I have seven basses. Six have a 9.5” radius fretboard, and one has a 12” fretboard.
I love my 9.5s and I can seamlessly switch between those basses.
My 12 is my Sire M5. It is a modern bass in its styling, tone and neck. Its neck is also the slimmest of the bunch. I find it to be the “fastest” of my basses because of the super slim neck, and I tend to play tunes differently on it.
Still, going back to a 9.5 always feels like going home to me.
That is Absolutely beautiful. Happy for you. Now play it and see how easy it really is. Congrats!!
As I mentioned in the post right before this one, I went to pick it up in the afternoon and did a couple of lessons (repetitions) on it, and I must say that imho @Al1885 is right: it is easier than expected. It has fretlines and this makes intonation quite “easy”. I’m struggling a bit with the flatwounds (double challenge: 1st time fretless, 1st time flatwounds 
), especially with the higher strings, but I think that only a slight change in plucking technique is needed here. So far, I’m absolutely happy with it and it was a great deal anyway: the guy I bought it from was very friendly and gave it to me for 450 € including an original Fender bag.
If you look at Pau Ferro from other companies, it is quite dark. Fender Pau tends to be lighter in finish.
…and: it is only 13 months old and looks like a brand new instrument, no scratches, just flawless. I’m happy. 
BTW: the guy who sold it to me has some more basses to offer, from Thunderbird over Ibanez to Sandberg and Human Base (1 month old!). He doesn’t play himself but these are his brothers basses who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. In case anyone was interested, I could make the contact.
DISCLAIMER: There’s nothing like an affiliation or anything like that, it’s purely that I think it might be interesting for some of you, as all the basses he offers are in absolutely great shape (I saw them all today) and very reasonably priced.
I’m in the fretless isn’t so hard club myself. I play mostly by ear anyway, this is just an extension.
Yeah you can start summoning your inner Pino as you recalibrate your fretting habits. Pino fills are quite easy for Pino, that dude is like 6’5” with long fingers and an invisible palm feathers to mute strings, transferring to regular mortals like us is very tough.
Here’s a live version of your favorite song
And this is another of my Fretless favorite
Have fun.
I will definitely have to work on that, but I also feel like I need to do the same with plucking habits which I feel is related to the flatwounds. Do you play only flatwounds on your fretless basses? Or does it differ? There are many opinions floating around on the Internet, like some say roundwounds will damage the wood of the fingerboard and others say that they give a unique sound that cannot be achieved with flats.
Two beautiful songs and you played both so well. That Ibanez electric upright sounds awesome. I saw these before, but this is the first time I heard one. Very beautiful sound.
I’ve been trying to “relic” my fingerboard with the string wear but I doubt it’d ever come in my lifetime. If a string is going to wear out the fingerboard it doesn’t matter what kind it is.
I love rounds on the Fretless in fact I put the brightest possible round on my 5 string. The Optima Unique studio gold
this is the sample of the La Bella tapewound Gold
Myth, or at worst it won’t be significantly more than flats would.
Definitely true (fretless or not). Rounds are brighter than flats, and while you can use EQ to dull the rounds to sound like flats, going the other way would require effects to put in the harmonic overtones that are missing with the flats. Neither sound bad of course, but for tone rounds are more versatile.
For me the biggest reason I don’t use flats is the feel, though - I prefer the way rounds feel.
My first impression is the same, the rounds feel more pleasant to my fingers than the flats, although I don’t dislike the feel of the flats, it is more that I have the feeling that there is a lot more tension on them.
Good to hear.
I find flats easy to play and perfect for a variety of genres and tunes.
I’ve also found that all flats are not created equal.
Some feel stiff, with a lot of tension. Some have a more tactile texture than others. Some have a classic Motown tone, others can be characterless, and some can have more modern tone. Some have less tension than the majority of flats, and have a more variable tonal range than the classic variety.
It takes actually trying several brands/models of flats to determine what each feels and sounds like on a given bass, compared to each other.
Interesting. So far I’ve zero experience with flats and only played them today for the first time, so that’s surely also a question of getting accustomed with them and a change of habits. I don’t totally dislike them, it’s just an unusual feel.
If I ever try them again I am going to bite the bullet and get T-I and give them a real go.
But that’s unlikely.
TI jazz flats are not in the same class as the normal flats. It’s not even in the same price range.
the Joe Dart flats are exceptional.
Are you referring to the Ernie Ball Cobalt flats? I have a set but haven’t installed them on a bass yet.
