fretlessguy

The Zenith is now available here in the states. It comes in both transparent black and maple finishes. It lists for 799 USD. Smallest electric pickup I've ever seen at the neck position. I am going to try to find one and try it today. Strangely, the fretless Version is not called the Zenith but the "Triumph". It only comes in the Maple finish and is equipped with a lined fretless neck and LaBella Tapewound strings. It also is more expensive. [url="http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Zenith%20Acoustic%20Electric%20Guitar%20Translucent%20Black_-1_10052_10002_1021335?cm_mmc=Froogle%2d%5f%2dAcousticElectric%20Basses%2d%5f%2dZenith%20Acoustic%20Electric%20Guitar%20Translucent%20Black%2d%5f%2dEBTRTBBH1"]http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/se...ack-_-EBTRTBBH1[/url]

I have TIs on both of my Precisions. I have both sets of TI Jazz flats strung body-through. No problems thus far. If you are going with the TIs, I'd say load them through the bridge if you are going to use the JF344 set. If they go through the body, there will be a little of the silk winding coming past the nut over the fretboard. This can be remedied by removing the silk with a razor blade very carefully. You can use the TI J364 set, they are made to be used with 36 inch scale basses. The body-through Precisions are the equivilent of about 35 inches, leaving you a lot string to have to wrap around the post, even with trimming. I would definitely go with the 344 set and just trim the silk.

My experiances with detuning with anything less than a .100 are not good. Any smaller of a gauge they become just too floppy and lose both tone and volume.

I keep a small collection of basses for this purpose. I play several different styles of music, and learned early that there was not one that fit all styles. The basses are strung with different types of strings as well. FG

One thing the fretless does is make you use your ears, especially in a dark place! It does take some getting used to, and it is not for cowards. You are off to a great start...Keep fretlessing.

Both are similar, but the tapewounds will be a little smoother and sound more like an upright bass. I have used both and like both of them, and prefer the flats. Of course the sound you get will depend on the brand and gauges of strings you will use. Your nut may need to be widened for the tapes since they are usually larger gauges than flats as a general rule. Also, on fretlesses the nut is usually lower than on a fretted for easier action. You may consider having that done. For flats I prefer TI Jazz Flats and GHS Precision flats. Fender and LaBella Tapes are popular here, and Rotosound makes a tape set I have yet to try but hear good things about.

I have flats on mine and It gives it a great sound. I have also used the tapewounds as well. They sound excellent, but I prefer the flats. They both have way less finger noise than the phosphor strings. Use a light gauge if possible.

Although this is not a comapny on your side of the pond, this page might give you some ideas. I like the looks of the Fender wedge, but then again, I have a fondness for Fender stuff. Goodluck. [url="http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/live-sound/stage-monitors/powered-stage-monitors"]http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/live-...-stage-monitors[/url] FG

You know those stands that electric guitarists have that they will keep an acoustic on it to play at certain times? Well, I have seen them made for basses as well. They would allow you to keep your bass on while playing the one held in the stand. You could then run both into one of those ToneBone boxes, or perhaps an inexpensive 4 channel mixer, then into your amp.

Well, I must say you did the exit with class and dignity. Probably most of us here would be inclined to tell him to pull his lower lip over his head and swallow himself and vanish. I commend you for your actions. FG

I have used D"Addario half rounds, GHS Brite Flats (half rounds) and GHS Pressurewounds (compressed strings). The D'Addarios were terrible with their feel and high tension, but their sound was fairly good. I had good success with the Brite Flats. They had the feel of flats with a brighter tone than the flats, but not as bright as roundwounds. I would imagine that with them being groud down rounds, that their service life would be no longer than regular roundwounds. To me, the winner was the pressurewounds. The tone was like a flat only slightly brighter, but it felt more like a roundwound and even still had the "mwah" needed for fretless playing. The tension was less than a flatwound, but more than a roundwound. Easier to play than the half rounds. Of course, I used all light sets with them, and since most folks play mediums your results could be different. I have never played Rotosounds of any type, so I cannot help you with them. The new black Nexus strings they make would look fabulous on my black and maple boarded Fender Jazz, so I think I'll give them a try. FG

I never liked the bronze/phosphor strings that usually come with them. Too twangy and not enough low end, and plenty of finger noise as well. I have found low tensioned light gauged flats and tapewounds sound much better. This is of course just my personal opinion, others may disagree. TI flats really sound good on acoustic-electric basses, by the way. FG

It is a great bass to play. I own the Sting 54 reissue bass, and there is not a lot of difference between the two. I preferred the sunburst finish to the yellow one, which is supposed to look like an aged original butterscotch version. I think Fender missed the boat on that one. Mine has the contoured cutouts whereas the 51 does not. The only thing I do not like, as one poster stated, was the ugly Sting thing on the 12th fret. It appears at this time Fender has dropped the 51 (but not the 54 Sting reissue) from their production models, but can still be bought since there are still a lot of new ones in stock. It did not sell well here in the U.S., and after Fender raised their prices 30%, it probably was the deathknell of the bass. The bass has all the great features of the original 51 including the barking single coil sound, amoeba pickguard, cool headstock, body through strings, and lends itself well to playing roots music such as rockabilly, blues, and early country as well as folk music. It's a great converstion starter as well. The reissue allows us to play a bass that most of us will never be able to buy as an original. That being said, there are reasons why the bass was redesigned in 1957. It has all the quirks of the original including the single coil 60 cycle humm which occurs when the hands are taken off of the strings. Also, there is the infamous dead spot on the 5th or 6th fret on the G string. The orginal bridge makes precise intonation virtually impossible. If you do get one, a set of Thomastic-Infeld Nickel flats sound very cool on this bass. You can also get the period correct ashtray pick up and bridge covers for it as well. If the quirks of the bass won't bother you, I think you would enjoy the bass. Kindest regards, FG

I use flatwounds on my Carvin fretless ABG. They are GHS Precision flats, which I understand are hard to get on your side of the pond. I have heard TI Flats sound good on ABGs, so I might try them out. LaBella Tapewounds are also an excellent choice as well. FG

First of all, you should do what's best for you and not concern yourself with what others think. I use mainly TI Flats these days, but I keep my active 5 string Carvins strung with rounds for then I have need for a modern sound. They are the Fender 7250-5 Lights. Their gauges are .40-.115 and they are tuned BEADG. Since develping joint problems 6 years ago, I have found them to be a god send. I have less trouble playing them than mediums or heavies, and I can play for quite a while before needing an artritis break. They record well and last quite a while before going dead and needing replacing. So, if light gauges are what you want to try, then by all means do so. It could be the thing you were looking for. I once was sitting in with a group whose bassist was out traveling on vacation. The rhythm guitarist walked over after the first set and was looking at my bass. He then asked me what gauge strings I was using. "Lights" was my reply. He then went into this long speech about why bassists should use only medium gauge strings and only 4 string basses. The drummer (bless his heart...) told him that he (the rhythm guitarst) seemed to like it while dancing around when I was playing during the set, so sit down and shut up. I did the gig with them. Money was nice, too. They did fire the guitarst later, from what I hear. The moral of the story: Play with what makes you happy. FG

Yeah, TI does these things... Their 34 inch scales are for exactly that, 34 inch scales. not for body through bridges. Those would require using strings that can fit either 34 inch scales with body through bridges or 35 inch scales. They do make a set for extra long scale for 36 inch necks. But these are so long they will have string past the silk part wanting to wrap around the post. So, I took a razor blade and shaved off the part of the silk cloth windings that were sitting in the nut. Problem solved. FG

The Elitist EB-3 were made for Epiphone in Japan a couple of years back. They had top quality elctronics and construction. They were, however, quite expensive for an epiphone and only a couple of hundred dollars less than the new (at the time) Gibson SG bass reissue, so they did not sell all that well. They had all the original qualites and traits the original Gibson version had, including the deep muddy sound and easy to play neck. Oh yes, the neck dive tool.

I have a Sting P Bass reissue complete with the rather tacky inlay. I believe that it is a copy of the '54 model. I do really like the sound of it, and it's quite an attractive looking bass as well. I have left mine stock with no modifications. I should warn you that it has all the flaws the original had. These include the goofy original bridge that cannot be intonated correctly, but you can get close. The fifth fret on the G strung has quite a dead spot, and when you take your hand off of the bass it sure does hum. But oh the tone....nothing quite like it. I am not quite sure of it being a slapper bass, however. I have heard horror stories on the websites here in the U.S. of people slapping it and getting the string underneath the pickup lip and tearing it out. I am not so sure about that, but I do not think it would be a slapper with those little bitty vintage frets. But then again it might ( I am a fingerstyle player only, so I wouldn't really know). Mine is currently wearing a set of TI Jazz Flats on it, and it really brings out the character of the bass. If you play roots music (folk, country, rockabilly, early rock and roll and blues) I believe it would work excellently in those areas. One other oddity: the tuning keys work in the opposite direction the ones now work, just like the originals.

I have recently purchased a Genz-Benz 3.0 Shuttle amp with an 8 inch speaker. It does very well for a practice amp and for playing small rooms or coffehouses. I use it for practice with a group that inc ludes two guitarists and a keyboardest as well as 3 singers and a violinist. It can be heard and does a good job. It is very lightweight (13 pounds) and very easy for me to get around. If an additional 8 ohm cabinet is added to the rig, the wattage jumps up to 300 watts, which would cover most small to medium size venues. I will probably purchase an Avatar 12 or 15 inch speaker cabinet for larger places when I play. It will still be considerably lighter to carry than my present rig for larger places. There are Shuttle combinations with more powerful heads and larger speaker cabs, but I like the flexibility of the setup. The only problem is........it is not cheap. It costs 699 USD. Very expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

I have used Fender 7250-5L five string lights (.40-.115) for seven or eight years on my Carvin Bolt 5 fretted and fretless basses. They are long lasting, sound good without being overly bright, and seem to bring out the good qualities of the basses. I also have a set of tapewound strings on my fretless P Bass and a set of original Nickels on my Jazz Bass. No complaints here. I do not care for their flatwounds or stainless strings, however.

I have a Fender 54 P-Bass Reissue with body thru stringing. It has a set of TIs on it. No problems. My Carvin ABG has body thru stringing with a set of GHS Precision Flats on it. No Problems thus far.

Sadly, it seems that bands were made to break up.

I've tried them a few times. They are not great, but I thought they were okay. They certainly get smashed on the blog sites here, but I have not had a bad experiance with them yet.

I have two fives, one fretted and the other fretless. I used both this summer and last summer in my recordings. They were there when I needed them, and they fit the tracks I was working on at the time perfectly. Sooooooo...... You never can tell when you will need them again. I do primarily use a four these days as well.

I'd go with the Squire. There are so many aftermarket upgrades that you can have a lot of fun modding it. I think it looks and sounds better too.