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The Riddled Road of Fretless Bass Guitar...


The Real Jake
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Bass players,

In short, I’m having trouble with string buzzing on a Squire Precision fretless bass with an ebonal fingerboard and plastic fret marker lined inlays. Asking for advice on how to solve the problem.

Brief History of the bass:
As you’ll see in the pictures, my Squire is a mod, but a simple one. I purchased a fretted Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass PJ (red) and a Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Precision Bass (sunburst) and switched the necks… I wanted the the PJ pickup formation and had a preference for the red color. Other than the color and slot for the extra J pickup, the bodies were identical, that being the case, I doubted this history was even relevant; but here there it is.

Oh, and the original sunburst fretless came stock with round-wound strings, a fact that will become important later…

Problem with the resulting fretless bass:
Basically I’m getting buzzing on the G string toward the middle of the neck. Truss rod adjustments and setups, by myself and two guitar techs, did not solve the problem. One tech noted a possible cause: the plastic inlay fret markers rise high. He’s right, you can feel them just running your fingers up the neck. I had put flat-would strings on the bass; the E, A, and D must have enough physical volume so as to avoid the buzzing, but as a temporary fix, I switched the G String back to a round-wound string, in hopes that the wound grooves would rest over the slightly raised inlays. So far it’s kind of worked as a temporary solution and may explain why the fretless came stock with round-wounds in the first place.

Possible Solutions:
The temporary solution is just that; the bass is still on the fringe of buzzing and just doesn’t play with the consistency that a fretless bass should. I prefer flat wounds on a fretless; The last thing, I think, I should have to worry about on a fretless is string buzzing.

So I’m considering replacing the neck; would a MIM Fender fretless neck with a Pau Ferro fingerboard and inlays work?

I would prefer a fretless neck with inlays: I know Fender can do it. The best fretless bass I ever played was a 90s American Fender Precision Fretless bass (back in the 90s), it had fret maker inlays too.

But the price of an American neck defeats the purpose, financially, of improving this bass and puts me in the situation of just having to get another bass. (Open to recommendations!)

Do you think a Mexican Fender Inlay neck would do the trick?

Or would I be better off getting a fretless neck without lined inlays, from Mighty Mite or Warmoth? Id like to learn to play upright bass someday, perhaps I could start practicing by playing a fretless electric without lines…

Sanding down the lines on the neck I have isn’t preferable because the neck has a finish.... it would have to be refinished afterwards.

I’m open to all advice as to how to solve this buzzing problem!

-The Real Jake


Fender Standard Jazz Bass, 96
Squire Fretless Precision Bass, 17, in progress…

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Take a single edge razor blade, (the ones with a grip spine on the other edge),, lightly push it / tap it against what appears to be the raised edge of the offending fret....if you feel resistance against the blade edge then yes, it’s a raised ‘fret’ . Try scraping it down with the blade, minimum damage to the f board surface may occur. I don’t know how ebonal works, that is if finely sanded what surface coating does it take as in oil, varnish? The overall best solution is to have the fboard sanding flat again and re-coated. 

Im a fretless player but have never used a lined fretless. Working off double bass honed my listening skills for tuning on fretless bass guitar. Playing a bass after double bass feels much easier!

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How much relief is there in the neck now?  You say it's an area in the middle of the neck that's the issue, suggests means there may be too much tension which is causing a concave bow, forcing the plastic up and out of their slots. Subsequent relief of the tension may mean they still sit proud.

No need to buy a new neck IMO.  Have a tech shoot the fingerboard, or if you are confident in your skills buy the correct radius sanding block and do it yourself.

Hope you get it sorted!

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I had a Squier ebonol fretless with the same issue of the slightly raised fretlines. I gently sanded it using a fairly fine grit until it felt flat to the touch and then polished it up using a series of micro-mesh polishing papers like these - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Mesh-Regular-Sheets-Abrasive-Polishing-x/dp/B003RTABUK.

After the first sanding the surface goes scarily grey/dull but the finishing papers bring it back to a full glossy shine. Or you can leave it somewhere in between by just stopping the polish at a point that you're happy with. I was never happy with the neck though as the ebonol just felt a bit fake compared with real wood and I could always imperceptibly feel the plastic inlays. 

If you do change the neck I believe that both the Fender MIM and USA fretless necks also use some sort of synthetic material for the fret inlays (not wood) so be worth checking that out first.

 

 

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49 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Eh? 

 

Oh, I see! 😜

Not you, the real one.  But welcome anyway.

Question:  Can you put "ster" on the end of any noun and earn street credit?  That being so, if I called myself The Basster, would I get applications from lesbian couples wanting to use me for artificial insemination?

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