fretlessguy

Welcome Ancient Mariner, to the world of fretless. interestingly, I play fretless at church as well. I own several fretlesses. Some are lined, unlined, five string, and some four stringed. They have flatwounds, tapewounds, round wounds. They are quite habit forming. I have recently bought a Kala ukulele bass in fretless. Astounding... One thing for sure: They make you use your ears much much more. Playing in tune requires much more attention. In the end, the rewards are great and worth the effort. Happy Fretlessing.

I own a fretless Precision from the mid 90s. It's a great bass, and I imagine the Tony Franklin model would be great with that ebony fingerboard. However, if I lived on your side of the pond, I'd most likely try get a Wal (If I could afford one) , especially since I respected and enjoyed Mick Karn's playing with one.

I'm sorry. I can vote for neither one. I go with the kala u bass: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=behtdlPnL6A&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL98C6FF1E686A54DE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=behtdlPnL6A...8C6FF1E686A54DE[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki6pm5B7SOU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki6pm5B7SOU...feature=related[/url] [url="http://ubassappreciation.wordpress.com/"]http://ubassappreciation.wordpress.com/[/url]

That depends on what you need. If you like chording and soloing, then High C is what you need. I prefer Low B on my 5 string fretless due to the fact that, as a bass player, I feel notes above the staff are for someone else to play. Besides, I like those low Ds and low Cs.

Life is short, so enjoy the pleasure of a fine P Bass! If it sounds only half as good as it looks, I'm sure its a great bass.

SIT strings are long lasting and have are not that expensive. I use their Power Round Nickels on a couple of my basses. You can purchase them from www.juststrings.com, who does ship internationally. They make just about any type of bass strings you want, even from 12 string to piccolo, steel, nickel, half wounds, flats. And no, I do not work for them, but I do appreciate people who make quality products that do not cost a fortune to buy.

I bought a very inexpensive short scale Jazz fretless, an SX (Essex) for about $169 USD, including the hard shell case. I spent a little more and replaced the bridge with a Fender one and traded out the strap buttons for Schaller ones. The pickups were very interesting sounding, and a bit deeper than the ones on my 74 Fender Jazz, so I kept them. The bass was bought to play when my arthritis shows its ugly self, and the stretch on the 34 inch basses is too long. It is now my favorite bass to play, and used it in a regional all-star Gospel orchestra and choir a few years back. I've been nominated to play a couple of times to serve in the orchestra since, and they always request I play that "little red bass". Yes, my Fenders and Carvins usually stay home now.

My favorite rounds are GHS Pressurewounds, which are very similar to Ken Smith Compressors. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GcQJyHGbeY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GcQJyHGbeY[/url]

Like most have stated, the pickups are on the wrong basses. Also, the colors are so .....bland. Now what would excite me would have the P Bass withe the normal p pickup and the double Jazz pickup at the bridge, with a jazzneck and a C.A.R. body and maple fretboard. That would be quite wonderful. But, I understand what Fender is trying to do with them and putting out something that will appeal to both old Fender fans and gather in some new ones. The proof is, as already stated, is in the playing.

I have used them for the last few years off and on. They are very smooth and kind to your frets and fingerboard if you play fretless. Tonewise they sit somewhere between a flat and a round wound. Not quite as bright as regular rounds but not quite as thumpy as a flat. They have really good sustain and also less tension than a flat, due to the round core wire. They seem to last quite a bit longer than a traditional round. The manufacturer states they are "nickel-plated iron" strings. I use the .44-.102 long scale and .40-.96 short scale sets.

I have never seen a 5 string 9120 set anywhere, nor do I think they have ever been made. I have also searched for a B string on various sights with none to found. However, GHS and D'Addario both make 5 strings sets in tapewound now as well as LaBella.

I have a Carvin AC40 Fretless which is very similar to your Tune. I have used these strings on it withgreat results: Thomastic-Infield Jazz Flats LaBella Tapewounds Fender Tapewounds GHS Precision Flats I know GHS Flats are a rarity in your area, so I would probably go with the TI Jazz flats. Warmtone, plenty of mwah, and smooth, low tension strings. I was happy with them, but just decided to go back to using the GHS strings because they sounded more like an upright. Good luck with whatever you go with.

Uh.........no. Not really.

Enjoy your new bass! Those sound really good with flats, by the way.

My 74 Jazz bass had a set of Dean Markley roundwounds on it from 1978 to 1996. It's had several sets on it since then.

[url="http://www.juststrings.com/lab-760fm-s.html"]http://www.juststrings.com/lab-760fm-s.html[/url] [url="http://www.juststrings.com/lab-760fl-s.html"]http://www.juststrings.com/lab-760fl-s.html[/url] [url="http://www.juststrings.com/dad-ecb81s.html"]http://www.juststrings.com/dad-ecb81s.html[/url] Good luck with your search. I actually prefer GHS short scale Precision flats (.45-.95) myself, but I know you want a heavy set.

I've used SIT and LaBellas with tapered B strings, and currently have a body-through 5 string with the SITs. Very good strings, if you can get them on your side of the pond.

If your bass is a body through stung bridge, or its 35" scale or up, you will need the superlongs.

If I were a guitar repairman in a shop it would be quite nifty. Other than that it would not be much use. They also make one of these that tunes it to the right pitch.

My favorite fretless bass song, performed by John Giblin: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kNwvIEQsg0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kNwvIEQsg0[/url]

1. Chris Squire-The first time I heard "Roundabout" I knew I had to play bass. 2. Stanley Clarke- Turned me on to playing fusion and jazz in my youth. 3. Greg Lake- Not the flashiest or most technically adept, but always played well and had everything in the right place. He was really more a guitarist. 4. John Giblin-His fretless work with Chris DeBurgh really encouraged me to play the fretless. 5. Dave Hope- Dave's bass lines with the original Kansas were epic, and like Chris Squire's, were songs within the song. America's greatist prog bassist.

I have found that most people either love them or find them not to be their cup of tea. Very few are in the middle. I like them quite a bit myself. It really doesn't matter if they are lined or not, but if you are more comfortable with the lines, then by all means buy one that has them. The fretless will make you depend on your ears more than position markers anyway. Given some time and practice (they do require more practice, at least for me anyway) you will discover they are quite exprssive, especially slower ballad type tunes. For me, the effort was worth it. I enjoy playing them. I use both rounds and flats on my various fretlesses for different styles of music. I recently put a set of GHS tapewounds on my 5 string fretless, and it has opened up even more possibilities. I wish you well in your new adventures in fretlessing. Doug

I do not know of any rounds with nylon cores, but LaBella makes a flatwound set with them. I use regular flats with my acoustic bass guitar, and it works rather well.

I first heard John's playing on Chris DeBurgh's "The Getaway". His basslines on "Don't Pay The Ferryman" and "The Getaway" were nothing short of epic.

I've owned one for about five or so years now. Very pretty and pretty sounding. They get a good tone with the pressurewound strings I use, but I imagine they would be quite good with flats. With both pickups full volume and the tone turned down they are quite deep and muddy sounding. I actually turn the neck pick up down in volume to get more of a midrange sound. I use it when playing folk music of different kinds.