shows no spike. I should also change the battery too, just in case.

Thanks

Everything else being equal, the strings on a fretless will sit slightly lower than the strings on a fretted (the distance that the nut is cut lower). The strings don't have to clear all that pesky metal.

The distance from the bottom of the strings to the top of the pole pieces should be the same as on fretted, so just adjust your pickup height accordingly. My typical pickup height setting is to fret the E and A string on the last fret, then set the gap between the top of the pole pieces and bottom of the string to around 1/16"-3/32". When in doubt, it's usually better to have the pickup too low than too high (within reason).

 

[nspark]

I've been fretless for over 20 years.

It sure hasn't been 20 years, but I've been fretless for a few years myself.

...sorry, I just couldn't resist.

-Nick Park

 

[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