Advice please!

[Razor]

Now, being a guitarist, but increasingly being turned onto bass, I've had a few through my hands over the years. Been looking for a fretless jazz for a while, and just ended up by chance with a really clean 81 ibanez blazer factory fretless, which I'm chuffed with, except... The neck feels really big, width and depth, compared with the the last jazz "type" bass I had.. More like a p bass I'm told. Is there really that much difference between the two? Also tried dropping the action a bit, and where it's getting comfortable, I'm getting string slap on the board( neck is good, slight relief ) been told shimming to alter neck angle may help? Before I trade it for a jazz or something slimmer necked( open to ideas) I'm gonna persevere with it, cos it's really nice, and sounds fantastic .. Any ideas or advice appreciated , cheers , razor.

[Iheartreverb]

I have no help to offer. But I was given one of these for free a fee years ago and was by far the nicest bass I had ever head or played (I don't get out much) only it was fretless which I just couldn't come around to. Beautiful bass, if only mine was fretted. But tone, weight, neck everything was perfect....well done, as you were.

[HowieBass]

Unless you can define where the unwanted 'slap' is occurring and what your string heights are it's difficult (at least for me) to suggest whether a shim is needed. You want some string buzz, usually called 'mwah' at the point you stop a string (where the fret would be) but too much buzz can sound unpleasant. The fingerboard can probably be close to flat with just a touch of relief, the nut slots ought to have the strings REAL close to the fingerboard and then adjust the action from being say a few 64ths above the fingerboard and if you're getting 'buzz' rather than 'mwah' raise the strings a little. That's the way I've adjusted my fretless anyway.

[Razor]

Cheers iheartreverb... It is a lovely thing, have you still got yours? It's really a fretless I wanted, cos I just love the sound..

[Razor]

Howiebass, thanx for the reply. The slap or rattle seems to occur from 14th fret up when I get the action close to comfortable, which is still higher than the last bass I had.. But as you say, unless I measured it, you couldn't form a judgement. Nut seems pretty close to me. Maybe I'm just being soft ! If I measured at 12th fret maybe you could offer an opinion? Appreciate your help, razor.

[Grangur]

If you're getting excessive buzz on the neck at the 14th and above, then that would seem to me that at that point the action is too low. So I think shimming the neck is going to make this worse. I would have thought you need to raise the bridge height slightly to cut the buzz, then slightly increase the tension in the neck using the truss rod, lowering the action overall.

I suggest you take a look at the video on the set up of the GWB bass.
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mLp8TI0tu8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mLp8TI0tu8[/url]

As for the neck width. Well this is what it is. If you don't like it then that's a personal taste thing and the set up won't change that and it's your choice if you want to sell it.

[Lozz196]

Agree, if you don`t get on with the width of the neck, no matter what the set-up you`ll be unlikely to ever get on with it.

[HowieBass]

Try getting the neck almost straight with minimal relief - with the string held down at both ends of the fingerboard you should just be able to see under the string around where the 12th fret would be; the relief on mine is less than half the thickness of a credit card. Try setting your action at 4/64th for the E and say 3/64th for the G and slowly raise the saddles until you dial out excessive buzz. My action isn't excessively low and I still get a nice 'mwah' - it's around 5/64th for the E and 4/64th for the G on open strings, height measured at the octave (12th fret) position. Buzz at the higher frets (high end of the fingerboard) is usually due to too much relief.

Hope this helps!

[Razor]

Cheers for your advice chaps.. While I'm no stranger to setting up guitar necks, I've never tackled a fretless instrument. That was a good video, and from what I can gather from that, and helpful advice, all seems well, and maybe it's just a bit of a handful forME! But one last thing, re: neck tension, am I still looking for a slight relief as with a fretted instrument?

[HowieBass]

I'd suggest much less relief to almost none for fretless bass.

[Razor]

Ta, shall give it a tweak, as it has a relief I would normaly think was acceptable

[Razor]

Blimey! What a difference howiebass.. A good half turn of the truss rid and it's playing like melted butter, nearly, but not quite flat. Thanks for your advice. Sadly, fingerboard still maybe a bit wide for me, so prob look at trading for something skinnier in near future.. Jazz? Any suggestions?

[HowieBass]

A Jazz will certainly have a slim neck but if the bass is sounding good I'd persevere a little longer and see if you can adapt to it... are you placing your thumb in the middle of the back of the neck? I've got a fretless Cort B4, VERY slim profile neck, made from a 5-ply laminate of wenge and rosewood; TONS of middle growl; in fact now I'm playing through a decent combo (Genz Benz) and I can hear everything the bass is giving me I'm backing off the treble and that's surprised me as it's wearing flats. Always a surprise isn't it what a decent set-up can do to an instrument?!

[Razor]

Coming from guitar, it feels very unnatural having my hand in the "proper" position for bass, bug I an trying! I briefly had a 5 string Cort through my hands last year , and it was a lovely thing.compact body, and a very manageable neck as I recall ..

[bagsieblue]

I've got a couple of Farida basses. Both great basses with skinny necks.

[Razor]

Are they the ones that dolphin were selling?

[bagsieblue]

Not sure but I would assume so.

[HowieBass]

I've heard mixed stories about the Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz - it has a lined ebonol fingerboard; ebonol is a very hard wearing synthetic material so you can string it with roundwounds to get that Jaco tone and not worry about wearing furrows into the surface... some people reckon it's a great instrument whilst others have had issues with neck stability (could be a manufacturing quality control issue that's since been sorted). I must admit I've been tempted to buy one of these secondhand just to satisfy my curiosity but I haven't pulled the trigger yet (and besides I have 5 basses already).

[iconic]

Early VMJs (very early being 07/08 ish?) were indian built with mixed build quality.,,,not sure if any VMJFs were indian built and hence had patchy quality....my VMJF was lovely and a 2011 from memory....a Cort built example.

[Razor]

Shall have to check those out next time I get to a shop.. Gotta stick with this fretless groove , in absolutely loving it ! I feel I should be using a chorus, can anyone recommend any reasonably priced ones? Maybe even a multi effects..

[Conan]

[quote name='Razor' timestamp='1388160477' post='2319007'] I should be using a chorus, can anyone recommend any reasonably priced ones?
[/quote]

I've got an old Ibanez one that I don't use... PM me if you are interested

[HowieBass]

I'm running my basses through a Zoom B9.1ut and have settled on a patch for my fretless that employs an amp+cab simulation, plus octave (down), detune (tad more subtle than chorus) and reverb - all switchable. This Zoom unit is a little complicated for some and I suspect didn't sell well (which is why it's now discontinued), but the quality of effects is good and I bought mine new at what I consider a bargain price. Worth looking out for secondhand.