NFABGD!

[Vince]

Those of you that are Friends of mine on FB will have probably seen this.

ANYWAY! New Fretless Acoustic Bass Guitar Day!



I've wanted this one for a few months and I've had a few tyrekicks but I've never had a proper reason to buy it. As a solo player, I find that the mwah thing gets old fast when you're playing on your own.

But anyway, yesterday we were having yum cha and I told my wife I wanted to stop off at the RS on the way home to have another tyrekick. And it turned out that she had no idea what a fretless sounds like so that was another good reason to go there. Anyway, I get there and the bass is not in the usual rack so I kind of gulp thinking it's finally been sold. But no, it's been moved to a single stand and is actually on special. $424 down from $499. No case or bag.

So after dealing with a sales guy that must have kissed the blarney stone a few times, methinks, I finally bought a fretless.

Bit of a moment, really, because coming from punk, fretless basses were always something pretentious girly men played (and yes, I've heard of Jaco) so buying one was a moment of real maturity for me.

And playing it is a very odd sensation. It's a bit like learning to drive manual after a lifetime of automatics. It feels easy to play, and then you fuck something up by a millimetre and the whole lick collapses. But I figure it will eventually improve my accuracy 1000% It's certainly an interesting sound. To paraphrase GK Chesterton, "It reminded one irrationally of drowsy odours and of dying lamps in the darker poems of Byron and Poe." It also makes me think of women's thighs, for some reason.

Looks like like strings will be a PITA to find. This comes with what look like phosphor bronze flats (of all things!) but the internet is full of people saying there's no such animal. Anyway, I'm really happy with it. Yesterday I cam home at about 3:00pm and was still playing by 9:00pm.

[Molly]

Very nice looking bit of kit.

While I've got your attention, thought you might appreciate this. It's a busker I filmed whilst in Perth a week or so ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKnrW1j3XeY

[Vince]

Thank you indeed! It's not often I see someone do something similar to what I do. Good to know I'm not alone. Wonder what he's called.

And yeah, it IS a nice looking bass. It has a sort of "hammered together from fruit crates" look to it, but that just adds cool.

[H671]

Nice looking Bass Vince.
Out of interest, in your experience how well do acoustic Basses stand up to the string tension?
A lot of older 12 string acoustics usually have seriously bowed tops.

[Vince]

Out of interest, in your experience how well do acoustic Basses stand up to the string tension?

Not really sure. All I can offer is the anecdotical evidence that I have owned some basses for quite a few years and they show no apparent changes. Mind you, I think the longest I've owned a bass for is about seven years, tops.

I know that in the 90s(?) Cort used to make a bass where the bridge was attached to the bottom of the guitar (not the belly), to create a stronger bridge, apparently. That speaks of a lot of tension, if they were worried about a bridge flying off. But I've never seen that since.

Oh, and Breedloves have this weird crank inside the bass so you can tense and untense the top but that's more of a tone thing, I think.

So yeah, moral of the story: I really don't know, but it doesn't seem to be a major issue.

[foal30]

Cool. I just had my electric fretless fixed and waiting to get the money to get it back. It's a fun thing to play.

this is my personal all time favourite fretless track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzlofSthVwc

Yes a Bush beauty.

I transcribed that for someone here but I can't find it on the site...
Anyone remember

[foal30]

Thank you indeed! It's not often I see someone do something similar to what I do. Good to know I'm not alone. Wonder what he's called.

And yeah, it IS a nice looking bass. It has a sort of "hammered together from fruit crates" look to it, but that just adds cool.

Nice on Vince.

Without knowing anything about what instrument you bought maybe be aware of what Roundwound strings potentially could do to a fretless neck.

[Vince]

Without knowing anything about what instrument you bought maybe be aware of what Roundwound strings potentially could do to a fretless neck.

This looks like it has flats (I've never used flats and these don't look like anything I've ever used, if you follow my logic).

They're goldenish, like PBs or bronzes, but I have no idea where to get PB Flats though. And because it's a cheapie bass, there's not a lot of info on it out there.

Anyhow, I'm thinking of either letting them age to oblivion or eventually swapping them for tape wounds.

[Single coil]

Why isn't it a good idea to use electric spec flats?

[StrummersOfThunder]

I think that's one of the better looking acoustic basses I've seen. I love playing fretless. Love that Graceland wmwwaahhhh !

[AiRdAd]

I agree - that looks great!

[Vince]

Why isn't it a good idea to use electric spec flats?

Dunno... I used to use electric bass strings on my first acoustic (fretted) and then one day I decided to try out phosphor bronzes and I was absolutely floored by the difference in tone. Never used electric strings again.

I'm assuming that the same tone thing would hold for flats. But I could be wrong, I suppose.

[foal30]

Yes you can use electric bass strings on an ABG. Check the scale length.

Generalising a bit here but Flats are well worth investigating. Lots of fundemental and density, less sustain, ring, attack. Wether this suits your solo thing Vince though....

D'Addario make coated PB ABG strings. Maybe that's what's on the new bass? If so they will certainly sound "less clacky" than possibly what you are used to.

[Vince]

Yes you can use electric bass strings on an ABG. Check the scale length.

Yes, you can. But, like wiping your butt with sandpaper, it's not a pleasant experience.

Generalising a bit here but Flats are well worth investigating. Lots of fundemental and density, less sustain, ring, attack. Wether this suits your solo thing Vince though....

I'm thinking of branching out and coming up with some specifically fretless stuff. Most of what I have is not translating well to fretless.

D'Addario make coated PB ABG strings. Maybe that's what's on the new bass? If so they will certainly sound "less clacky" than possibly what you are used to.

Not sure WHAT these things are. They look quite smooth, regardless of sound. You can still see the winding quite distinctly, but there's none of the "ridgey" look of roundwounds. I did the obvious thing (ha!) and rang the RS but they had no idea either. As far as coateds go, I love Elixirs but that's still going to be rough on the fingerboard. ANYHOO... they're bass strings. They'll still be sounding ok a decade from now so there's no rush.

[Single coil]

They'll still be sounding ok a decade from now so there's no rush.

Do you know the hot water trick for bass strings?