setting up a fretless

[sbrag]

Hi. Ive just got my first fretless which is a nice sunburst mim jazz. Only thing is the action is a little high for my taste especially higher up the neck. Im ok at tweaking action and intonation but just wondered if there is anything extra to be careful about with a fretless or is it easier as you dont have to worry about fret buzz? Cheers

[jonsebass]

Im in the process of converting a fretted to a fretless, and ive found help in the guide below. There is a bit about setting up a bass later on in the document, so if it helps, brill - if not, im sure ill be posting the same question in about a week!

[url="http://www.bassdefret.com/book/bd_ebook_001/bass_defret_ebook.pdf"]http://www.bassdefret.com/book/bd_ebook_001/bass_defret_ebook.pdf[/url]

[Panamonte]

My advice would be to check how much relief you've got in your neck. I adjusted the truss rod on my fretless so that the neck is pretty much straight - plays beautifully and sounds great.

[Fat Rich]

Setting the intonation on a fretless can be interesting, some people say the saddles are usually moved back a little further (increasing the string length) than on a fretted.

After a while I gave up trying to set my intonation scientifically and instead adjusted it until the higher notes were in tune where I expected to find them.

[fretlessguy]

Like Panamonte, I adjust the neck to be as straight as possible. I adjust the string height to be low as well and play with a light touch (most folks cannot play my fretteds the action is so low). I intonate the bass at the octave bar, although I have in the past set it at the 5th fret since a lot of playing tends to be there.

[KiOgon]

Check the nut slots are deep enough so the strings are 'not far off' touching the fingerboard at that point, then you can work on the truss rod & saddle height, (+ intonation), to get a really low action. A 24" steel rule or even a proper straight edge is very useful for showing up high spots & the correct relief .

Is it a original fretless neck or a de-fret? The latter is likely to have the nut too high

Edited April 8, 2013 by KiOgon

[sbrag]

Hi. Thanks for all the advice. Its an original fretless Mexican jazz not a defret but it is lined so hoping this will make doing the intonation a bit easier. I'll have a look at the neck relief but always feel more nervous tweaking a trust rod!