New Fretless Bass! :D (and amp)

[Erlend_G]

Well,

My good friend, /who wanted to stay anonymous/ decided to gift me a brand-new Fretless bass (& amp!) for my 32th birthday.

Her name (the bass) is "Cornelia". A very, very light and resonant body- nice maple neck with composite? fingerboard. Nice and straight; sounds great-
-it's a "Gear4music" store brand. Seems to be have been built "rather quickly"; but everything fits, and works.

Needs a nut job, (the E and G is too high)... and I'm rubbing some oil into the neck. The neck finish is a super-thin layer of matte laquer, that doesn't even cover all the spots. But it's OK.



(Bass amp is loud, rather heavy, and sounds great. But broken in transit.... a buzzing sound from the power-amp. Waiting for a replacement)

- This means, I'm back into practicing fretless. I miss my old Ibanez RD500F, which I used at my year in Jazz-linja, 09/10.

This one is also a 34" 4-string; but.. it's different. The "worst" part about it, is the side position markers. They are for a fretted bass. I.e. I'll only hit quarter notes, if I try to aim with them. Hehe.



No worries.

Blessed be,
-Erlend ♪

[Blille]

Grats!

I’m so jealous I’ve been wanting a fretless for a while. Hopefully Father’s Day or my birthday make it happen.

How are you doing with the intonation?

[Securb]

That is awesome man. Happy birthday.

[Erlend_G]

Grats!

I’m so jealous I’ve been wanting a fretless for a while. Hopefully Father’s Day or my birthday make it happen.

How are you doing with the intonation?

Well... it's still strung with stock (poor quality) rounds. I think a proper neck finish, and good flatwounds, will help.

-The biggest problem is the 'friggin fretted-bass position markers. On my old Ibanez, they were placed at a perfect third, forth, fifth, and octave.
These are all quarter tones :/.

I can play rather good, as long as I keep my eyes closed (or out the window). I'm practicing "All Blues" in E, for i.e. the thirds and sevenths in E...
; but there is hundreds of hours of practice, to get comfortable. No bass is exactly the same; but... as long as one can find the harmonic overtones on the string(s), it's actually easier than a fretted bass. . Somewhat like a bicycle with no support wheels... you can lean in the corners, but also fall over.


Not sure if I've been lucky or not, with this "starters package". As mentioned, the bass needs a neck finish, nut job- and also the electronics are wired up a bit wonky. I suspect a quadratic function is taking place (the volume knobs are very abrupt, and interact with the tone controls?!! :o ... "unconventional wiring" hehe.

-Also, the amp was recieved broken. It plays loud as heck, heavy, clean- has a 10" and solid construction. but there is a buzzing sound, like a broken speaker- unless I practice at 1/10 volume. I'm waiting for customer service and a return/ new one.

Cheers!

-Erl ♪

[Erlend_G]

Securb: Thanks!

...I'm going to cover up the stock side-dots with a permanent marker; then add some cute round stickers, at the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention. I'm so happy, it doesn't have "fret lines". They look gruesome, also, I cannot imagine how they could ever help a man play better.

...on top of it all, they often come out of the fretboard after ...some years. This is a slick, 2 octave fretboard; in something that seems like, well, rosewood soaked in epoxy resin /superglue.

EDIT 2: I have a good feeling about this neck. The maple itself, seems rather light and soft. But the fretboard is almost "rock hard", and there is almost no bend/flex to the neck. The tone is stable and resonant troughout the register.

-E