Let´s talk fretless Bass

To add to the advice above for the fretless sound: Use the bridge pickup only and pick near the bridge. Many fretless basses only have a bridge pickup anyways.
Picking near the bridge can prevent some fret noise (strings don't vibrate as much) and gives a less bass-heavy sound.
But of course, nothing will work out as well as as a real fretless.

FWIW, I've been on a quest to find a nice 5-string fretless bass for months (with no fretlines and a black or at least dark finish). That wasn't easy, especially since some stuff I was interested in turned out not to be available or completely discontinued.

So I finally decided to order a custom Sandberg, it should arrive at the end of October.

To tide me over until then and being able to practice fretless bass playing I also ordered this one:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbb500fltbk_5string_fretless_ebass.htm

It arrived last Saturday and turned out to actually be decent for the price. Playability is ok, fretboard is straight, electronics are working. Sound is not bad either... the pickups are pretty weak but I can compensate easily with gain on my amp (still only at 4 with that one).
So for starting out on fretless, this is a nice one. Doesn't hold a candle to a nice Warwick or Sandberg fretless, though!
 
a buddy of mine defrets all of his basses. it is really easy. there is a pair of pliers that is perfect for ripping out the frets. then you put small veneers in the cracks, and fill the rest in with apoxy. then just sand down your neck. His are flawless, and sound amazing! he has done it to 3 of his basses now, he just buys a cheaper bass and defrets it.
 
I love my SX 5 string fretless J bass. Grabbed it for $150, changed the strings and the bridge, and now it's a beast. The action is relatively low, and I have it tuned tenor (standard E with a high C). I'm eventually going to either

a) change the pickups
b) get a 6 string fretless

but for the time being, it rules. can easily get that DiGiorgio sound from any of the albums hes used a fretless on.
 
seriously. even the more expensive fretlesses are better than defretted basses, as most fretless basses are already using ebony for the fingerboard wood. a lot of fretted basses don't, and thus require epoxy or similar to protect the board. unprotected ebony will hold up better than any other fingerboard wood that's protected.
 
Fifth_Horseman said:
To tide me over until then and being able to practice fretless bass playing I also ordered this one:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbb500fltbk_5string_fretless_ebass.htm

It arrived last Saturday and turned out to actually be decent for the price. Playability is ok, fretboard is straight, electronics are working. Sound is not bad either... the pickups are pretty weak but I can compensate easily with gain on my amp (still only at 4 with that one).
So for starting out on fretless, this is a nice one. Doesn't hold a candle to a nice Warwick or Sandberg fretless, though!
Click to expand...

Wow, I am dazzled. This is my current bass: http://www.strinberg.com/products/electric_basses/clb25.php

does it seem familiar to you?
 
I'm bumping for someone to see the link I put and compare it to the bass fifth horsemen posted.

And nicholas (or anybody but nicholas is the one who brought it up), could you please explain the need for an ebony fingerboard on a fretless? is it for tone, or wearing down of the fingerboard or something like that?
 
ebony has a slightly thicker tone than most other fingerboard woods iirc, as well as being a very hard wood so unprotected ebony will stand up to roundwounds a lot better than, say, unprotected rosewood.
 
rosewood is the exact example I was looking for, because the harley benton fifth horsemen posted has a rosewood fingerboard, and the fact of that Harley benton is that is an EXACT (I mean 100%) copy of my Strinberg Clb-25 (or the other way around, that's not the point), except for the fretless thing. It even has that "active bass control" thingy that comes with the strinbergs. My fretted strinberg clb-25 is rosewood and so is this fretless harley benton (exactly like mine).

Personally I've seen big brand clones a million times like we all have, but I've never seen such an exact spec-by-spec copy, is this normal and I was living in a cave? and which is the copy of which? I had never heard of the brand harley benton before
 
Actually, rosewood has a thicker tone than ebony, by virtue of ebony being harder and thus brighter/snappier - don't sweat it too much though! Also, however, rosewood is almost never protected/treated in any way when it's on a fretboard either (maple, on the other hand, is, so easy with the steel-wool come clean-up time :loco: )
 
imo digiorgio's defining bass tone was the one he had on Individual Thought Patterns.

Death - The Philosopher ("Individual Thought Patterns")


but I absolutely adore this version too:

Death - The Philosopher (Live - Italy, 1993)



the bass tone on the iced earth album, I really didn't like - but it's more characteristic of his tones recently. thinner, clankier tones - they cut through, but sound too thin and nasally at the same time imo
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NicholasDWolfwood said:
imo digiorgio's defining bass tone was the one he had on Individual Thought Patterns.
Click to expand...

I agree, I think it's even the tone that defines the best fretless bass tone in metal (in its context, if that makes any sense).

However, this tone would sound too thin and too weird in modern metal IMO, it'd need to be beefed up a lot.
 
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