NBD: Ibanez TRB105 fretless

[nekomatic]

So having decided that I'd like to set myself the challenge of having a go at fretless, and wanting to try before I bought, I looked at what was around on the cheap end of the market and my local music shop (I say shop, I suspect it's more the owner's retirement hobby and gear museum/hangout, with incidental music teaching space attached) had this, so I dropped in and had a look.

 

Internet research suggests it was made in the Samick factory in 1994/5 and will have originally been fretted. The defret job looked good to my non-expert eye, the body and neck felt comfortable, it wasn't too heavy, it sounded OK unplugged - considering it had flats of unknown provenance on - and made a good range of tones plugged in to the shop Trace combo. The action wasn't exactly low and I noticed the G string bridge saddle was as low as it could get, but I figured a bit of setup attention could probably sort that. Oh and a previous owner had decided to replace the output jack with an XLR. Anyway though, I decided I liked it, so two hundred quid plus trade-in of a Marshall MB15 I no longer need and it came home with me.

 

Closer inspection and plugging in at home and the imperfections started to look a lot more imperfect. I realised the intonation was badly out and the bridge saddles didn't have enough adjustment (away from the neck) to get it anywhere near right without reaching the string end wraps. And there was a huge amount of interference pickup, which only almost went away when I turned the tone control fully clockwise, which corresponded to maximum treble cut (??). Inspecting the cavity again, the wiring I'd thought looked passable in the shop now turned out to be a right dog's dinner. I started to feel I'd got a dud on my hands. Maybe I should have gone with the safe-but-boring Squier Vintage Modified 4-string that guy in Ashton with the leather sofa had on Gumtree…

 

But then I took delivery of a set of lightly used Elixir stainless roundwounds courtesy of cdog, and went through the setup as I swapped them on, and everything started to make a bit more sense. Intonation came right in a more sensible place and I had to raise the G saddle a little to cure a rattle on the top end of the fretboard, which left the action still a bit higher than I'd like but definitely playable, and the rounds are easier (or at least more like what I'm used to) than the flats. And I've ordered the parts to screen and rewire the electrics and return it to a normal jack socket. So I'm a happy bunny after all. And I do think it looks rather smart in the black.

 

I reckon the fretboard may have lifted a little bit at the top end, so once I've played it a bit more I may get an expert opinion on whether a bit of work would improve the action, but I'll leave that for a while as I'm planning to stick to the fretted until my next jazz jam in a couple of weeks, then play only the fretless and see how quickly I can get used to it. My own intonation is currently at the 'surprisingly good, but still terrible' level so some practice will be required.