Fretless bass players? (strings)

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Gear_Junky

Gear_Junky

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I have 2 fretless basses - a mexi Fender Jazz (with "fret" lines) and a 1973 Gibson Ripper fretless (no lines). I've been experimenting with flatwound strings for a while. I learned that I DON'T like Fender flatwounds - they sound too muddy, but there are better strings (they have a lion on the package :) Anyway, it seems that the flatwounds loose their life and vibe much faster than roundwounds - you only get a few plays out of them and then you start wondering if your bass stinks :) So in search for a better way I installed Fender Tapewound strings (they're wound with black plastic) on my Fender Jazz. They sound great! Warm, deep, low sound, not muddy at all, but rather clean. It's not too bright, but not lifeless either. I'm also expecting them to last WAY longer. I wish they were long enough to install them on my Ripper (it's string-through-body).

Does anybody else use these? Are there tapewound strings better then Fender's? I know LaBella makes them, but they're like $30 or so, whereas Fender are around $16 on the internet.

So far I couldn't find any other strings (besides regular Fender flatwounds) that would be long enough for my Ripper. Do you know some pretty good flatwounds that come in extra-long scale and that would sound pretty clean and last long? Thanx!
 
G_J

Try Carvin. I believe they also have a tape wound string for a 35" scale.

Good Luck;
RussP
 
I believe Rotosound do a range called Trubass which have a black nylon (i think its nylon) coating... probably a similar concept. Dont ask me how good they are I've always wanted a fretless but can't afford one. :(
 
I play a Pedulla Fretless and have had good luck with the Pedulla Nickel wound strings. My personal favorites are DRs but they can be pricey. Be sure and talk to sales person down to about $18-20. Happy fretlessing!
 
Howdy G_J ;

Earlier today i took an old P Bass cloan neck
that I replaced and went to work. I got inspired by a post on Talkbass and went for it. It took about 15 min. to remove the fretts and 1/2 hour of sanding and I'm ready to fill the fret lines. I decided to tint the wood filler so the old fret lines won't show up as much. I'm going to try the marine epoxy
and roundwound strings. I may drill small holes on the side of the neck on the fret line and fill them with white wood puty & epoxy over them for position markers.

When I'm finished I'll let you know how it turned out.

PS; To me it seemed to be much easier to work of the neck while it was off the body!

See Ya
RussP
 
Hi,

I don't own a fretless for the moment, but used to have some in the past.
I always did the same thing : buy a fretted bass, and let the luthier defret it, and put a nice layer of epoxy or something similar (thanks for that, Jaco! :)
Anywayz, I always used roundwounds, because of the sustain, brilliance and life they have over flatwounds. And its a matter of taste too. Wether you like the dark side of bass :) of the "I can play the longest sizzling note" side of it

d'Addario XL4 and 5 were my brand.

GrtZ,
Herwig
 
I was wondering about that, too. I'm pretty sure that Dabass4's Pedulla has a coated board. Anyways, what does it cost to defret and what does it cost to coat? I don't see why I couldn't coat my already fretless MIM Jazz. I guess I'll try a coated fretless at a store with some roundwounds just to see how it sounds.
So what exactly is the advantage of defreting vs. just coating a fretless? Thanks.
 
Hey gear_junky. My Pedulla is actually uncoated. I ordered it from the factory with the coated neck only to spend $$$ to get it uncoated after about a year. Couldn't stand the 'shimmery' sound. I found that the coating blocked to natural sound of the wood and it has made all the difference in the world. I used roundwounds for a little while but they wear the neck a lot faster than flatwounds. The nickel wound strings are the recommended string for my fretless and are actually roundwound. They are bright, growly, farty and have an ease under the left hand that allow you to slide w/o sticking along the string. I've had good luck ever since I switched!
 
Gear_Junkey

Well I finished my fretless neck yesterday and I'm most pleased. Like Dabass4 says it does sound bright with the coated neck but with the mid shift off on my Trace I get a real Jaco like tone. Too bad it's not a 5 string, I'll have to make one of those my next project.

RussP
 
You da man, Russ. I like doing little projects, but I'm not quite ready for defretting (neither do I have anything to defret). I was thinking however about doing guitar repair or even building for a living instead of working with these here computers (hate computers). Right now it's just a dream, though. I like being around musical instruments.
 
G_J

I go by the attitude, (whats the worst thing that could possiably happen). I have to admit the first time I put new Pickups in my strat I was a little paranoid. Now when I get a new (used) guitar the first thing I do is remove the neck & sand the neck to get rid of the sticky finish, check the wireing & ground, clean the pots and reassamble. I really enjoy giving one of these clean properly adjusted guitars to the original owners to check out after the tune up.
I guess when you live 60 miles from the nearest guitar tech you have to DIY.

PS; I left my Les Paul alone!

See ya;
RussP
 
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