Custom Fretless build. Whats best wood for fingerboard? Ebony or Rosewood? using roundwounds. Headless or Head? 1 or 2 pickups?

[zawinul]

Looking for that Wal sound on a budget, prolly impossible but what the heck!


Advice please. I want twangy punchy sound, yes lots of mwah, but also with bite, teangy , huge harmonics, massive sustain...

which wood is best for neck, Ebony, rosewood or an.other? Will use Roundwounds for brighter sound.

Dont want yuccy muffled low-mid fudge I want it to SING!

Pickups 1 or 2? single of duel coil?

Headless or with headstock?


I have a good ides what I want a sound like a Wal/ACG

though like this too


[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8e_00BvsY"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Xs8e_00BvsY[/url]


Help please!!!

Edited June 22, 2015 by zawinul

[CamdenRob]

If I was looking for that sort of tone on a budget I'd be asking Alan at ACG what he could do for me... Alan builds his own multicoil pickups which are only available in ACG instruments (like Wal). A top spec ACG will cost you well under half the price of a new Wal even before the impending price increase.

... but if you really must have that exact tone, save the pennies and look secondhand. some bargains can be had for fretless instruments that are generally a little harder to sell than their fretted counterparts.

[zawinul]

Cheers yes I'm looking at ACG, just seeing what kind of wood I need and pickup configaration!!

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='zawinul' timestamp='1434982305' post='2804377']
Cheers yes I'm looking at ACG, just seeing what kind of wood I need and pickup configaration!!
[/quote]

IMHO... and you'll get lots of opinions here on BC so take everything with a pinch of salt. The woods you use won't make that much of a difference. That growl comes from the multicoil pickups and if you want to get in the Wal ballpark that would be the only thing you don't want to compromise. Everything else, woods, preamps, neck etc is down to personal preference.

[zawinul]

any pickups that mimic Wal ones? Glockenklang for example?

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='zawinul' timestamp='1434982791' post='2804385']
any pickups that mimic Wal ones? Glockenklang for example?
[/quote]

I don't know if Glockenklang do pickups? They make fantastic amps though...

There are obviously many quality pickup manufacturers out there but the Wal pickups are fairly unique in that they have an individual coil for each pole piece... for me this is what gives the instruments their unique voice.

A few other manufacturers do something similar (ACG being one) but as far as I know you cannot buy a set of multicoil pickups from anyone without buying one of their instruments? I may be wrong and others may know otherwise?

[BigRedX]

[quote name='zawinul' timestamp='1434982791' post='2804385']
any pickups that mimic Wal ones? Glockenklang for example?
[/quote]

Unless you buy an actual Wal the closest you are going to get is ACG.

[BigRedX]

What sort of Wal-like sound are you after? Remember Mick Karn sounded almost identical when he played his Travis Bean TB2000.

[Beer of the Bass]

If you're going for a bare fingerboard and want to use roundwounds, then I'd go for ebony (or other equally hard and dense woods) over rosewood. While basschat threads can go round in circles ad infinitum when discussing woods, a fretless fingerboard is one of the places where different materials really do affect the sound IMO.

[TheGreek]

Fretboards

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cocobolo-Rosewood-Bass-Fingerboard-Fretboard-lot-of-7-Luthier-Tonewood-/281725958011?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41982cf77b

[zawinul]

I've been told that ebony is 'too hard' and has more high frequencies than rosewood which is true but I want high frequencies, I want lots of harmonics!! I want twang!! I guess ebony is best bet for me....

I've had a Wal so I know how good they are, just cannot lay out 3 big ones... so compromise, decent active... decent neck

What about headless? I hear theres no dead spots this sounds good for fretless surely?

[zawinul]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1434984486' post='2804408'] Fretboards http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cocobolo-Rosewood-Bass-Fingerboard-Fretboard-lot-of-7-Luthier-Tonewood-/281725958011?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41982cf77b [/quote]

er... thanks not looking to build my own bass not quite yet!!

[PlungerModerno]

[quote name='zawinul' timestamp='1434987317' post='2804438']
I've been told that ebony is 'too hard' and has more high frequencies than rosewood which is true but I want high frequencies, I want lots of harmonics!! I want twang!! I guess ebony is best bet for me....

I've had a Wal so I know how good they are, just cannot lay out 3 big ones... so compromise, decent active... decent neck

What about headless? I hear theres no dead spots this sounds good for fretless surely?
[/quote]

I doubt there is such thing as too hard a material for a fingerboard... check out the "deltametal" used by viger: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8l-HkBjvJE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8l-HkBjvJE[/url]

I've heard that the harder the material, the better the overall sustain... I'd take that with a pinch of salt however. I'd imagine the performance & sound would depend on the setup, as well as the strings (construction and material properties) and the fingerboard (construction and material properties).

Dead spots, at least as I understand them, are due to the natural resonant frequency and it's harmonics being reached by a vibrating instrument (usually the neck on solid bodies) - leading the instrument to 'steal' sustain from certain notes and sound funny close to those pitches. Headless designs are not immune to this - but with the loss in mass at the headstock end the neck tends to have less obvious dead spots in the usual locations for scales at or close to 34". As I understand it the reason headless instruments get a great reputation for not having dead spots is due to clever design, and choosing light, stiff materials like graphite: the status streamliner being a good modern example).

[White Cloud]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1434981987' post='2804371']
If I was looking for that sort of tone on a budget I'd be asking Alan at ACG what he could do for me... Alan builds his own multicoil pickups which are only available in ACG instruments (like Wal). A top spec ACG will cost you well under half the price of a new Wal even before the impending price increase.

... but if you really must have that exact tone, save the pennies and look secondhand. some bargains can be had for fretless instruments that are generally a little harder to sell than their fretted counterparts.
[/quote]
This is the Carlsberg answer to the original criteria stipulated by the OP. It's a no brainer really.

ACG all the way

[ead]

If you're anywhere near me you are most welcome to come and try out my ACG fretless basses.

[zawinul]

Feeling a lot of love for ACG, its that or a Marcuscyskzks frog I reckon!!