Comments on: Fretless Bass Conundrum

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:18:43 +0000

I’ve pondered the same thing and have come to the conclusion that I must court infidelity i.e. buy another bass!
I love my 5 string Warwick fretless, and use Ken Smith Compression wound strings as a nearish roundwound that dosn’t damage the fretboard.
However, for that Marcus Millar slap sound, you have to have roundwounds…so I’m getting a cheap mistress - a fretted 5 string Yamaha that plays beautifully and is bullet proof…strictly for the odd fling!

Good Luck,

Eric

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:55:42 +0000

I have continued to use roundwounds on this bass with not much more than some cosmetic wear marks. The really good techs in my area say it’s pretty easy to “retrue” a fretless fingerboard.

By: Lou Hannoe

Lou Hannoe — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:21:01 +0000

I find myself in exactly the same boat. From what I understand so far, everything depends on what your fretboard is actually made of. My warwick is ebony, which the forums say is OK for roundwounds. I like stainless steel but we will see what warwick says in the next week or so when they return my email.

rosewood is supposedly too soft for roundwounds but maple is OK.

if you get a hard answer, let me know!

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 04 May 2007 18:52:57 +0000

Yeah, I like the singing sound. I have read some on getting the neck epoxied but I think that might be a little too crazy.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:36:27 +0000

Hi,

I also work in IT and start playing bass recently again, after many ayers.
Just got new toy for myself Squire Modified fettles. It has abonol neck, when I dropped new set of flatwound strings the singing sound was just gone. I am going to set roundwound strings again as it was originally installed.