Looking pictures of fretless ghost frets

[jetbass79]

I played the cello for 7 years with an unmarked fingerboard.  I find it comfortable to play with an unmarked fingerboard on a fretless electric bass.  I think if people want to have fretlines that's all cool to because this whole debate goes directly back to one of the arguments made in the early '50s when the electric bass came on the market: who is going to play this thing?  Turns out guitar players, bass players playing electric bass, and bass players who started life out on double bass all play fretless basses if they so choose.  Line, unlined, whatever...I find lines confusing and prefer the challenge of having to really listen and I think everyone should try playing with no frets and only side markers as clues.  It would make us all better players.  I do think learning to play with no lines is a great accomplishment, and yes Jaco did play basses later in his career that had no markers.  However, I'm not going to go to someone's show who is playing a fretless bass and go What a loser, he's playing with lines.  However, in my head I think I should be able to give that person some light-hearted crap about it in principle...

[bob]

While the light-hearted crap is admittedly tempting, it's still not how I think about it, so let me try this again.
 
For a new player, or casual or infrequent player, fret or side lines are probably a great idea. It's still going to be a little odd, trying to play more or less on them rather than between, but it can certainly be helpful.
 
But if your plan is to become a regular fretless player, then ask yourself this: if you play a note a little off, and want to figure out why, do you want to teach yourself to look at your finger and see how far off it is from a line, or do you want to just hear it (with your eyes closed) and learn how to adjust before anyone else notices, or thinks it was anything more than artistic freedom?
 
It seems to me that playing a non-fretted instrument is a matter of training the ear, rather than the eye, and you have to learn how to adjust on the fly.
 
If that's your goal, and you have the patience (think a couple of years or more), then skip the lines. If you just want to play occasionally, and still have a chance of sounding decent, then they may be a good choice.

[mpisanek]

Daves point is absolutely dead on!  The music is the most important thing.  Music is an art and as such is open to all sorts of different ways of doing things.  What is right for some might not be right for others, and one way is not better that the other.  Both instruments with fretlines an without fretlines work perfectly well.  I think it is just very interesting to hear other peoples' thoughts on the matter.

[beelee]

I 'm mainly a fretted bass player, but do play fretless bass on occasion, depending on the type and style of
music I have to perform.
My first fretless bass was a 1980's Ibanez Musician 4 strng ( they copied the style of an Alembic), it had no lines, but did have dots on the neck under the G string only, I kind of liked this and thought it was a neat idea( they looked like the dots on the side of the neck) I didn't have any problem adjusting from frets to no frets.
 
I would use a combination of the dots and my ears to play in tune, but relied more so on my ears, also so I don't stare at the neck all the time, which even with frets I have a bad habit of doing.
 
I had sold that bass last year, along with its fretted brother cause I don't play 4 strng as much anymore, have other nicer instruments and ordered a custom Alembic.
 
I now use a Pedulla Pentabuzz lined fretless 5 strng, a Zeta crossover upright 4 strng unlined, Guild Ashbory 4 strng lined and a Fodera Monarch Elite fretless 6 string, unlined, but it has fret markers in the side of the neck, they are not very visible.
 
lines, no lines or side markers........makes no difference its still a fretless bass, in the end its what ever you are comfortable and happy with on your instrument.
its your decision, try as many types of fretless basses as you can.
 
best wishes,
B.

[matthew90046]

I have a padauk fretless bass with padauk fretlines.  I think it looks rather nice.
 
(Message edited by matthew90046 on July 01, 2005)

[matthew90046]

 

 
(Message edited by matthew90046 on July 01, 2005)

[keith_h]

Matthew,
I do like the look of the fret lines. This was the  look I had in mind (and wood suggested by Nic) when I was considering ghost frets but wasn't sure what it would look like. Now the question is do I reconsider or not after all the order is only a couple of days old...... I guess I'll be having waffles for breakfast. :-).
 
Keith
 
(Message edited by keith_h on July 01, 2005)