Sambrook

La Bella white nylons - all day and all night. I've tried half a dozen different types of string on my Portamento, and all sound really good. The La Bella's,to my ears, have the perfect balance for the magnetics and the piezo.

Thanks for that, it certainly fits the symptoms.

My Cort B4 fretless has a piezo bridge. It works perfectly with the Chromes it came with, also the TI flats and rounds I've tried on it. However, my LaBella white nylons are a different story. The E and A strings work fine (and sound really good), but there's almost no output from the D and G. The strings work fine on my other piezo fretless (so it's not the fault of the strings); I've tried raising the saddles to increase the tension on the piezo element, no good. I've had a thorough look at the wiring guts, can't see anything obviously amiss, though I'm no expert. There is some audible output, but barely... Is there anything I'm missing? It plays well with the other strings, but semi-hollow, fretless, piezo, and white nylons are meant to be together... Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers, Sean Changed the battery as well, btw...

I have a Portamento, it's awesome. So versatile. I've owned a Roadster (fretted) , a great bass, but heavy, and I believe the Musicians are heavier still. I've had my Portamento 5 or 6 years; I've tested far more expensive, high end fretless basses during that time, and none of them came close to unseating the Ibanez. Buy with confidence!

As always, apologies if this has been discussed to death... I've always been drawn to 2 pickup basses- before messing with any eq, you have 3 distinct tones. A no-brainer, surely? HOWEVER, I am hypnotically drawn to the Sire D5 at the moment; in butterscotch or sunburst it just looks the biz. BUT, only one pickup, tone on, tone off, that's yer lot, mate. Am I missing something? Any cogent argument that 'allows' me to get the Sire will be very welcome...

I would suggest putting the fretlesses away for a period, don't play them at all. Enjoy your short scale fretted to the full. After a 'suitable' length of time, break them out again... The fretless sound is so rich and unique, I think you'd miss it if you had no access to it.

The Retrovibe Telebass I have is incredibly light (6.6lb, from memory), with a humbucker bridge pickup. I put an Artec rail humbucker in the neck position, and all is groovy. Heartily recommended...

Try it and see! I've done it many times, and adjusting the relief was the only thing needed ( and not every time, either).

I have one as my permanent fretless. An awesome instrument that makes any string sound good. However, I would say that LaBella white nylons are by far the best suited strings for that bass. They have plenty of roundwound style growl and bite, and also work wonderfully well with the piezo...

Harley Benton shorty P? Cheap enough to use as a taster/tester... I haven't had one, but owners rate them.

Apologies if this is old news (I generally am fairly late to the parties). John Edgington's interviews with various Genesis members has popped up on my YT feed, and I've had several very pleasant hours of reminiscence. Just watching Anthony Philip's one now. Very interesting... My adolescence and musical awakening runs underneath all this bit of history.

There I was, in the middle of a very sensible Reduction In Force (I CAN'T do justice to more than 4 basses) when up pops this beauty on eBayI've always liked this bass, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me (mahogany, semi-hollow, f-hole, Matt finish, piezo), but I felt it was overpriced. "No", says I, "be strong", then the seller dropped the price by £100! Too good to resist, so the credit card took a punch to the nose... When it arrived, I was slightly underwhelmed, but I knew I would be: I'd played two examples previously, and both were the same- the piezo just swamped the magnetic pickup, to the point where it served no purpose. The second tryout, I raised the pickup to the point where it could compete, and I could see the potential. This one, though, was the other way around, the piezo was anaemic. Also, I didn't like the fact that although the neck is subtly lined, those lines don't extend over the top. This looks nice and sleek with the binding, but the player has to lean over the fingerboard to see where he is. Also, I don't like the Chromes it came with, they always sound sterile to my ears. SO ... Sell it on, or...? Investigation in the cavity revealed a trim pot for the piezo, and the balanced sound works well. Some 'skillful' use of yellow tape on the neck: A new set of Thomastik flats, and it's become, and likely to remain, my favourite bass! It's light, balances well, has nice simple controls ( vol/ tone x2 ), and sounds just fantastic with both pickups- tight and focussed with the Bartolini, and loads of girth and texture with the piezo. I'm a happy bunny.