Fretless bass anyone? With the "mute" option
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:56 pm
Hi all!
Searched the forum for this, but it seems no one have wished, or came up with the idea so far.
What about making a fretless bass WITH the sustaining properties?
Why on earth should there be a fretless bass, I hear you ask? Well read on.
When trying the guitar out, I became - actually - more intrigued by the reverse sustaining effect, i e shortening and muting the strings natural sustain, than the other way around, because it sounded like a banjo. I became more "inspired" to play and then I thought, that "Hey, this would be THE PERFECT upright bass impersonator should it be incorporated on an electric fretless bass". Because when you play high up on any upright the strings are too taut and makes almost nil sustain, and when going down again to the first "frets" or areas around the nut, and open strings, they sound with full sustain again. This could easily be done with a pitch sensing or area sensing device. But provided that you have high end pickups (like Q-tuners or similar) and flatwound strings, PLUS - of course - fretless you could go a very long way imitating a upright, leaving all previous "sound-like-an-upright" methods behind in the dust.
Previously, you had to have foam at the bass bridges to damp the strings (in the 50s and 60s) and you had silk wound inside the strings to dampen the strings too. If you just had flatwound, you could - at your choice - play "regular"electric fretless and when the "negative sustain" mor mute kicks in you can play upright lines on it, without having to think or adapt your playing styles. Of course, some EQing afterwards, and acoustic chamber simulator of the upright tops acoustic resonance can be made with after effects and outboard gear. But the one thing that gives away any upright in the first place is the "dampened" or "muted" notes. As this "muting" of the Moog Guitar seems to be electro-mechanic in reversing the phase of the magnetism in one way or another it would be a no-no in technical terms because it's already there. In doesn't even have to be polyphonic since very few chords are played on upright all of the time.
What do you guys think?
Searched the forum for this, but it seems no one have wished, or came up with the idea so far.
What about making a fretless bass WITH the sustaining properties?
Why on earth should there be a fretless bass, I hear you ask? Well read on.
When trying the guitar out, I became - actually - more intrigued by the reverse sustaining effect, i e shortening and muting the strings natural sustain, than the other way around, because it sounded like a banjo. I became more "inspired" to play and then I thought, that "Hey, this would be THE PERFECT upright bass impersonator should it be incorporated on an electric fretless bass". Because when you play high up on any upright the strings are too taut and makes almost nil sustain, and when going down again to the first "frets" or areas around the nut, and open strings, they sound with full sustain again. This could easily be done with a pitch sensing or area sensing device. But provided that you have high end pickups (like Q-tuners or similar) and flatwound strings, PLUS - of course - fretless you could go a very long way imitating a upright, leaving all previous "sound-like-an-upright" methods behind in the dust.
Previously, you had to have foam at the bass bridges to damp the strings (in the 50s and 60s) and you had silk wound inside the strings to dampen the strings too. If you just had flatwound, you could - at your choice - play "regular"electric fretless and when the "negative sustain" mor mute kicks in you can play upright lines on it, without having to think or adapt your playing styles. Of course, some EQing afterwards, and acoustic chamber simulator of the upright tops acoustic resonance can be made with after effects and outboard gear. But the one thing that gives away any upright in the first place is the "dampened" or "muted" notes. As this "muting" of the Moog Guitar seems to be electro-mechanic in reversing the phase of the magnetism in one way or another it would be a no-no in technical terms because it's already there. In doesn't even have to be polyphonic since very few chords are played on upright all of the time.
What do you guys think?