Forumite Rickenbacker Fretless Bass Guitar Count

[byu]

Well as usual, I'm a little late to this party.
Here's my '81 4001S/FL which has been posted all over the forum. It's only 1 of 2 S Fretlesses I'm aware of, the other being a 4003S belonging to Jeff Thomas.



Here's some audio of it. This is a track from a band I'm currently with called the Michael Riser Band. The bass has been pushed way up in the mix for this post. It's not the tone I would have dialed in but it's what the producer & writer wanted. I was going straight into a compressor & then the board. It gets a little more personality as the song moves along and I've got some nice glissandi in there.
02-Confidence (Bass).mp3 (7MB).

And here's the bass in 1987 doing La Villa Strangiato by Rush. Not really a big Rush fan but it was for my friend's college jury. I've souped-up the bass line a bit and listen for the sliding harmonic at 6:05. The recording and video are pretty poor and the description below explains.

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Here's the description from YouTube:
"This video clip is an oldie that we cracked out of the vault... I performed this Rush classic in 1987 with 2 friends of mine, Bill Henshell-Bass & Rob Reddrick-Drums, while Rob and I were working on our music degrees from Columbia College in Chicago. We tried to capture the Live-Exit Stage Left version and only had 2 rehersals in before this was taped so you WILL here a few clams (mostly from me on guitar)... Bill played a Rickenbacker 4001S Fretless for this an you can really hear the effect of a fretless on this track-listen for the sliding harmonic at 06:05 minutes into it. This was recorded on first generation camera 1978 vintage so the video and audio is not the best- but you can hear what's going on. We revised the song a bit and added a few twists (very subtle). I hope you like our rendition. Recorded: March 30, 1987."

Cheers,
Bill

[cassius987]

I also recently learned that Juan Alderete uses fretless on several Mars Volta recordings--who'd guess that on a first listen?

The first time I ever heard "The Widow" by The Mars Volta, the bass guitar sounded like a fretless to me.

Ha! Well you're better at this stuff than I am, I guess. Actually, I don't 100% recall "The Widow"'s bass line, but I never remember going, "Aha, fretless!"

[pringlw]

I'm also late so I guess I should jump in.

My 1980 4001FL. It was my main bass for 10+ years. I picked it up in 1982 and played it with rounds in a hard rock band until the early/mid 90s - at which point it needed a tune up to the electronics and rather than do that, I let it become a case queen for about 10 years. I really got active with it again about two years ago. I had the fingerboard refinished, put a toaster in the neck, put the pickup cover back in place and put Pyramid rounds on it. I also had to replace the Ric-O-Sound jack assembly with a factory original as it was worn out. The point is, this bass looks great but its seen lots of life. Now that the electronics have received a tune-up, it's as good as new, and it pretty much still looks new (incredibly). I now have a 4003 fretted to satisfy my Rotosound Rickenbacker urges. Now after 30 years this bass finally gets to be played the way it was built to be played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HHr3Ub8Jm4

[pringlw]

Images without the toaster or the pickup cover. And my two babies together. That little white splotch on the lower edge of the headstock is only a reflection. It's not a blemish.

[pringlw]

Yup. Fretless goes with just about anything actually. The "fretless sound" people think of is just one of many of the noises you can make with them. Sometimes people use fretless in music just because it can be made to sound like the absolute best set-up fretted bass, rather than trying to make it sound obviously different by doing lots of slides and vibratos.

What causes me to prefer fretless in the end is the purity of the tone and the freedom I feel when I'm playing it compared to fretted. I have used my fretless in jazz and fusion groups of course, but also I have done country gigs with it, as well as some rock stuff a la Tony Franklin. Also, its got tons of fundamental but a well-defined upper register (sound familiar?), so it does really well in a funk setting. I also recently learned that Juan Alderete uses fretless on several Mars Volta recordings--who'd guess that on a first listen?

I'm with you. I'm not attracted to a fretless because of the "mwah" Jaco sound. In fact, I don't really go for it at all. I go for a fretless because of how it feels. I can keep the string action impossibly low, and as you say I have complete freedom. I find with the kind of action that a fretless provides I can play faster than on any other kind of bass. Bottom line, I just like how they feel.

[rickenbrother]

Well, if you do want lots of mwah from a Rick FL, just install a set of D'Addario Chromes. Just as much mwah, if not more than any other fretless bass.

[jps]

Well, if you do want lots of mwah from a Rick FL, just install a set of D'Addario Chromes. Just as much mwah, if not more than any other fretless bass.

Sorry, Joey, nothing can beat a Rick Turner Renaissance Bass for mwah. Seriously.

Stop by my house while Jdog is visiting and find out.

[FretlessOnly]

Hey Joey, are D'Addario Chromes flatwound?

[cjj]

I'm not Joey, but yeah, D'A Chromes are stainless flats. I put a set on my '76 4001, first flats I've used in forever (I'm a die hard Rotosound guy), and I'm liking them a whole lot...

[jps]

I just put Chromes on my 360V64 tonight. Great feel and The Sound!

You can go back to your regularly scheduled fat string discussion, now.

I have my SpecialSauce® Chromes on my Yamaha BX-1 and 4001V63.

[rickenbrother]

You can go back to your regularly scheduled fat string discussion, now.

That would be a regularly scheduled fat string on fretless basses discussion!

[cassius987]

Well, if you do want lots of mwah from a Rick FL, just install a set of D'Addario Chromes. Just as much mwah, if not more than any other fretless bass.

Well, they are fantastic strings for sure! They're what I use and I love them. But it's my contention that mwah is 99% technique based. If you have a fretless bass and some good strings, you can make it mwah...

[FretlessOnly]

Mwah is more like 60-70% technique for me. Having played upright since '92, I've learned how to exploit the wood to get woody growl and mwah. But slap a set of dead or poor flats on any FL and all the technique in the world will not replace wood. But I'm going to have to check out some D'Addario Chromes. Any scale advice for the 4003FL? I know some strings are 34" and it's clear, but others are medium scale standard scale, long scale, etc. Juststrings.com can help sometimes, but not always.

[rickenbrother]

John & Joshua, you're right about technique being a big part of getting the mwah sound. Some gear actually kills the mwah sound. Setting eq improperly will also kill the mwah sound.

John: long scale strings are all I've ever used on any 4003 or 4003FL.

This is the set I have on my 4001FL: D'Addario Chromes ECB80 Long Scale Set. It's the same set I would install on my 4003FL.

[FretlessOnly]

Thanks Joey. To add my $0.02, low mid is where the mwah is at. I use a G-K head, and one of its claims to fame is a mid scooping feature: contour. Gives very full bass and treble clarity, but cuts all mids and does kill the mwah. I have used the contour feature in some applications, but generally I kill the contour and boost the low mids (and some high mids as well).