Fretless Seven-String

[Way to the Grave]

I got the idea from a Guitar Player magazine awhile ago, and the one with John Mayer had a section devoted to fretless guitar players and how it was a new fad and all that.

Anyway, what I'm thinking is getting one of those cheap-as-well Squier Stagemaster 7's from eBay and taking the frets off myself. You only need sandpaper, pliers and a heat-gun, from what I've read. I want to put a Duncan Jazz humbucker in it myself, and try seven-string Jazz methods.

Anyone out there done this/thought about doing it/have thoughts?

 

[bostjan]

I think someone had one of those on eBay not long ago.

 

[Metal Ken]

I have a cheap 6 string fretless. its really fun to play, but it takes some work gettign used to not having the whole fret in which to get the note..so some stretches are a lot harder and some chord shapes are impossible.

 

[Way to the Grave]

A Vio-Lence fan eh? Awesome band.

Yeah, I read the stretching was a pretty big problem, and the chord thing is supposed to be a double-egded sword. If you know basic positions, you can exagerrate them to produce a different sound, which is the part that intrigues me. It's another one of the reasons I want to remove the frets myself. I want to live a small slit visible so I can get a general idea of where finger positions are.

 

[Metal Ken]

Hell yeah Vio-Lence \m/


Stretching isnt a problem, the thing is in some chords, if you need to get some fingers in the same frets on multiple strings, it gets to be only possible if you have 1)Pencil fingers or 2)cover multiple strings w/ 1 finger, which isnt always possible.

My fretless came with the black lines on it like a lot of fretless basses do

 

[bostjan]

Fret lines are kind of bad. You need to allow your ears to take over, thus the point in not being limited by frets. Don't be afraid to let go. Trust your instincts, use the force, Luke.

 

[Way to the Grave]

So it's like a problem with intonation with your fingers? I mean, without the straightness of frets the cents are uneven, I'm assuming?

 

[Metal Ken]

Fret lines are kind of bad. You need to allow your ears to take over, thus the point in not being limited by frets. Don't be afraid to let go. Trust your instincts, use the force, Luke.

They give you a reference of where the notes are generally, which is good if your guitar thats fretless has a shorter scale and 1 less string than the guitar you're used to.

 

[bostjan]

Don't worry about it. The frets are all merely wild approximations to where the actual notes are anyways. You're better off developing your own natural intonation. Don't even tune to frets, try tuning the strings to overtones of each other, you will get a much sweeter sound, it's well worth the effort.

Ken, the notes are everywhere. Selecting the correct note has little to do with the fret lines. If you want to play it like a fretted instrument, the fret lines might come in handy, but still, you shouldn't limit yourself on such a vast instrument.

 

[Metal Ken]

well a lot of the time when i play, for practice, i just plug into a tuner and watch it lol and try to get used to hit that spot on each string.

 

[bostjan]

Yeah but the tuner rounds off all of the notes to within 100¢.

For instance, a C triad is CEG, on a tuner, this is 0¢ 400¢ 700¢, but in real life, it is 0¢ 386¢ 702¢

 

[METAL_ZONE]

Ive heard that the wood on a fretted guitar is too soft for using it as a fretless. Im not an expert on this so someone else here might know more about this than i do.

 

[bostjan]

Nope, it'll be fine, I'm sure. I've played with a lot of fretless instruments. Maple is plenty tough enough. rosewood will hold up ok, too!

Just for reference, here are the fretted notes versus the natural notes:

0¢ ~ 0¢
100¢ ~ 112¢
200¢ ~ 204¢
300¢ ~ 316¢
400¢ ~ 386¢
500¢ ~ 496¢
600¢ is dissonant
700¢ ~ 702¢
800¢ ~ 814¢
900¢ ~ 884¢
1000¢~1018¢
1100¢~1088¢
1200¢~1200¢

Note how close the fourth and fifth are, but how far off pretty much everything else is.

Wreckmeister Well-Temperament is also interesting, with plenty of compensation: 0¢ 90¢ 192¢ 294¢ 390¢ 498¢ 588¢ 696¢ 792¢ 888¢ 996¢ 1092¢ 1200¢

There is plenty of slop in the notes if you aren't picky about the system you use. I prefer the just intonation on fretless, but there's no rule that says you will like what I like. It just sounds much purer and reduces the beats.

 

[Metal Ken]

Yeah but the tuner rounds off all of the notes to within 100¢.

For instance, a C triad is CEG, on a tuner, this is 0¢ 400¢ 700¢, but in real life, it is 0¢ 386¢ 702¢

Depends on your tuner, too.

 

[garcia3441]

www.unfretted.com

 

[Elysian]

Don't worry about it. The frets are all merely wild approximations to where the actual notes are anyways. You're better off developing your own natural intonation. Don't even tune to frets, try tuning the strings to overtones of each other, you will get a much sweeter sound, it's well worth the effort.

Ken, the notes are everywhere. Selecting the correct note has little to do with the fret lines. If you want to play it like a fretted instrument, the fret lines might come in handy, but still, you shouldn't limit yourself on such a vast instrument.

a lot of times when i tune, i actually just hit 2 strings open and listen for the interval, i can pick it up pretty easily and get em pretty spot on just by doing that... just gotta be able to recognize that interval and how it should sound when they are in tune with each other.


edit: you know, i still have my first guitar, an 80s yamaha, which has a 22 fret strat neck, i should defret it and see if i like it... i've been meaning to try this...

 

[Jerich]

I have a Fernadez Revolver Pro 7 with sustainer and...Glass Fretboard made by Ned Evett that plays well I am thinking of getting a Carvin 747 done too.....just make sure the bridge on the guitar can be split to compinsate Intonation..I learned that early...Tim Donahue is a master Fretless builder/Player...I learned it from him and Ned Evett...most of the music i have created with fretless sounds like whales mating...but the fretless makes great sounds for back drops in sound tracks...they are much better then Microtones...trust me...micro tones was a waiste of time....