Round wound strings on a fretless?

[jay]

Hello

I am very new to the world of fretless bass, I brought myself a Squier VMJ which for the money is a really lovely bass. It came with flats but I put them on my fretted P-bass because I love the tone flats give it. With no spare strings lying around I put the roundwounds on the fretless and found that it sounded much much better with them. However, i've noticed that they are leaving tiny marks on the fretboard, so far its made absolutely no difference to the playability, but if I leave them on too long will it cause a problem? or is this just normal?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks

[Dad3353]

[quote name='jay' timestamp='1334970794' post='1624322']... if I leave them on too long will it cause a problem? or is this just normal?...[/quote]
Good evening, Jay...

Both; a problem, and 'normal'. Normal, because the round wounds will grind away the fretboard over time by their very nature, hence, a problem.
The solution..? The 'classic' is to have a very hard-wearing fretboard (off-topic: why do I call it a fretboard..? It's a fretless, ain't it..? Fingerboard..?). Our departed Jaco famously 'epoxyed' his bass with a kind of boat varnish. Ebony, being (generally...) a very hard wood, wears less quickly. One can also replace the fretboard from time to time; no big deal really.
This will all depend on how much playing you do, of course, and also whether you use a side to side 'bend' (which will grind more...) or a forward/back vibrato.
The tone is quite different, so there's not much left except put up with it, or put flats back on. You'll lose that 'mwah', though.
Having a light touch will help, and a decent fretboard can last quite a while, but it will wear (as do the frets on a bass or guitar. That's just part of the maintenance routine...).
Others may have better news (I'd like to have other solutions myself..!).
Hope this helps...

[Mog]

Aye the fingerboard material has a big part to play in it. You could try using halfwound (groundwound) strings which have the best of both worlds and are less damaging to the board.

[jay]

Thanks for the advice! Unfortuantly the fretboard doesn't seem too hard wearing (its not even wood) so I will try to lighten by touch! it is a very different beast compared to my Fender P deluxe!

In regard to the halfwounds, I had considered them, but do you get the same amount of 'mwah' as rounds?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='jay' timestamp='1334973420' post='1624332']...do you get the same amount of 'mwah' as rounds?
[/quote]No, but more than flats.

[paul_5]

I've gone back to round wound strings on my fretless just because of the mwah factor. I replaced the bridge a couple of weeks ago, and obviously the strings had to come off.

As a sort of bonus, the worn patches indicated where I do most of my playing - don't know why that's important - but there was an obvious amount of wear.

Ultimately it sounds better (to me), so that's what I do. Eventually I'll have to have a new fingerboard, but for now I'm enjoying the sound that round wounds give me. I'll look into a hard wearing coating for it though and see if I can coax a few extra years out of the playing surface I've got.

[BassBus]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1334973491' post='1624333']
No, but more than flats.
[/quote]
I would argue with this, strongly. Halfwounds sing like nothing else on my basses. I don't get the rounds on fretless thing. They are rough to the touch with lots of finger noise and, as experienced, damage the fingerboard. Halfwounds are smooth to the touch with much less finger noise and loads of mwah.

It all depends on the setup and the way you play the bass. If you dig in you'll loose all the voicing and it ends up just sounding like a fretted bass with dull strings. Play more gently and the sound swells after you pluck the note. Add into that some easy side to side rolling of the left hand finger and you get the most beautiful vibrato. Pulling the string across the fingerboard looses all that sensitivity.

Try halfwounds before you go any further. Get them from the Status Graphite site. Just about the best value strings out there.

[3below]

Plenty of Mwahh (by my standards) with TI flats on my fretless. YMMV

[leftyhook]

I haven't read all of the posts on this thread.
I would say DON'T put rounds on your fretless.
I did, had to have the fingerboard skimmed 3 timed because those little marks eventually become deeper and caused horrible buzzes,eventually, new fingerboard.
You would have to have an incredibly light touch on your fingerboard to reduce the amount of time it would take to wear down your fingerboard,
Unless, as someone else might have mentioned, you go the Jaco way and have your board coated with resin or whatever.

halfwounds, flatwounds..but not roundwounds

Edited April 21, 2012 by leftyhook

[pobrien_ie]

Over the years I've owned two fretless basses, a Fender MIM Jazz and a Warwick Corvette Standard. I tried rounds with the Jazz bass and they ate into the fingerboard almost immediately, it was rosewood. The Warwick, which had an ebony fingerboard, actually came strung with rounds when I bought it new. The Jazz lasted a year or two before I had to get rid of it, while after 8 years the Warwick, which I sold only a few weeks ago, had barely a mark on the fingerboard. I prefer fretless basses with rounds, and now fretted basses with flats

Bottom line IMO, rounds will eat into a rosewood fingerboard pretty rapidly. If you want to keep using them treat the neck ala Jaco or be prepared to buy a new neck in the not too distant future!

[BigRedX]

String choice on any bass is a very personal thing. I have fretless basses with flats, nickel and steel round wounds and they all sound different. I don't have a particularly light touch but none of the fingerboards are displaying wear to an extent that it is affecting the playability (and one of these basses is almost 30 years old). If round wounds are giving you the sound you like it's unlikely that you'll find that sound in a different type of string, but unfortunately the only way you'll find out is the try them all for yourself. Nickel round wounds are supposed to be less abrasive than steels but they do sound slightly different. Again you'll need to try for yourself and make up your own mind.

Also unless the design has changed the Squier VMJ has an ebanol fingerboard which is very hard wearing. When I owned one (which was strung with round wounds) the strings marked the fingerboard fairly quickly but in the 6 months I had mine the fingerboard didn't get any worse and a lot of the marks could be polished out each time I changed the strings. IMO the fingerboard was the best thing about that bass.

You can get plenty of mwah out of flats - I do on my Lightwave Sabre A which has TI Jazz flats but it's a completely different kind of mwah to the Overwater with nickel rounds and the Sei Flamboyant with steel rounds.

IME half rounds/ground wound are the worst of both worlds. They don't sound like round wounds and they still wear the fingerboard. But as I said before the only way to find out if they suit you is to try a set yourself.

Edited April 21, 2012 by BigRedX

[zero9]

If it's roundwounds you like, just go for it. Basses are meant to be played and wear the more you play them. I will only ever use roundwounds on my fretless. Plenty of scarring on my fingerboard, but it's only superficial (it's a Status Graphite with phenolic board), however, it just sounds great. I'll even use it for slap. With a wooden neck / wood fingerboard you could always get the fingerboard replaced once it's worn too much, although IMO this would take many many years of playing. Even a fretted bass will need a re-fret after many years of playing...

[Fat Rich]

A light touch is a good starting point, kinder on your fingerboard, kinder on the frets on your fretted basses, less likely to get tendonitis, probably play faster too.

I use halfwounds / groundwounds on my fretless, D'addarios on wooden boards and Status Halfwounds on synthetic. You're going to get some marks on the board whatever strings you use.

I'e heard of some people using coated strings on fretless, the idea being that the coating is softer than the fingerboard. I've not tried them for long enough to test this theory but you might want to give that a try. They're generally pricey but they last much much longer than uncoated strings so actually work out good value.

[jay]

Thanks for the help all, ive stuck with rounds, just put a new set on and they sound lovely. I also gave the fret board a clean and alot of what looks like 'denting' can infact just be polished off . A tiny amount of damage over a long time is worth the sound imo!

[BigRedX]

[quote name='jay' timestamp='1335282035' post='1628582']
I also gave the fret board a clean and alot of what looks like 'denting' can infact just be polished off . A tiny amount of damage over a long time is worth the sound imo!
[/quote]

Exactly what I found when I owned a Squier VMJ Fretless.

[shizznit]

I used rounds on my old fretless P and ruined the fingerboard. Cost me a few quid to sand the fingerboard before I could sell it on. I knew I was causing damage, but I don't like the feel of flats even though I do prefer the tone.

[yepmop]

I've just added some Fender flatwounds to my Vintage Icon fretless and just lovin the sound and yes a little duller than the rounds but for me it's the sound I wanted.

I've not used Rotosound flats in years, so don't know how they fare against the Fender's, but will possibly give them a try in a few months.

I still [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]get plenty of mwah out of the flats, but no quite as pronounced as you do with rounds, but I would expect that anyway.[/font][/color]

[Torben Hedstrøm]

Had roundwounds on my Stambaugh fretless for years. Very minor scuffing on the fingerboard - But it is HQ ebony. Would not want to play round on a rosewood/maple whatever fingerboard...

[Emanew]

[quote name='jay' timestamp='1335282035' post='1628582']
Thanks for the help all, ive stuck with rounds, just put a new set on and they sound lovely. I also gave the fret board a clean and alot of what looks like 'denting' can infact just be polished off . A tiny amount of damage over a long time is worth the sound imo!
[/quote]

10 years ago i tried to have my PB fretless rosewood epoxied... I came back quickly to the normal fingerboard. Too high frequencies, no more warm mwha
Jaco Pastorius is unique.

I played with roundwounds on a 40 years old fretless bass and it still has its original rosewood fingerboard, no worries and only pleasure.

Enjoy your JB with roundwounds Jay !


PS : i also put flatwounds on my fretted PB. Both good choices IMO

Edited April 26, 2012 by Emanew