Non-Rickenbacker Fretless Basses Sub-Forum

[rickenbrother]

John, don't thank me, thank Peter!
That Benavente sounds very nice!

[Rickenhands]

Thanks for the kind words, Joey.

And thanks to you, Peter!!

[berth]

I had this one for a while:



It was a joy to play. It sounded very good unamplified. But I missed my neck pickup a lot. I do now know one of my 2 FL's will have an ebony board someday.

[FretlessOnly]

That Warwick is very nice, Bert. I love my Corvette Standard FL. Which model is that?

And yes indeed, ebony is a fine wood for FL fingerboards. It stands up to rounds, and is very bright. Personally, I prefer a thicker mid tone. I've been researching the woods offered on Warmoth to create my ideal fingerboard.

[cassius987]

And yes indeed, ebony is a fine wood for FL fingerboards. It stands up to rounds, and is very bright. Personally, I prefer a thicker mid tone. I've been researching the woods offered on Warmoth to create my ideal fingerboard.

I think pau ferro, or unvarnished bubinga, would be great.

[jps]

John, you should come over and try the Zon and check out the Martin Keith, too.

[FretlessOnly]

Well, I'm not exactly in the market right now; I've just been researching the different woods and possible tonal pairings for neck and fingerboard.

[jps]

Check out Ziracote for a fingerboard wood.

[FretlessOnly]

You may scoff, but from the looks of it, my Wishbass has a ziricote fingerboard. Tough as nails and looks fantastic (I have rounds on it and no issues). The bass is constructed roughly and the side dots are off, but it's also fitted with an aftermarket tone selector. I can get sounds from this bass that I cannot from any other I've ever played. Insanely growling mids and nice wide string spacing. Couple that with a neck like my upright and it's really a fun bass to play.

Yes, I saw that demo video, and that was perhaps the most embarrasing display of [insert denegrating epithet here] ever done. But I wouldn't part with my WIshbass easily. Just another bullet in the gun.

The woods I'm most intrigued by so far are:

wenge
purpleheart
ziricote
pau ferro

I would treat all with tung oil/wax. My favorite feel.

[rickenbrother]

I've never had or even tried a Wishbass, but from what I've read and heard from others, people either absolutely love them or they think they are the worst product ever made in the world.

[FretlessOnly]

One of the most common gripes I hear about them is the lack of a truss rod. "I would never buy a bass without a truss rod," and things such as that. Gee, how many double basses are there in the world, many of which have survived for well over 300 years and not a single truss rod to be found anywhere?

Granted the neck profile is quite large, but being an upright player, it feels small and comfortable to me.

The other issue is the lack of finishing. A rough-cut body with a swath of varnish is it. So, I got out my tung oil and steel wool, got the finish off and now have a nice, rich oil/wax finish which I generally find to be quite nice. It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be. A few shots:

Cool headstock

Possibly a ziricote fingerboard?

[jps]

Possibly a ziricote fingerboard?

That doesn't look like Ziricote, to me anyway. Here is an example of Ziricote:

[FretlessOnly]

That's nice! When you first mentioned ziricote, I was trying to remember what I'd seen a couple of days ago on Warmoth's site, but, clearly, I was off by more than a little bit.

[berth]

That Warwick is very nice, Bert. I love my Corvette Standard FL. Which model is that?

And yes indeed, ebony is a fine wood for FL fingerboards. It stands up to rounds, and is very bright. Personally, I prefer a thicker mid tone. I've been researching the woods offered on Warmoth to create my ideal fingerboard.

It is a Warwick Streamer Stage I . I'm not sure if it was originally fretless as the nonfret-board was replaced. Very good job in my opinion. I'm thinking about having my 4003 MID/BT/BH/FL converted to an ebony board by the same shop. Ebony would look good with the black hardware I think.

[wints]

1980 Pre EB MM Stingray FL, with very rare ebony board.



Magnifico!