Roundwounds vs Flats for Fretless

[Stub Mandrel]

Steve Bailey says rounds!

 

 

 

[ghostwheel]

Each to their own?

 

P.S.: in my opinion, it's a shame that speaking of famous fretless players, nobody ever talks about John Giblin. Does somebody know whether he played flats or rounds?

Edited Monday at 18:07 by ghostwheel
grammar

[Stub Mandrel]

8 minutes ago, ghostwheel said:

Each to their own?

 

P.S.: in my opinion, it's a shame that speaking of famous fretless players, nobody ever talks about John Giblin. Does somebody knows whether he played flats or rounds?

 

I found this with google:

 

Quote

Most fretless players were using rounds (Jaco, Tony Franklin, Tony Levin, John Giblin, Gary Willis, Percy Jones etc.)

 

[ghostwheel]

24 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I found this with google:

That's what I found: https://web.archive.org/web/20060504210453/https://bashkov2.narod.ru/giblin.htm

I'm not quite sure whether it's authentic since there's hardly any other stuff on the Internet to compare with. I wonder if here's someone who knew him personally.

[tauzero]

I use rounds. That's just me though.

[ped]

Rounds only for me

[ghostwheel]

Rounds only on Precision, both on Stingray.

[Stub Mandrel]

I should say, I use rounds.

[itu]

Some players say Nickel RW is the set for the fretless. The response is more even than with the smiley stainless (which I use). 

[tauzero]

16 minutes ago, itu said:

Some players say Nickel RW is the set for the fretless. The response is more even than with the smiley stainless (which I use). 

 

Apparently less abrasive to the fingerboard too.

[wateroftyne]

Flats fer me.

[alittlebitrobot]

There's obviously no right answer, but Bakithi uses rounds, so I use rounds.

[Stub Mandrel]

I use rounds... because I've always used them since about 1987! Roto 66, or occasionally Elites.

[drTStingray]

I have Ernie Ball cobalt flatwounds on both of my fretlesses (4 and 5 string Stingrays) - I can’t afford the luthier costs of the repairs to the fretboard damage inflicted by roundwounds - however they do sound very good - but definitely not that much better than decent flatwounds…… 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 minute ago, drTStingray said:

I have Ernie Ball cobalt flatwounds on both of my fretlesses (4 and 5 string Stingrays) - I can’t afford the luthier costs of the repairs to the fretboard damage inflicted by roundwounds - however they do sound very good - but definitely not that much better than decent flatwounds…… 

 

I've been using rounds on my fretless since 1987. OK I don't play it very often, but it still hasn't got significant wear.

[BigRedX]

Depends on the sound and feel you want. There is no right answer. Only the right answer for you.

[RonC]

Rounds for me.

I used to use DR Hi-Beams but lately I use DR Sunbeams(nickel plated) on my Fretless Wal.

On my Safran semi acoustic fretless I use La Bella Black nylon to come as close as possible to an upright sound.

 

[Bagman]

F.L.A.T.S.

[Linus27]

On 15/09/2025 at 18:52, ghostwheel said:

Each to their own?

 

P.S.: in my opinion, it's a shame that speaking of famous fretless players, nobody ever talks about John Giblin. Does somebody know whether he played flats or rounds?

 

John Giblin is probably my favourite fretless bassist and a huge influence on my playing, closely followed by Pino. Pino I feel has possibly a slightly better fretless voice but John Giblin has more melody which to me is more interesting. I also got to play a few of John's basses including this lovely fretless P-Bass. 

 

[Linus27]

On 15/09/2025 at 19:28, ghostwheel said:

That's what I found: https://web.archive.org/web/20060504210453/https://bashkov2.narod.ru/giblin.htm

I'm not quite sure whether it's authentic since there's hardly any other stuff on the Internet to compare with. I wonder if here's someone who knew him personally.

 

Thank you for sharing this, I've never seen that before. Its interesting that John mentions that he suffered quite a lot with dead spots of fretless basses. This is something I've suffered with a lot as well, especially on Stingray's. I've actually found setting up fretless basses way more temperamental than a fretted bass.

[Linus27]

For me, on my fretless Jazz basses, I use Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel rounds with the lightest gauge possible. They are the best sounding strings I have ever used on a fretless. On a P-Bass, then I use Labella Deep Talkin flats and again, the lightest gauge possible. I find flats give more of that mwah sound and more pronounced vibrato. The lighter the gauge as well, the more expressive and articulate I find the bass is.

[ghostwheel]

2 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

For me, on my fretless Jazz basses, I use Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel rounds with the lightest gauge possible. They are the best sounding strings I have ever used on a fretless. On a P-Bass, then I use Labella Deep Talkin flats and again, the lightest gauge possible. I find flats give more of that mwah sound and more pronounced vibrato. The lighter the gauge as well, the more expressive and articulate I find the bass is.

Apart from the specs of Pino's signature, it was one of your posts which made me strung one of my Rays (actually, both, until Chromes 40-95 have arrived) with 40-95 nickel plated rounds. It's what I call revelation. Now, I'm in love with thin rounds on fretless. Albeit, I must admit it wouldn't work in my first year with fretless. Of course, it'd be different by different people. As to me, I needed quite a lot of time with flats to understand (to some extent) how fretless works. I reckon it's gonna be a journey as long as life itself, but it's one of things which keeps me interested in playing the bass.

[Linus27]

4 minutes ago, ghostwheel said:

Apart from the specs of Pino's signature, it was one of your posts which made me strung one of my Rays (actually, both, until Chromes 40-95 have arrived) with 40-95 nickel plated rounds. It's what I call revelation. Now, I'm in love with thin rounds on fretless. Albeit, I must admit it wouldn't work in my first year with fretless. Of course, it'd be different by different people. As to me, I needed quite a lot of time with flats to understand (to some extent) how fretless works. I reckon it's gonna be a journey as long as life itself, but it's one of things which keeps me interested in playing the bass.

 

That's awesome, I'm super pleased one of my posts helped  I had the same revelation when I moved to the lightest gauge possible and the Nickel rounds are just so musical. Keep at it, fretless is much a wonderful thing.