Gigging With A Fretless Bass

[rickenbrother]

John, it looks like a large venue. Where exactly was that gig?

[Rickenhands]

John, it looks like a large venue. Where exactly was that gig?

Hi Joey,

That show was in Louisville, KY. It was WFPK's waterfront festival. I love outdoor venues. This stage was setup in downtown Louisville right next to the Ohio River. It was a great show. Mark Olsen from the Jayhawks also played with us. Good crowd too--topped out at 5,000 people. Lots of fun.

Peace and thanks for all your hard work on this forum.

[rickenbrother]

John, thanks for you very kind comment, it means alot!

[ricaddic]

I have never gigged with a fretless, never owned one in my gigging years, but have used mine for recording, my daughters bought me a fretless jass bass back in 2000, hey Joey I dont mean this in a vengful way, im mean this in humor and humor only, so please dont take this to heart, I chuckle at your caption about fretless basses with lines being like adults useing training wheels and still not being able to ride the bike, well the one my daughters bought me has the lines you are speaking about. but was just laughing and think this is true but the same applies to playing fretlesses with dots as well.a guitar shop around me has a fretless precision from back in the 70's with a maple neck its an american made, its black and the spitin imageof the one that Stanley Sheldon used playing for Peter Frampton on the tour that they recoded Frampton comes alive, no lines or dots, a real fretless bass, im close to pulling the trigger on it.

[FretlessOnly]

In a sense, side dots do perform a function similar to fretlines, but here's the major difference:

It's near impossible to get the intonation of each string on a fretless perfect up and down the neck, let alone imperfect in perfect relation to one another, so fretlines impart this sense of "string equality" and may tend to have players of said entity rely on the lines as the right spot en absolutia (my emphasis).

The only right spot lies in the ear (as some others seem to be trying to explain to me even after I've been playing double bass for nearly 20 years). Side dots give one a place to dig in your crampon, but like any wise climber, you'll test the spot before trusting it.

Case in point: I just got back from a gig where the stage lighting was such that my side dots were useless. I closed my eyes for most of the gig.

As for the 70s Precision FL, I have a '76 Walnut FL with a maple neck/fingerboard and it has dots, so the lack thereof must have been a special order.

[cassius987]

(as some others seem to be trying to explain to me even after I've been playing double bass for nearly 20 years)

I don't think anyone questions your expertise.

[rickenbrother]

hey Joey I dont mean this in a vengful way, im mean this in humor and humor only, so please dont take this to heart, I chuckle at your caption about fretless basses with lines being like adults useing training wheels and still not being able to ride the bike, well the one my daughters bought me has the lines you are speaking about. but was just laughing and think this is true but the same applies to playing fretlesses with dots as well.

Ange, I've heard you play your basses. You are a very talented bassist. You would be one of the people that fit this statement that I made in the Lined Fretless Bass Guitars thread:

For an experienced fretless player who has learned to play well, it wouldn't matter if there where no lines or if the bass had lines, dots or guides that said "Place finger here".

Side fingerboard dots are not there for pinpoint accuracy, only approximate reference and the dots on the face of the fingerboard of a Rick FL seem to be there just to make it look less plain in my opinion.

[ricaddic]

I know Joey, thats why I made sure to let you know my post was all in fun, the reality is I agree with your caption whole heartedly, its was taken with good measure, hey I bought a 2010 Mapleglo at Pick of the Ricks on Friday when I went to pick up my V63, I really love the new 2 piece neck, best action on the bass right out of the box I have ever encountered on a Ric to date, still needs to be lowered just a tad for my likeing but this will be the first since I bought my 06 midblu that im not going to have the nut shaved down to get an acceptable action to my likeing, life is good. "HAPPY RICKEN"

[rickenbrother]

Ange, congrats on your new 4003!

[walker]

Actually, I use my fretless for most of my gigs. I use flats on it, and I think the warm tone the bass gets is preferred by my "clients" over the Chris Squire twang that I like to get out of all my fretted's. Wish I had some footage or even a photo of me gigging with the fretless, but I lost a lot of photos when my hard drive died a few months ago. ("PRINT those suckers!" right?)

In the meanwho, here's the bass itself - a '76 4001FL that actually started life as a fretted bass:



And I'll have you know, I still wear my training wheels... not because I need them to stay on the road, but because they just look cool.

[FretlessOnly]

Mark, good to see you 'round these parts. That bass looks really sweet, with the PG giving it a nice '60 4000-thing going on.

[walker]

Thanks, John. Never thought about the '58-'60 era PG connection, but now that you mention it, I do see a resemblance!

I found a few gig pics from the Myspace site of Jody Aaron, whose band I played with occasionally a few years ago:

At the New Jersey Folk Festival in 2007:



The Knitting Factory the same year:

[cassius987]

The Knitting Factory! Awesome!

That's a hip-looking bass, Mark.

[cjj]

Yes, nice looking bass! I really like the triangle inlays, and wish the fretless basses had 'em. Cool pickguard too!

[jps]

How well are the inlays holding up to the strings?