jps wrote:This is why most prefer unlined fingerboards for a fretless instrument. Lines are sometimes a useful guide but in the end, when playing a fretless instrument, listening for the correct pitch is the most important tool. Upright basses, and the great majority of fretless acoustic instruments, have a pretty rudimentary bridge for making intonation adjustments; people just learn where to place their fingers through listening and practice with their instruments. That is what I meant by using your ears.Don't depend of the visual guide of those lines on the fingerboard; they just get you close to where you want to be. Even with the lines you will need to adjust your position due to those soft, mushy, pliable things on the end of your "fretting" hand.
Ah, I see! Thank you for clarifying!
I can agree to that, insofar that I don't plan to spend all of my bass playing life with my eyes locked on the fretboard. So, fretlines or not, I'll have to get the ear for it at some point, or at least muscle memory in my fretting hand.
antipodean wrote:I've been mulling this over and I'm very confused - it looks like the bass is perfectly in tune at the octave position, and is by all accounts in tune with the open string, but is sharp in between (hence the need to finger the notes well behind the lines). Given the size of the error up the neck, I would expect the open string to be quite sharp...
I suspect a string or nut issue.... how high is the string sitting in the nut? If it is a little high (or worse), fingered notes near the nut will pull sharp, with the error reducing as you play towards the bridge. Could this be the issue?
I see what you mean. Mind, I tried my best to get good pictures, but I think the positions might look a bit inconsistent from picture to picture due to angle, or because I "waggled" my finger slightly to correct a few cents this or that way. My generally impression was that the relative position for the correct pitch of each note lied roughly on the tail-wards edge of the triangular inlays, octave fret included. Here's a new picture of the latter:
But there might indeed be a discrepancy, as you say. Whether it's caused by the nut, though, I can't tell. I've taken a look at it, and everything seems normals. The E string sits in its notch quite snuggly, roughly up to half it's diameter. Right at the exit onto the fretboard, the action is about 2 mm. Here are some pictures, maybe it'll help us figure out if there's something off.
In the meantime, thank you all very much for all the help so far! I just hope we're not chasing after a mistake that doesn't exist.
Maybe the frets were simply badly placed. If that's the case, it would explain why one of the previous owner had them removed. Why they would have filled in the bad spots in such a visible manner afterwards, rather than try and hide them, though... hm.