Fretless Porn

[studiobubny]

Vintage JayDee Celest. Just a few exist. Simple instrument with long sustain...

http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/

 

 

[Frank Blank]

7 minutes ago, studiobubny said:

Vintage JayDee Celest. Just a few exist. Simple instrument with long sustain...

http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/

 

 

Man that’s minimalist loveliness...

[peted]

Disclosure: this bass wasn't fretless when I bought it from new in 2003.  Has been masterfully converted to fretless by the magicians at The Bass Gallery in Camden.  It's still sporting roundwound strings for now, but will be getting a set of flatwounds in due course and then I'll be working on my fretless technique.

[Hellzero]

My new pride and joy : the only Noguera Yves Carbonne 8 Fretless right handed...

 

[ezbass]

9 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

My new pride and joy : the only Noguera Yves Carbonne 8 Fretless right handed...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

😲

[Soledad]

wow - would require some very serious changes to my left-hand technique I suspect. How do you actually reach the bottom string higher up the neck ?

[Hellzero]

You don't. Being an 8 strings bass, it's played vertically instead of horizontally, so up to the first octave, you use all the neck and then progressively switch to the upper register strings. This means 3 octaves vertically and 4 octaves when extending horizontally or even 5 octaves with F# to C# scale. It's another approach and you play the notes where they sound better as there's a lot of possibilities.

[sprocketflup]

Can we see more detail of the tailpiece/bridge area? Looks interesting that

[Hellzero]

Will make some photos tomorrow as I like the light in that room.

[itu]

On 28/09/2019 at 17:21, peted said:

...will be getting a set of flatwounds in due course and then I'll be working on my fretless technique.

May I ask why flats? My choice for a fretless is certainly roundwounds. A seasoned local bassist told me that nickels (rather than stainless) have more suitable response with fretless.

[BassBus]

1 hour ago, itu said:

May I ask why flats? My choice for a fretless is certainly roundwounds. A seasoned local bassist told me that nickels (rather than stainless) have more suitable response with fretless.

Really depends on the tone an individual player is looking for. Rounds of any sort are too bright and sparkly for me on a fretless bass, but give me a set of Labella 760s or D'Addario Chromes and they give me just the right amount of brightness that I want. Both those sets also have a fullness of tone I have never heard from a set of rounds.

I'd say don't just take someone else's word for it. Experiment with different string types. It might open your eyes or even ears.

Edited October 4, 2019 by BassBus

[Stingray5]

22 hours ago, Hellzero said:

My new pride and joy : the only Noguera Yves Carbonne 8 Fretless right handed...

Many congrats, Hz! Amazing looking bass. I'm curious as to what string guages you have on there?

[itu]

3 hours ago, BassBus said:

Really depends on the tone an individual player is looking for. Rounds of any sort are too bright and sparkly for me on a fretless bass...

That's fine then. I tried few sets and flats just are too flat for me.

[BreadBin]

I like worn in round wounds on a fretless too 👍 I find flats just a bit lifeless.

[Hellzero]

23 hours ago, sprocketflup said:

Can we see more detail of the tailpiece/bridge area? Looks interesting that

Here they are :

 

[Hellzero]

5 hours ago, Stingray5 said:

Many congrats, Hz! Amazing looking bass. I'm curious as to what string guages you have on there?

Thanks. The strings gauges are 0.020, 0.028, 0.044, 0.064, 0.084, 0.104, 0.128, 0.174, from F to F#. These are Kalium, but the new ones will be Newtone Diamond nickel plated steel with tapered core for all strings. I'm waiting them for my two 8 strings basses.

[HazBeen]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Here they are :

 

Gorgeous!

[peted]

On 04/10/2019 at 08:32, itu said:

May I ask why flats? My choice for a fretless is certainly roundwounds. A seasoned local bassist told me that nickels (rather than stainless) have more suitable response with fretless.

The fretboard on the bass is open-grain Wenge and, having just turned it fretless, I didn't want to start chewing up the fretboard with roundwound strings.  Was also interested in what people were saying about flatwounds making a bass naturally sound a bit more like an upright in tonality, which is what I was after with this one.  The roundwounds sounded just fine, but wanted to experiment.

Happy to say I've had a set of D'Addario Chromes on there now for a week and they sound perfect.  Another benefit I've noticed is a complete loss of string noise when sliding notes.  Everything is just so buttery smooth I'm one happy bassist with how this instrument has now changed and turned out.  Inspired to practice my fretless a lot more.

[itu]

I have to say that a fretless is a different instrument, for me at least. With fretless I have a feel that I think about the notes and the chords in a different way. It is very good thing: most of the time my playing is more simple and closer to a foundation type of thing.

Well, fast jazz is always fast no matter which instrument.

Congrats to you @petedfretless is an interesting journey.

[AngelDeVille]

My MG has inspired me to build a lineless Pbass. After that is done the MG will go up for sale.  

[BassAgent]

As of last week I own two fretlesses again:

De Gier Origin fretless and my trusty 17 year old Fender MIM Standard fretless with Lollar pickups.

[BassAgent]

I made a bit of a crappy demo for the Origin:

 

[AngelDeVille]

I just strung this one up after converting it. 

She’s one of the few basses I have roundwounds on.

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by AngelDeVille
Photo hosting

[Stingray5]

7 hours ago, AngelDeVille said:

I just strung this one up after converting it. 

She’s one of the few basses I have roundwounds on.

 

Nice Hohner 'The Jack'. I always fancied one of these back in the day but never quite got on with headless basses at the time.
Mind you, in respect of strings on a fretless, I have to say I've mainly always used rounds on my various fretlesses (apart from the EUB). I've tried flats in the past but just found the sound a little too 'dull' or 'muffled' for my own taste/style. In fact, at the recent South-East Bass Bash -- to quote @BreadBin -- we both agreed that "...moves should be made to start the Fretless Deviants register for all of us round wound users..."

[AngelDeVille]

2 hours ago, Stingray5 said:

Nice Hohner 'The Jack'. I always fancied one of these back in the day but never quite got on with headless basses at the time.
Mind you, in respect of strings on a fretless, I have to say I've mainly always used rounds on my various fretlesses (apart from the EUB). I've tried flats in the past but just found the sound a little too 'dull' or 'muffled' for my own taste/style. In fact, at the recent South-East Bass Bash -- to quote @BreadBin -- we both agreed that "...moves should be made to start the Fretless Deviants register for all of us round wound users..."

My previously listed MG fretless has flats on it, and I'm not really fully bonded with it. I'm not sure if the flats are the reason.

 

I didn't put the LaBella flats back on the Hohner because while they are the only double ball end flats I could find, I wan't impressed with the quality.

 

I have a precision Warmoth fretless neck in the post (due Friday), but I already have a set of pyramid flats for it.  I'm wondering if I shoudln"t get a set of Ernie Ball Slinky's to put on her first.

I have flats on all my fretted basses except one, and that's because I was too lazy to change them.

I don't want to open the set of pyramid flats unless I'm sure...  They are quite pricey on this side of the pond. And if I don't use them I will have to buy another bass to go with them.

Edited October 23, 2019 by AngelDeVille