Pirellithecat

How about a LTD (ESP) , mine was £100 second hand. It's a PJ configuration with a lovely thin neck (@38mm, 24 fretmarkers), the playability of which is on a par with my Squier PJ and Ibanez. It's great to play, and it has a much better finish/quality than the Squier Fair bit of MWAAH (or whatever that fretless sound is) using flat wounds and well worth the money.

Thanks everyone. The info on the coated strings seems true and I think they are improving a bit with use - shan't get another set though. I use flatwounds on my fretless and recently got a set of Rotosound 77 Jazz Bass and they are HORRIBLE - like playing fencing wire. They replaced a set of Thomastic Infeld Jazz flatwounds which were great but costly. On the fretful bass, the unwanted sound is transmitted to the amp and I will lower the pick up height later today - this sounds like a promising course of action, as does using headphones. I have played around with my muting efforts and part of the problem might be technique as I tend to damp the D and G strings with my right hand fingers as well as my left and this seems to generate a "tap" using the Black Beauties. So, if I play lightly, and don't damp the strings I can reduce the unwanted noises - however this is difficult in faster more aggressive pieces. I'll let you know!! Thanks for the help though - I'll persevere a little longer. Ian

Thanks, I'll have a practice later and see whether the strings ring or need me to mute them more. However, it's the mechanical noises which bother me, and apart from open strings ringing more than I'd like, ringing isn't the main issue at the moment. But I am starting to realise that muting is something I need to get my head round more. The particular noise I don't like is the click of the string on the fret as a note is fretted, could be the adjacent fret either up or down the neck, but it's a clear "tap". The action is a little higher than recommended but I suspect if I lower it the problem will be worse. Maybe it is an action/ relief thing. However it has always been an issue with this guitar despite having several different brands of string on it and being set up in the shop and by an independent luthier. I'm starting to also wonder whether there's something not right with the amp/combo. Hey Ho, maybe I'll take up mandolin instead. Cheers Ian

Hi, Not sure where to post this as it might well be a technique issue, or it might be a set up issue or a string choice issue - or is it just my bass? I have 3 basses, one is fretless, two are fretful. The issue affects my Ibanez GSR750, When playing I seem to get a lot of extraneous string noise in the form of unwanted clicks, rattles and buzzes. I've had a luthier give it the once over, and the action adjusted and I've also further adjusted the neck relief which has sorted most of the buzzes out. However, there's still too much mechanical noise for my liking. I recently changed the strings to Black Beauties, but this, if anything has made the issue worse. I play finger style and can reduce the noise by playing lightly, but that's not always desirable. I don't get the same issue on my back up Warwick Rockbass Streamer, and, I guess obviously, the fretless is fine. So is this an Ibanez issue, or a me issue. There's much to like about the tone of the Ibanez, and the neck profile makes it easy to play, but it is noisey in terms of pickups (bridge pickup) and I'd be interested in other players experience. Cheers Ian