Going fretless again, what kind of flatwounds?

teb · Post by **teb** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:31 pm

Uuhhhhhhhh.......The tapewounds on my old Frankenstein Les Paul fretless bass are the same ones that were on it when I last stepped off of a stage... in 1976! And they sound just as good as they did back then. I guess they must not corrode much under the tape. My Pedulla buzz fretless has Fender tapewounds on it, which have a nice jazzy sound and feel like they've been greased. They also don't wear down that hard finish on the fretboard. Half-rounds were also pretty nice on it and that's what I use on my Ric for something with a bit more clank.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:51 am

I have a set of Black Diamond nylon covered flats that just recently I washed down really good and they still sound like new. Oh, they are the set of strings I used back in 1971 - been on a bass since.

ginger_lee · Post by **ginger_lee** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:09 am

i personally always use rounds ,but to me they only start sounding good after 6 months on the bass..the ones on there now that are on all my mp3s and vids i bought and put on the spring of 2004..

brianb · Post by **brianb** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:48 pm

Ginger that's how I feel. The best sound I get from my "73 fretless is with some worn (cheap) nickle rounds.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:54 pm

Do you people who use RW's on your fretlesses have something on the neck so it doesn't get eaten up? I ruined a 4001FL neck finish with Rots years ago, had to redo the finish on the neck, sounded great for one night though but I started getting a lot of buzzes, the bass never sounded the same either after the re-finish. I did a Jaco on it, put two part epoxy clear (not boat epoxy like he did though).

Yeah I love the Pyramids and they do last forever, I've had some on for three and four years now with no real change in sound or playability, seems since they got frowned on in certain quarters people have abandoned them in droves, several years ago they were all the rage here.

wints · Post by **wints** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:50 am

Rounds will chew that rosewood board...

Now, if we could get a nice hard ebony board there...

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:25 am

with abalone inlays!

Hey, I'm crass...

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:40 am

...and solid gold fret lines?

ginger_lee · Post by **ginger_lee** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:04 am

ohhh sorry my 4002 is ebony..rosewood you'd have to pull the jaco on..petits poly poxy for marine use is what he used

byu · Post by **byu** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:10 pm

I put Petits on my '81 4001S/FL around 1990 and it's still smooth as glass. It's been gigged a lot but shows no sign of wear. The stuff is that tuff. I don't know if they make it anymore but I recommend it to anybody that doesn't want their fingerboard chewed up with rounds.

teb · Post by **teb** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:31 pm

They still make some, but Petit is pretty much a paint company and a very minor player when it comes to boat resins (they only have one variety). You're likely to get a better product if you want to epoxy coat a fingerboard these days with epoxy resins from System3 or Gougeon Brothers (WEST Epoxy). Application is fairly simple and with hand sanding and polishing you can get a super-fair and smooth finish that's very hard and pretty easy to renew as long as you don't let it go so long that you wear holes in it and rub dirt into it.