EssentialTension

Does it work on an Underwood?

Due to being in Sevilla I am struggling to listen to those but I am wanting to do so. Later maybe.

My son uses 13-56 flatwounds on his Epiphone Casino for a very solid tone but his style does not involve major bends.

Surely they are still a long way off today too.

Check my avatar.

The only Fender I've had that was beautifully and perfectly rolled was a 2006 American Deluxe - very, very smooth.

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

[url="https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=sycamore+bass&sa=Search&tbm=isch#imgdii=_"]https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=sycamore+bass&sa=Search&tbm=isch#imgdii=_[/url]

[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1392405112' post='2368432'] That's true; nobody said it. What I'm trying to get at is perhaps best expressed by what I suppose to be the answer to "What's the point of frets?", which would be something like "To make it easier to get each note right", rather than "To give that unique fretted sound". Or something. I don't know. [/quote] I wholeheartedly agree that the most important function of frets is intonation. However, as you said yourself, 'close to the fret is clearly good practice and good sense'. That's all.

[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1392335217' post='2367664'] So are frets [i]only[/i] there to make the (electric) bass sound a particular way, and weren't actually designed to help with precise intonation at all? That can't be right, surely, can it? [/quote] No, that can't be right and that's also probably why nobody said it was right.

[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1392292639' post='2366807'] Taking things to extremes, if you put your finger right up to where the fret is, then why play fretted at all? [/quote] Well, why not play fretted? But if you need a specific reason then it sounds different to fretless. [quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1392292639' post='2366807'] ... Close to the fret is clearly good practice and good sense ... [/quote] That's what I thought.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1392288587' post='2366755'] I was taught to fret a fretted bass as close to the fret as possible...[/quote] I thought that was standard too but clearly not.

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1392240932' post='2366452'] Well you know, I've yet to have a disagreement in all the years I've been on here and I'm not going to start now; not quite sure what point you're trying to make but thanks for the opinion [/quote] I thought I was responding to your OP and having a conversation but never mind.

[quote name='muttley' timestamp='1392213182' post='2365991'] It's still driving me nuts :-\. Perhaps the mods can change the title and put those of us with grammar OCD out of our misery? [/quote] Yes, it's most discomfiting. But I am wondering, while one might say that 'less frets' could be applied to a 'fretless' bass, is it possible for a 'fretless' bass to have 'fewer frets' than a fretted bass? Or does 'fewer' imply a number above zero. My feeling is that 'fewer' does indeed imply a number other than zero and so a 'fretless' bass does not have 'fewer frets' than a fretted bass but it maybe does have less frets. What do you say to that?

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1392239760' post='2366435'] In what way? That's how frets work - so long as you produce the correct pressure to create a brake angle over the fret then the note will sound at the correct intonation, yes nearer the fret will create a steeper break angle but at the end of the day any break angle will produce the required note... [/quote] Well, I wouldn't be looking for a break angle at all; I'd be trying to minimise it. I'm trying to contact the string with the fret firmly and cleanly without pressing the string into the fingerboard and so possibly sharpening the note. And the closer to the fret the lighter the touch needed to fret the string. The relevance for playing fretless is that if I always play close up to or even on the fret then my muscle memory, at least on a bass of the same scale length, will put me very close to correct intonation. Your experience may vary.

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1392238346' post='2366422'] Well when there are frets you can put your finger anywhere in the gap preceding the correct fret and still get the correct intonation ... [/quote] That seems to me an extremely odd approach the placement of the fingers but each to their own.

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1392228352' post='2366240'] ... Doesn't that mean if you play with your fingering in normal fretted place that your intonation will be miles out?... [/quote] I prefer no lines myself but I'd say you should be putting your finger right up to and on the fret even when there are frets. Are you putting your fingers somewhere else?

[quote name='doctorbass' timestamp='1392200681' post='2365793'] I used to like the 9050M flats. I believe they're now made by D'Addario, which make them Chromes more or less..... [/quote] Less rather than more ... D'Addario make strings to order for other people ... they don't merely give away the strings they already make.

[quote name='thebigyin' timestamp='1392139071' post='2365230'] The mistakes range from a bum chord to major howlers like playing the wrong part to a song ect, I counted at least 6 mistakes our last gig. [/quote] ... and does it happen at rehearsals in the same way?

Sold Simon a Fishman BP100 upright bass pickup - straightforward and excellent communication, so highly recommended.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1392115355' post='2364755'] If I'm in thinking, two basses that are 34" scale, one with 20 frets has a shorter neck and more has a longer neck/fret board. All though the notes are still in the same place along the neck. No? [/quote] Yes.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1392060939' post='2364263'] As many as that? G. [/quote] I was exaggerating so as to look flashier.

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1392057917' post='2364195'] ... OTOH I've been an total softie this afternoon. My Son turned up for a cuppa on his way home from work and to tell me that my10yo Grandson can play a couple of Green Day songs on his little brothers toy nylon strung acoustic. I sent my Son off home with my old Alden Zemaitisalike and Epi Valve Junior complete with free lead, plectrum and the promise of a strap. The phone call of thanks from my Grandson absolutely choked me - to use his words "so cool". A little thing, but so much pleasure.......... [/quote] That's cool.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1392058544' post='2364204'] I think 21 makes sense, at least you can complete the last octave. This topping out at Eb (in regular tuning) makes no sense to me. And spare me the "20's enough because Leo said so" dogma [/quote] I was more thinking 12 would be enough because I can't recall when I last went up there.