Making a Fretless Bass questions.

[mcclano]

Hi. I wana make a fretless bass. But I have a few questions before I start.
Is it worth making (from a non fretless) myself or should i just buy one. I have a local guitar shop that will fix the fret board for around $100aus.
I like building stuff like that so thats my reason...
Anyway, I was wondering...

Can you do it to any old bass?
Should I use a passive or active setup?
Do you use differnt kinds of strings than round?
High action?
How do you get the most sustain?
Is there anything else i should know?

Thanks to any1 who can help me out.

[tone4days]

one benefit of using a bass that had frets, then ripping them out, filling the slots, and coating the fingerboard is that the lines left in will help you with intonation ...

roundwound strings will growl more, but chew up the fingerboard over time (requiring recoating every few years) ... flatwound strings are MUCH easier on the fingerboard, but will have a rounder, warmer sound, more like an upright bass ...

you could use active or passive pups ... they each have their own tone, so go with what your ears tell you ... there have been lots of amazing performances / recordings with either type

i would think that a slightly medium to low action would be best for intonation reasons, but a slightly higher action would be better for tone - you could work out your intonation oncvyou get it in hand

good luck
t4d

edit: to fix what golden boy found - thanks GB

[The Golden Boy]

roundwound strings are MUCH easier on the fingerboard, but will have a rounder, warmer sound, more like an upright bass ...

You mean flatwound...


If you're not familiar with a fretless, I wouldn't. You can easily wreck your bass. Also, fretlesses are fun as anything to play around with, but as soon as you're playing with other people, you have to be right on- if you're just a little off, it sounds like crap. I'd recommend getting a cheap fretless or borrowing one from someone and actually playing with people before you do something you might regret. You can always sell the cheap fretless and make some of that money back- if you "make" a fretless, you'll get MUCH less money in return.

[Byakhee00]

if you're new to the fretless idea, and don't really have much of an idea on how to play one I STRONGLY suggest a lined fretless. Also, if you have a really hard fretboard - ebony is the only one i've seen this really done - you can get away with playing roundwounds for a lot longer than you would on a fretless with rosewood or maple fingerboards. Lastly, there are a lot of cats who really dig the sound of actives with a fretless. passives can sound a bit lackluster in my opinion.

[Great_Kazoo]

I agree with what tone4days said about filling in the slots--definitely helps
to have some kind of markers to guide you, especially if you're new to
playing fretless. I don't think I've ever seen a bass that has been converted
to fretless by removing the frets and filling in the slots that DIDN'T look like
a hack job--maybe i'm looking in the wrong places. Hope you aren't
considering tearing up a real nice bass to do this--maybe you might want to
just consider buying a fretless neck to retrofit on the bass body?

Also, depending on what kind of sound you're after (and especially if you
want a brighter sound than you'll get using flatwound strings) you might
want to use "half-round" strings. If you're not familiar with them, these are
strings that are wound like roundwounds (i.e. wire with a cylindrical cross-
section is wrapped around the core), but the outside surface is ground and
polished so that the surface is very smooth to your fingers and your
fingerboard. I used D' Addario half-round strings when I had a fretless, and
preferred the sound and feel in comparison to the less responsive and
"thudding" sound that the ribbon-wound flatwound strings had.

+1 to what Golden Boy said. You'll probably find it MUCH easier to be
accurate on your finger positioning if you adjust your strap high so that the
wrist of your fretting hand doesn't have to bend a lot. Plus, work on your
vibrato, as you'll find it useful for working your way into/out of the pitches
that you're trying to play on the fingerboard, especially when playing with
others.

[mcclano]

Cheers.
I wasnt gona do this to an expensive bass. I was thinking of getting another J&D luthiers or somthing similar and doing it to that and maybe stripping back the laquer and painting it. I am familiar with fret less instruments but id much rather have the fret marks. Im guessing it would be the same as using a slide then.

Sounds good. ill just have to sus out wat bass ill do it to now!

Thanks.

[The Golden Boy]

I used D' Addario half-round strings when I had a fretless, and
preferred the sound and feel in comparison to the less responsive and
"thudding" sound that the ribbon-wound flatwound strings had.

I have no personal experience, but I've heard the most amazing things about the T.I. Flatwound strings. People at Talk Bass, The Dudepit, and the Fender Forum rave about them.