Fretless fingerboard coating and strings

[bedfordborn]

Hi all, I recently started playing again after a 37 year hiatus and have acquired, apart from a fretted EB3, a Fender Bass that has a Precision body and a lined fret-less Jazz neck, the rosewood fingerboard of which has a polyester finish, supposedly to permit the use of round wound strings. If this is the case, how long is this coating likely to last before chewing occurs? Would I be better off using flats, and if so what trade offs are there in using them as opposed to rounds?. Would there be a loss of sustain and effect on intonation? Loss of mwah?

Any help greatly appreciated, thank you, Dave.

[EMG456]

Many moons ago, someone told me that you should treat a fretless fingerboard as a consumable - like a set of strings. They do wear out eventually, just like frets do but they can be sanded flat again a few times and in the extreme, most wooden basses can relatively easily have the fingerboard replaced.

As to your specific question, I have an Antoria Precision bass which I bought new in 1978. It has a lovely maple fingerboard which was gloss lacquered from new. Now it's never been the only bass for me but it was my only fretless for a while. The fingerboard held up well for years but I had to get it refinished about 4 years ago as the finish had worn through in several places. It's actually better now than it was new after the work and I imagine it will last as long as I will need it!

Roundwound strings will mark it more than flatwounds but that's the sound and feel I like and that beats any concerns about wear and tear - it's a musical instrument designed to be played so play it and have it maintained as required.

The lacquered board will give you a slightly brighter, clearer sound than an unfinished board and more sustain therefore longer mwah if that's your thing. Also can be a bit "clacky" if you're not too consistent with your picking techniques. Unfinished, definitely more subdued, "warmer"? I like both equally well. But always roundwound stainless steel strings for me.

Jaco's Jazz Bass of doom always had an epoxy lacquered fingerboard if that's any help - like or loathe seems to be the fashion here!

Hope that's useful.

Ed

[bedfordborn]

Hi Ed, many thanks for your reply. I do find that the bass has a slightly brighter tone than I would prefer. Would the flats give a more mellow, velvety tone that I am after and at the same time protect the board from wear? I haven't used flats before. Thanks again, Dave.

[julesb]

Dadarrio chromes are great flats. Not dull at all but without the scratchy roundwound thing.

[EMG456]

Flats just aren't my thing. You don't get the mwah without having the higher frequencies available. Flats don't go as high as rounds. You can take away frequencies using tone shaping but you can't put back frequencies that aren't there in the first place.

That said, a lot of people are using flats again, something I never thought I would see after the '70s. There will be less wear using flats but again, I don't think that should be your main criterion.

If you remove the laquer from your fingerboard, you will get a warmer tone.

Ed

[Grangur]

Surely the answer to this is it's all down to your touch when you play. If you have a light touch it may last almost forever.

On the other hand a bought a fretted bass a few months back and the frets were incredibly worn for the age of the bass and the fretboard had gouges where the strings had been ground into the wood.

[Paulhauser]

I think the measure of the "fretless fretboard chewing by roundwounds" depends a lot on whteher you bend the string sideways or not. Most of the marks I have seen on fretless boards were clearly results of this technique which is quite unnecessary on a fretless... Also as Grangur pointed out, playing technique, light touch can also make the difference.
I prefer the sound of the coated boards and I do not like flats much. Should I have a fretless bass (which currently I don't) I'd use Elixir strings as I belive that coated strings are not only easier on the skin but on the fretboard, too. ( I use Elixirs on my fretted basses lately and I like them quite a lot)

[radiophonic]

I've been pondering this one too. As an interim measure I put a set of Ernie Ball Cobalts on my Jazz and TBH, the last thing I'm noticing is a loss of HF zing. They seem to be very toppy strings to me. Enough to make me hod fire on using rounds anyway.

[uk_lefty]

I used rounds on my fretless for years and there are some scars on the fretboard. Living in small towns before the days of reliable internet shopping and choice of strings I had to. I used nickel rather than stainless to go easy on the board but am going to take a punt on the Ernie ball cobalts for a round sound but with the flat feel under the finger tip. I mainly used Ernie ball flats on this fretless since 2006 and I'm only on my second set of them.