fretless guitar

Started by Brak(E)man, February 22, 2013, 09:42:49 AM

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Brak(E)man

I have been playing fretless guitar since 1977
and fretless VG guitar since about -98
before that some midi

How many here on this forum have tried fretless guitar in any form ?
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

thebrushwithin

One of my favorite guitars is a Godin fretless nylon, with a 13 pin built in. It is so much fun, and it really surprised me that the potential problems with chordal play, were not as bad as I thought. It is my first experience with fretless, and I think I bought it in 2005, but not sure about the date. I have used it with fretless bass patches on GR and VG units for recording. Lately, I've been working with the VG 99 making an Oud patch on one channel, and a sitar on the other. Great potential!

Brak(E)man

Great man one more unfretted person here at least.
here's a piece with a solo on fretless vg 88 guitar.
and if you need help , if I can I'll assist in any way.

swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

MCK

Here is my de-fretted RR Strat. I installed a Sustainiac in it which works great with the fret less guitar to create strings instrument sounds. Lots of fun. Oh chords... I'm hopeless in regular tuning so I use open tunings like open G and then I can at least get some chords. Slide over fret less work great for me as well.


Brak(E)man

nice man
I've used fernades sustainer on almost all my guitars
fretted and fretless but I'm thinking about installing sustainac
on the next one since it seems more powerful , versatile and sturdy
than fernades sustainer , I don't know how many I've had to change :)
and going to have one on my acoustic doubleneck
have you tried halfround strings on the fretless ?
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

thebrushwithin

I have both Sustainiac and Fernandes, and I do prefer the Sustainiac. Nice clip!

GovernorSilver

I once had a Fernandes Fretless, which I bought through Ned Evett's online fretless guitar store.  Too bad he dropped out of that business.  He even offered a glass fingerboard option, but when I bought my fretless that option wasn't offered yet.  My Fernandes came with a Fernandes Sustainer, and Elixir coated strings to reduce wear on the fretless fingerboard.

I later sold it after I got a viola and started learning to play it. 

clearlight

I have fretless Ibanez RG570 i made in 1990. no midi though.......you are not alone.
My Music
My Band Website
GUITARS: 2x RG1521, 3x RG321 w/gk, Rg721 Fretless Modified, AmStd FatStrat w/gk, various others....
XV5050,Triton etc..
KOMPLETE 7
VGUITAR Stuff: VG99, FC300, RC5-

Pin

Some of you guys amaze me - I have enough problems trying to play a fretted guitar!

MCK

Quote from: Brak(E)man on February 22, 2013, 10:26:05 AM
have you tried halfround strings on the fretless ?

I'm using a thick flat wound set. Something like .13 to .58 but I can be wrong... They sound great and the fingerboard is handling it well...

Would love to see that acoustic double neck when you're ready to 'show n tell'. Thanks much!

Now_And_Then

 Heavy flats sound really good in general - to me at least; that's what I have on my Gretsch. I am thinking seriously of putting flats on all my guitars although maybe not heavy gauge.

thebrushwithin

Here is my Godin...I do love it!

Brak(E)man

Quote from: Now_And_Then on February 22, 2013, 10:52:57 PM
Heavy flats sound really good in general - to me at least; that's what I have on my Gretsch. I am thinking seriously of putting flats on all my guitars although maybe not heavy gauge.
Quote from: MCK on February 22, 2013, 04:13:29 PM
I'm using a thick flat wound set. Something like .13 to .58 but I can be wrong... They sound great and the fingerboard is handling it well...

Would love to see that acoustic double neck when you're ready to 'show n tell'. Thanks much!

I used to use heavy gauge strings but now I have xtra light 008-039 - 009-042 it's harder to play
but gives me much more sustain and the halfrounds gives me the sound of round ones with the feel of flats
http://www.daddario.com/DADProductFamily.Page?ActiveID=3768&familyid=2&productname=XL_Half_Rounds

here's a fretless Methenish sound
http://brakophonic.bandcamp.com/track/alien-spores-of-virus

Quote from: thebrushwithin on February 22, 2013, 11:06:05 AM
I have both Sustainiac and Fernandes, and I do prefer the Sustainiac. Nice clip!

thanx
and i'll switch to Sustaniac next time around and use this model for the acoustic

http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm

Quote from: thebrushwithin on February 22, 2013, 09:56:04 AM
One of my favorite guitars is a Godin fretless nylon, with a 13 pin built in. It is so much fun, and it really surprised me that the potential problems with chordal play, were not as bad as I thought. It is my first experience with fretless, and I think I bought it in 2005, but not sure about the date. I have used it with fretless bass patches on GR and VG units for recording. Lately, I've been working with the VG 99 making an Oud patch on one channel, and a sitar on the other. Great potential!


here's a sitar clip and a oud-sarod clip

http://brakophonic.bandcamp.com/track/home-at-last
http://brakophonic.bandcamp.com/track/canton-in-flames
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

Brak(E)man

Quote from: thebrushwithin on February 22, 2013, 11:15:09 PM
Here is my Godin...I do love it!

they're really nice
I have a couple of different acoustic guitars
and my main "Electric"








and a few nylon and steel acoustic guitars
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

thebrushwithin

Beautiful double neck, and your clips are really nice!

MCK


Brak(E)man

thanx !
more fretless guitar pict.
and what are you playing
VG, GR ???
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch


admin

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22848.msg166072#msg166072

found the following vids on youtube that I thought were stunning and thought I'd share.  From what I can tell, this player has no album out or any of that.  Just an amazing player posting vids here and there, but...wow.  The electric tune is just cool and the style will sound familiar to some of you.  The acoustic tune just blew my mind, though.  I don't think I've ever heard that kind of sustain and shamefully accurate intonation on a fretless acoustic.  Yikes.

Either I should sell my fretless or practice harder.  I'll probably practice harder, as selling a guitar could lead to GAS.  ;D

Anyway, enjoy.

Peace,

Cricket





vanceg

I have a design/plan to build a fretless this year.  I haven't played one much and I'm pretty excited to try this out.
The plan is to put a Cycfi Infinity multichannel sustainer in it as I hear tell that having a sustain system in a fretless is really nice... I'll also be putting one of the Antares ATG systems in with the Firmware designed for fretless. 
HOPEFULLY this will get built in 2017... I'm hoping that by August I might start.   
Any suggestions on fretboard material (some use aluminum or glass!) would be appreciated.


admin

#20
Quote from: vanceg on February 20, 2018, 10:35:52 AM
I have a design/plan to build a fretless this year.  I haven't played one much and I'm pretty excited to try this out.
The plan is to put a Cycfi Infinity multichannel sustainer in it as I hear tell that having a sustain system in a fretless is really nice... I'll also be putting one of the Antares ATG systems in with the Firmware designed for fretless. 
HOPEFULLY this will get built in 2017... I'm hoping that by August I might start.   
Any suggestions on fretboard material (some use aluminum or glass!) would be appreciated.

FWIW
http://www.cycfi.com/category/electronics/infinity/

QuoteAny suggestions on fretboard material (some use aluminum or glass!) would be appreciated.

My experience is Fretless Bass, and it was common to coat the fretboard with a clear epoxy resin finish (System 3 Mirror Coat ) to provide a smoother surface to promote better tone and sustain   

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/to-coat-or-not-to-coat-fretless-fingerboard.553956/

Best source of Fretless guitar info
http://www.unfretted.com/


Dweezils ATG Fretless SG
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13462.msg115188#msg115188



Cricket

#21
My fretless: an Epi LP Jr. that I got for $75 or so new, because why not?  Used it for backup, for alt tunings, for slide. Then one day said "sure would like to try fretless."  So out came the nippers. Because why not?  ;D

Threw some strings on as was. Sounded ok. Lived with it for a while. Then filled in the empty slots, put on some flats and there it is. Basic but effective. And way-cheap.

On the downside I have to hold the eBow backwards for the single p/u, but I can live with that.



Brak(E)man

Quote from: vanceg on February 20, 2018, 10:35:52 AM
I have a design/plan to build a fretless this year.  I haven't played one much and I'm pretty excited to try this out.
The plan is to put a Cycfi Infinity multichannel sustainer in it as I hear tell that having a sustain system in a fretless is really nice... I'll also be putting one of the Antares ATG systems in with the Firmware designed for fretless. 
HOPEFULLY this will get built in 2017... I'm hoping that by August I might start.   
Any suggestions on fretboard material (some use aluminum or glass!) would be appreciated.

Sustainer is really nice but not nessesary , I would use ebony or if you can find it , pockenholz for a nonfretboard since the latter is sort of selflubricating.

I'd never use glass , it's nice sounding but can be hard to slide on sometimes and if you travel and are in bad luck. 7 years of misfortune. Metal is nice too but hard to fit.
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

vanceg

Quote from: vanceg on February 20, 2018, 10:35:52 AM
I have a design/plan to build a fretless this year.  I haven't played one much and I'm pretty excited to try this out.
The plan is to put a Cycfi Infinity multichannel sustainer in it as I hear tell that having a sustain system in a fretless is really nice... I'll also be putting one of the Antares ATG systems in with the Firmware designed for fretless. 
HOPEFULLY this will get built in 2017... I'm hoping that by August I might start.   
Any suggestions on fretboard material (some use aluminum or glass!) would be appreciated.

That said.... perhaps I shouldn't... re-listening to the examples of fretless here I don't think I've got any hope of getting this good.... even with technology

Cricket

#24
Quote from: vanceg on February 21, 2018, 01:24:02 AM
That said.... perhaps I shouldn't... re-listening to the examples of fretless here I don't think I've got any hope of getting this good.... even with technology

Just adding a  live but listenable demo of my $75 fretless conversion. (I think the same guitar runs about $100 now  ;D)  I dunno but I think the Epi sounds at least reasonably ok, at best pretty good, and cost me almost nothing.

I would encourage anyone who is interested in fretless not to overthink it.  Just get a playable cheapie, defret, tweak the action, and start practicing.

Your planned guitar sounds way-cool, of course, but I wouldn't let that keep you from getting into fretless.  "The perfect is the enemy of the good" and all that.  And seriously, compared to putting frets ON a guitar, taking them off is pretty simple.  I didn't even do anything to the Epi neck other than (eventually) fill the slots.  I made this demo when I first converted the guitar and I don't think I had done that yet.

I'd love to have an AWESOME fretless, but hey, in the mean-time, I have a playable one that's a lot of fun and, big picture, practically free. 

Peace,

Cricket