Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

That upper photo is like some strange modern art painting!

One of the guys at the "Bass Pit" on FB, posted a similar Picaso painting.

59jazz wrote:One of the guys at the "Bass Pit" on FB, posted a similar Picaso painting.

Link?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/249761161818876/
scroll down to Stephen M. Thompson post.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 867&type=1

Try my May 24th post.

59jazz wrote:Thanks for the input Gents. I am leaning towards NOT coating the fb with a clear coat.....I do favor the sound of wood. Not sure if I'll position the FB dots right on the note or in between where the frets would be. As for the side dots, 3rd, 5th and 12th fret positions is all I need.

The problem with fretted neck side dots is that they are in the middle on the frets not on the frets and do not correspond with the notes as the older Rick fretless neck side dots do, they are worse than useless for a fretless bass. I got rid of a newer 4003FL that i had ordered because of that problem. I also never look at the dots on the front of the neck they are only decoration for me.

Just close your eyes!

rictified wrote:

59jazz wrote:Thanks for the input Gents. I am leaning towards NOT coating the fb with a clear coat.....I do favor the sound of wood. Not sure if I'll position the FB dots right on the note or in between where the frets would be. As for the side dots, 3rd, 5th and 12th fret positions is all I need.

The problem with fretted neck side dots is that they are in the middle on the frets not on the frets and do not correspond with the notes as the older Rick fretless neck side dots do, they are worse than useless for a fretless bass. I got rid of a newer 4003FL that i had ordered because of that problem. I also never look at the dots on the front of the neck they are only decoration for me.

My dots will be positioned where the fret is placed, and will be using only 4 of them. When playing I don't have time to look at the dots

Having a few dots as reference points seems like a good idea. On the string bass, quite a few people I know put one mark on the side of the finger board, where the Ab harmonic is on the E string. The other notes fall into place around that. For me, having dots on the side for every fret could be confusing, whereas lines on the top, such as on Woody's de-fretted board wouldn't bother me as much because they would take the place of actual frets.

One bad habit i've never quite gotten over is i tend to be a front-of-the fretboard-watcher,even with fretted basses. ( i guess it's some kind of mental security blanket).
But I've also found that i tend to look only at the side dots on my defretted Cii for reference,and my fingers seem to find the correct pitch. The side lines of the maple strips are *barely* visible,as they are quite tiny. (I can't see squat without reading glasses on,anyways). But the amazing thing to me at least,is that i "fretboard-watch" much less on the fretless.....going more by feel and hearing.

My worst habit is that I just close my eyes!

Fretless basses were my sole instruments for many years but I've found, since buying some fretted basses again, that I need to watch the fingerboard much more closely when playing them. Hitting the note dead-on, on a fretless is fine, and that comes naturally to me, but if you play in exactly that position on a fretted bass, you play the fret, not behind it! All clang, no note....

Ash

Kiddwad57 wrote:Having a few dots as reference points seems like a good idea. On the string bass, quite a few people I know put one mark on the side of the finger board, where the Ab harmonic is on the E string. The other notes fall into place around that. For me, having dots on the side for every fret could be confusing, whereas lines on the top, such as on Woody's de-fretted board wouldn't bother me as much because they would take the place of actual frets.

Yes they can be confusing which is why I white out the extra dots on mine and just leave the 3rd 5th 7th etc like on a Fender P fretless which is what I learned on. I only occasionally look at the side dots but they are nice when you need them. On an upright I learned to use the body as marker points.

In some ways the string bass seems easier to find the notes on because there so many tactile references. On the fretless, especially a Ric, the neck is consistent all the way up; God knows where anything is!