Fretless Guitar

[rabidmoose171]

Im sorry if this has been done but i did a little search and didnt come up with anything. I know there are fretless basses all over, but howsabout fretless guitars, i wanna know everything about them, so any info post please.

[bob7]

theres one over on MIMF with a metal fretboard.

[westhemann]

yes it has been talked about many times but the general thought is that chords would be a bitch to get right

[rabidmoose171]

Hmm, they would but i know my fretboard pretty damn well though.

[westhemann]

Hmm, they would but i know my fretboard pretty damn well though.

it's not about that...it's about being just slightly off on one or two fingers because you don't have a fret at the exact proper spot for it to hit

[westhemann]

i have thought about doing it though,but only for recording fluid solos

[rhoads56]

Total lack of sustain, and difficulty in getting the notes "spot on" are two main reasons it wont work.

[westhemann]

Total lack of sustain, and difficulty in getting the notes "spot on" are two main reasons it wont work.

yeah...which is why a violin uses a bow

[rabidmoose171]

Oh i see, bad idea then.

[Devon Headen]

I've tried it. Perry hit the nail on the head. The sustain really sucked, my tone suffered big time, and it's very hard to chord. Even playing lead it's a good idea to vibrato to make sure you don't hit a really sharp or flat note. The guitar I did it to is getting a remodel right now, and when it's done it'll have frets

[RAI6]

Yeah, the sustain is virtually non-existant on a fretless.

That's why Vai's fretless (on the white triple-neck guitar) has a Sustainer on it.

Helps a bit.......

[GregP]

I've seen a player playing a fretless guitar, and he was shred-tastic. The sustain didn't matter much as the playing style was fairly flurry-of-note-ish. It seemed to be a matter of either a) adapting his playing style to the instrument or designing an instrument that suited his playing style.

It's been done, and it's been done successfully. For the record, the fingerboard was aluminum.

Greg

[Nalo1022]

ive bene thinking abotu thiis for a while and say you had a fingerboard made of something strong liek ebony, and then scalloped the entire neck. would this work. i know that the crest of the scallops might wear away quickly so maybe soaking the fingerbaord in ca glue or sometihng like that

[spirit]

Ywngie Malmsteens sig. strat which has a maple fingerboard is entirely scalloped, so I don't see why it wouldn't work with ebony.

[Devon Headen]

He means without frets, though. Just an educated guess, but I imagine the sound would still lack sustain big time, and the wood would wear away very quickly. You'd have to replace the fretboard all the time

[www]

sig. strat which has a maple fingerboard is entirely scalloped, so I don't see why it wouldn't work with ebony.

I believe Ywngie Malmsteen has frets on his necks. Doesn't He?

Edit: Late post as usual!

[GregP]

Er...

Is it just late? Am I just stupid? Or was the suggestion basically to scallop the neck so that the peaks of the scallops act like wooden frets?

Wouldn't that defeat a major part of the purpose of fretless instruments?

What the hell did I just miss?

[spirit]

He means without frets, though. Just an educated guess, but I imagine the sound would still lack sustain big time, and the wood would wear away very quickly. You'd have to replace the fretboard all the time

Ah, I wondered what the problem would be. Ok, then I don't know if it would work.