Setup your fretless for maximum mwah!
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- Опубликовано: 4 дек 2020
- Short discussion of how to set your fretless bass up for maximum mwah and growl.
The footage was recorded for the practical video about how to get the popular growl/mwah sound out of the fretless bass, but was edited out due to the length of the video. I wanted to share this section only, so here it is. 
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Thanks for using the technical term “mwah”. 😎🎸 plus a proper effect (or even a $50 wireless transmitter/receiver set) will make ANY fretless bass sound awesome.
Hello, I wanted to take a moment and thank you for this setup video because it really helped me a lot. I've been enamored with the fretless sound for decades really but I could never get my bass to really make the sound. I have an old Carvin circa 1990's 6-string fretless and honestly I never adjusted it from the out of the box setup other than to play with the action and a few different types of string. It made an OK sound. It definitely had a fretless sound but the grow/mwah was still pretty subtle in my opinion. Nothing like your Fender Jazz bass in your other video. Wow! That thing sounds amazing! Anyway, I watched your video very carefully and I felt like I had a solid grasp on technique. I picked up a lot of that from my college days where I was a Jazz Studies major at the University of North Texas, and if you play bass there you must play the upright double bass as a requirement. Anyway, your video just confirmed that I was on the right track there. The BIG adjustment that really make my bass just sing out with thick MWAAAAAH was the truss rod. I followed your directions and did an eyeball measurement with my finger around the 1st 'fret' position and another down around the octave mark or a little further. There was quite a bit of space! I know you said it shouldn't be absolutely straight but could have easily fit a whole stack of business cards under the strings. I ended up adding 2 full rotations clockwise on the truss nut to get down to what I would eyeball at about a millimeter of space and WOW! That was it! MWAAAAAAAH! I love it! I just sat there and played my bass for a couple of hours straight. Who knew an old bass could sound so good? Thanks so much for the helpful video. I wish I had seen this 20 years ago.
wow, thanks a lot for taking time to write this, it's so inspiring to hear that a video I made is helpful! Have a great day, and best wishes for your bass playing!
Carvin made some pretty nice bass guitars. The Cirrus was amazing for the money. You really don't need those fret radius Ts. The ruler that came in that kit was most likely was marked in 64th of an inch. All you have to do is go to 17th frat touch touch it to the fingerboard and read the measurement at the bottom of each string. Once you find a distance that you like you just go from string string and adjust it out to that distance and it will do the same thing very precisely. That distance is affected by several factors. One is the gauge of the string and other is the type of string such as flatwound around wound and then the brand. Some are more stiff at pitch and some are more Slinky at pitch. Somewhere between 4 and 5 64ths the 17th fret is a good jumping-off spot. The distance of the string at the nut is around 22 hundredths of an inch on a fretted bass and that number works pretty good with a fretless bass also. Once again it depends on what strings you're using and if necessary you replace the nut and get some files and your file it for the number that works best for you if the stock nut at 22 hundredths of an inch is not working for you. If the nut height is too high you'll find yourself fighting to get the string to touch the fretboard at the first position, which is where the first fret would be. If it's too low you'll never get the proper ratios to work to where you are getting a lot mwah & not a lot of rattle on the wood. If you can tune a car you can tune a bass. Unfortunately you can't tuna fish LOL. Oh and I left out you put a capo on the first fret position somewhere near the end of the fingerboard and at around the 7th fret somewhere between say 10 and 13 hundredths of an inch is the right amount of relief in the neck using the truss rod.
Best of luck dialing your instrument in the where it plays flawlessly
The channel I was looking for. Thanks!
Did not know about those tools. Thanks.
After checking the neck is pretty straight (but lightly curved like you mentioned), I just use a 1.5 mm Allen key at the 12th 'fret' below each of the strings to measure+set the distance (via adjusting the saddles). So, ca 1.5 mm between fretboard and strings at the 12th fret. Then I check the tones along the neck to find out if the trussrod needs adjustment (which almost never is needed, unless other type of strings are used)
1.Rounwounds
2.Single coil bridge pick up
3.MOST IMPORTANT!!.. eq pedal with 400 hz to 800 hz boosted
Boom. You nailed it for the electric fretless 'mwaw' thing...an upright bass in itself is a different beauty...but an upright setup for electric is totally different.
Frode, I have to confess to clicking the 'like button' during your opening notes ...
Thank you very much for that! :-)
Thank you for the valuable information 👍🏻
Why so many rude comments? Nice video, thank you.
Thanks you very much. Very much appreciated! I'm not sure what you mean with the rude comments bit though, I hope I haven't offended anyone, never intended if so. Take care!
@@frodebassist Not at all! I thought some peoples comments seemed more aimed at a harsh critique of how to apply methods or what’s “wrong and right” if that makes sense. We’re the bass community! Gotta support each other and spread the love :) Which you certainly have with this video! Helped a ton with my recent fretless re-adjustment. Thanks again!
ah, thanks for clearing this up. yeah, I realise I probably use some words in the wrong way occasionally since English is not my first language, I'm totally fine with any corrections and really don't mind. I do think it will be mostly about "fashion" words like growl, mwaah, etc and not proper musical terms. thanks a lot for your support and kind comments. Best of luck on your musical journey!
Too many Norwegia-phobes!😮
Wonderful!!
Thank you, much appreciated!
great video thanks.. i have a Ibanez GWB-1 5 string fretless great bass, the neck and fretboard are in good shape but still only the A string buzz a little bit on the fretboard change the A string? or normal with a 5 string cause the angle of the fretboard? sorry for my English
Hi, I believe those radius gauges are intended to be used underneath the strings, as this eliminates the variance of the 4 different string thicknesses, and gives you the underside distance to the board , which is what you want to refer to, imo .
Hey, thanks for the comment, that makes a lot of sense. I've been doing it the way I demonstrated since watching a well respected luthier, I think doing it like yiu suggest makes more sense! This is why I love the Internet! Again, thanks for your input! 😊
@@frodebassist That's right. They are even called "under string radius gauge"
I need to try this.I have 2 Fretless,a LTD and a Ibanez hollow body.I'm an experienced bassist and somewhat proficient on Fretless but I have trouble getting mawh.I know guys with cheap basses that get it in spades.
Hi, I love the sound! What strings do you have here to get that "Mhaw & growl" sound?
Thanks for that! I use DR pure blues strings. They are roundwound strings.
Fretboard Radius Gauge ! Rightly TIghtty Lefty Loosey !
Great to find info on Fretless.I played bass for decades but didn't enter the fretless world till age 65.What took me so long?
It's never too late you know! Beautiful instrument.
Great sound! May I ask where I can buy tools? especially ''T'' Thank you very much. :)
Awesome video ! Thank you, made me improve my sound. What is the bass you have at the start of this video ?
Thanks for an inspiring comment, and sorry for my late reply! The bass is a custom build by a Norwegian builder Edgar Stakset. 100% from scratch and hand-made. 3 octave board, 6 strings, EMG soapbar, piezo bridge and a Rick Turner preamp. I'll make a video about it some day, just have to relearn how to play it, it's such a beast! :-)
can you do areatha franklin think bass cover with your custom fretless bass guitar and do think 2001 and hallelujah
cark sisters 1989 here is a bass tip make sure you change your fretless bass guitar to a low growl sound not low low but just a nice sound to thanks the other bas covers area at the bottom
can yo do areatha franklin think 1980 the blues version i really like the sound of your bass gutiaar the other bass covers and the bass skill is in the comments
I have an acoustic ibanez fretless bass, trying to get more wah. It just has the undersaddle pickup, and i ordered some roundwounds. It has a lot of wah off the shelf, but it has flats, and it's more muffled. The action isnt super low but it's definitely lower than normal. Any more suggestions? I havent seen anything about getting mwah out of an acoustic fretless
The first few notes at the beginning - where are they from?! I need to know cause it feels so good :)
Thanks for the nice comment! They are not fram any particular piece, just some noodling I came up with before recoding a RUclips video. :-)
@@frodebassist jeeez they were out of this world please do a full song 😅
Åiåi. Nydelig!
Takk for det!
Can you do areatha think the blues brothers here Is a bass tip take on the original think 1968 use the fretless bass guitar 8 string bass there's more comments about the bass covers I want you to do
Lou wow
The fraction of millimeter cool ! But how much ? 0,1 0,2 0,3, 0,4 ?
Thank’s
Oh, not sure about the exact measurements.....but, small adjustments can go a long way!
ca you do areatha franklin think 1980 the blues bros here is a bass skill
take on the original think 1968 and do areatha think 20001 and chain of fools areatha and mariah carey and testimony by areatha use the 8 string frettlsee bass
Is there a way to get the mwah on an open string ?
No, the open strings don’t touch the fingerboard there, so it doesn’t work. If you need a low E with the mwah you would either have to tune down or play a 5-string
I wonder if the nut slot height helps here?
What kind of bass is that???
Hi, it's a custom bass made by a Norwegian builder, Edgar Stakset. I believe he made it in late 1990's. We worked on the shape and everything via large drawings Sendt through the mail.... Its hard to play, as I opted for unlined, 35" and only every other position marking on the side.
What's gauge strings?
Hi, sorry for my late reply. Pretty standard gauges, I use Dr pure blues strings in 0.45-1.05
what's the name of this song?
I think we can call it "Short improvisation with sliding harmonics for a RUclips video about the fretless bass"...:-)
@@frodebassist hahaha 😄, if you still have the MP3 I would love to have it. It sounds so good and calming!
There's a video on yt that shows Mick Karn getting his sound with an unbelievably high action, seems counterintuitive to what youre saying here (not that i disagree with you).
You don't need a very low action for this, but the "mwah" effect is amplified when the strings are on the verge of buzzing. That might seem pleasing to some, and less so to others. The beauty of music is that we are all free to experiment and fine the path that most relates to us.
can you do areatha franklin think 1980 use the fretless bass 8 string here is a bass skill take on the original think 1968
can you also think 1968 orchestra and can you do areatha franklin and mariah chain of fools and testiomony
ive loved the sound of the fretless bass i really want you to do areatha think but ues the bass skill if you dont know then search up this bass cover areatha think roger bass 66 i liked your video ypu have 179 likes
1:55 - The temperature difference between *_seasons_* is *NOT* _"climate change"!_
I stand corrected! Thank you!
Can you do the bass covers I told you about with your fretless bass guitar the bass covers I told you about are in the comments your fretless bass guitar make sure you change the sound to a growly bluesy sound and really I'm very sorry about my rude comments I had a painful headache and I was really angry at someone somebody. Is always messing with me that's all forgive me can you please read my comments about the bass covers my name is laderrius manning im 16 years old and I love bass guitar if you see a comment with purple circle and a white letter l that's me please please do these bass covers use your fretless bass for them change the sound to a growly blues sound and do areatha Franklin think 1980 here Is a bass tip take on the original think and do hallelujah clark sisters Kennedy center honors
Hi, and thank you for your comments! I'll take a look at the things you suggest, but I don't really use my channel for recording covers of basslines, but I will check out your suggestions! Thanks again! :-)
This is how to overcomplicate setting up a fretless. You need a single key for the neck setup and that's it (if you don't need another, small key for the bridge). Oh, and ears.
Thanks for your comment!🙂