Strings

[BigRedX]

I've just bought a Lightwave Sabre fretless bass, and since it has a maple? fingerboard (well it's some figured light wood with little or no finish) and I'm looking for some string recommendations. My other fretless basses have either Rotosound or Roberts roundwound strings on them, but I'm worried that these will eat the board on the Lightwave. The strings on it at the moment feel like groundwounds? (between round and flat) and they sound a bit dead - although that could just be because they're old. So what do you think I should try on this bass?

Also tips for cleaning the fingerboard also gratefully received.

Edited May 19, 2007 by BigRedX

[Bushmaster]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='2215' date='May 19 2007, 03:39 PM']I've just bought a Lightwave Sabre fretless bass, and since it has a maple? fingerboard (well it's some figured light wood with little or no finish) and I'm looking for some string recommendations.[/quote]

Sounds strange, I would feel more comfortable if one could [i]reliably[/i] confirm this specification. A maple fingerboard should receive some decent high gloss finish for maximum protection, no matter whether fretted or fretless. I for one also don't think of maple as the wood of choice for a fretless fingerboard. Of course, any finished fretless fingerboard will render the sound a bit to outspoken synthetic (think Jaco). A reasonable alternative might be tung oil, though.

[quote]The strings on it at the moment feel like groundwounds? (between round and flat) and they sound a bit dead - although that could just be because they're old. So what do you think I should try on this bass?[/quote]

I would choose strings according to sound requirements. If you [i]need[/i] the sound of bright roundwounds (as e.g. with Jaco or Percy type of sounds) it is better to from time to time have the fingerboard dressed if it gets too scarred than compromise the sound.

There's interesting alternatives for fretless anyway, like Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Bass Flatwound which sounds quite live for a flatwound due to its roundcore. It offers a very cultivated fretless sound. Of course, nothing can make a bass guitar sound like an upright, but this is a decent alternative.

Groundwounds indeed might offer another alternative as they're not as stiff as flatwounds, e.g. I found that D'Addario Halfrounds have nice growly and focused mids while otherwise sounding like a vintage nickel roundwound with little pronounced bass and treble. On the other hand, e.g. GHS Brite flats would have better bass and treble, but otherwise their somewhat hollow character fits fretted basses better.

With the Lightwave you also could go totally different ways like trying acoustic bg strings, e.g. [url="http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/johcgi/tho2/TCgi.cgi?Target=list_SetfamilieSubs&SetType=Guitar&ID_Setfamilie=19"]Thomastik-Infeld Acoustic Bass (Phosphorbronze Round Wound on Nyloncore)[/url].

Edited May 22, 2007 by Bushmaster

[BigRedX]

O shall be getting in contact with Lightwave to find out for sure what the fingerboard is. Incedentally the bass came with a fretted neck as well which is indentical except that it has frets (and looks as though it's not had very much use).

Now that I've been able to recharge to batteries in the bass, I've got some better sounds out of the current strings but I'm still looking for something that'll "sing" a bit more.

Thanks for the input Bushmaster. From what I've read previously, I was suspecting that TI would be the way to go. I'll be checking out their offerings and ordering some sets tomorrow.

In the meantime I'm still open to suggestions.