Recommendations for fretless strings? I'm a fretless virgin!

[Sarah5string]

I've now got a Ibanez GSR200 which is about to be defretted by my luthier but I need to decide on strings. Apparently my options are flatwound, tapewound or half round... but I am totally clueless with fretless strings as this'll be my first! Any assistance would be appreciated

[Protium]

FWIW the elites flatwound strings I once used were horrid.

[bigthumb]

If you are used to 'normal' strings give half wounds a whirl. They'll be brighter than flats and feel more like rounds. I would try the three options you mentioned and see whats more comfortable and suits the sound you want to hear. I've got loads of used half's and flats knocking about if you want them. Never used tape wound strings though.

[pete.young]

Depends what sound you're after. If you want that Jaco zing you need to go with roundwounds and prepare to accept a bit of wear to the fingerboard - rosewood, yes? Flats will be kinder but sound, er, flatter. The feel is different too. Half-rounds somewhere in the middle. Depends on the price - if it's all the same, half-rounds might be a good choice. Not much help that, sorry.

I have EB flats on my fretless partly to minimise further wear on the ebony board, and they sound zingy enough for my purposes.

[RhysP]

I'd also consider giving nickel roundwounds a go if I were you - roundwound sound but kinder to your fingerboard than steels.
If you want that classic fretless "mwah" sound you need to use roundwounds.

[Sarah5string]

Is it rosewood yea. I didn't think about wear and tear on the fretboard actually so I'm glad you mentioned that!

[Marvin]

[quote]Recommendations for fretless strings?[/quote]

Can you get fretted strings then?


Sorry can't help myself sometimes FWIW when I had a fretless (well de-fretted) I was fairly ignorant as to string choice and I think I used bog standard Roto's and they were fine. Although as well as fretless, it was headless and the person playing it was clueless.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Marvin

[fatback]

Elixir coated don't seem to wear the fretboard much, but give a good roundwound mwah.

They last a long long time and aren't dear if you buy them on ebay.

[mep]

[quote name='RhysP' post='875909' date='Jun 23 2010, 10:18 PM']I'd also consider giving nickel roundwounds a go if I were you - roundwound sound but kinder to your fingerboard than steels.
If you want that classic fretless "mwah" sound you need to use roundwounds.[/quote]
I've got Nickel roundwounds on my Aria Pro 2 SB600 and they feel & sound great. The Rotosound RB45's are pretty cheap, so even if you decide they are not to your liking you haven't lost out too much.

[OutToPlayJazz]

I have Elixir rounds on my fretless. Jaco city on the back pickup!

[Gwilym]

i'd be surprised if even rosewood fingerboards will wear that much even with round wounds on. i think that potential problem is a little over stated? never noticed a problem with mine anyway.

[redstriper]

It depends what sound and feel you want.
Rounds are necessary for the Jaco sound, flats are warmer with less zing and mwaah.
I find flats more forgiving than rounds and also softer on the fingers, plus I gave up trying to play/sound like Jaco years ago.
My favourites are TI jazz flats - easy to play with more mwaah than many other flats.

My friend plays like Jaco and uses rounds which sound great when he plays, but awful when I try.
My ability would have to improve dramatically before I'd put rounds on my fretless.

Edit to say I agree with Gwilym - my mate's been using rounds on his RW jazz board since the 80s and there's no sign of wear, but I'm not sure about phenolic or plastic boards.

Edited June 23, 2010 by redstriper

[Jerry_B]

[quote name='Gwilym' post='875945' date='Jun 23 2010, 10:40 PM']i'd be surprised if even rosewood fingerboards will wear that much even with round wounds on. i think that potential problem is a little over stated? never noticed a problem with mine anyway.[/quote]

It can happen, but it depends on what you play and how you play. And how careful you are. The fretless I rescued last year had bad striping on the board from round wound wear, which was a bit of a pain to get rid of.

As for strings, I'd recommend Rotosound SM77s. If you opt for half-rounds, don't try Labellas as they're pretty awful - IMHO, of course

[ahpook]

i use pyramid gold flatwounds on my fretless...

not cheap, but a great sound and feel.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='redstriper' post='875952' date='Jun 23 2010, 10:43 PM']My favourites are TI jazz flats - easy to play with more mwaah than many other flats.[/quote]
+1

[velvetkevorkian]

I like Elixirs on mine- same as my fretted basses.

[xgsjx]

I've got TI Jazz flats on my fretted ibby & love them, I haven't used any other flats tho & it was no hassle going from rounds to flats (infact, it was a joy).

[Doddy]

I always use Roundwounds on my fretless-I've got D'addario EXP's on at the minute. Flats are kinder on the
fingerboard,but they don't get that classic 'mwah' like rounds do.
You will get more wear on the 'board with roundwounds,so it might be worth getting your repair guy to coat
the fingerboard with epoxy or something while he's at it.

[steviedee]

+1 for the TI jazz flats

[voxpop]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='876002' date='Jun 23 2010, 11:15 PM']+1[/quote]


+1

Ti Flats are the best that I tried.

[ShergoldSnickers]

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='875880' date='Jun 23 2010, 09:47 PM']I've now got a Ibanez GSR200 which is about to be defretted by my luthier but I need to decide on strings. Apparently my options are flatwound, tapewound or half round... but I am totally clueless with fretless strings as this'll be my first! Any assistance would be appreciated [/quote]

It might be a question of trying a few sets before you can finally decide - expensive though! As a general bit of advice the Thomastik-Infeld (TI) Jazz flats are surprisingly peppy for a flat, and feel just right to me. The Elixir coated rounds are also well worth a look.

It may be worth a few coats of Danish Oil on the fingerboard to protect it. The oil dries to a hard sheen on the surface of the wood, and getting a few coats of this on will help prevent any wear from rounds. Ask the luthier first though - there may be better alternatives.

[BottomEndian]

I suspect ( :ph34r: ) that you're not after the "Jaco sound", so rounds might be too zingy for you.

I love the TI flats on my ACG, but I wasn't keen on them with my StingRay5 (both fretless). The SR5's now sporting a set of Status half-wounds, which sound absolutely superb. Nice mixture of thump and zing, and enough high mid to bring through the mmmwwwaaaaaaaaaahhhh. And they're relatively cheap too (especially compared to the TIs). Bonus!

Great as the TIs are, they're relatively low tension and [i]very[/i] flexible. Depending on what you're used to, they might feel like rubber bands under the right hand at first. At the other end of the tension and flexibility scale are the La Bella Deep Talkin' flats. Great feel, but perhaps a little too thumpy and lacking in mids for me.

A lot of it depends on the bass and the pickup placement. Given that the Ibanez is a P/J, you've got a fair old range of tones built in there. Experimentation is the key, and if you can find some sets on here that people are giving away (or virtually giving away), that'll cushion some of the unbearable expense of flats. Just for reference: a new 5-string set of TI flats is about £50. But then again, I'll only need a new set every 30 years.

[geoffbyrne]

The DR HiBeams on my ebony-fingerboarded fretless are about 2 years old now & sound great.

G.

[hubrad]

I only really play fretless; at that point you notice board wear more than if it's an occasional play. Even ebony will wear down eventually with rounds.
I sort of agree with all the above.. basically it's personal preference(!) I only liked rounds for a long time, but prob my favourite is halfround - very much a hybrid both in tone and feel, between flat and round.
I now have 3 fretlesses, one with rounds, one halfround and one now with black nylon tapewound. If you're heading up to Bradford area at any time you're welcome to compare and contrast!

[BigRedX]

As others have said it's down completely to what sound you want and how the bass responds to the strings that will determine what you eventually choose.

Firstly don't compromise your tone for the sake of a little less fingerboard wear. If nothing but steel round wounds do it for you then that's what you need, and you'll just have to budget for a fingerboard reshoot at some point.

Personally I think that the abrasive qualities of strings on a fretless bass tend to be overstated. My first fretless was a cheapy Wesley with a pretty average rosewood fingerboard. I tried all sorts of strings to get the right tone for me playing this bass and ended up with Rotosound steel roundwounds. After 18 months of fairly heavy playing the wear to even this fingerboard was negligible.

The fretless basses I currently use are variously strung with LaBella Hard Rocking Stells, Overwater Nickels, Pedulla Nickels and TI Jazz Flats. Each has been chosen to get me the sound I want out of each bass.

Have fun with the experimentation.