Lawrys IB-6S Fretless

[lawry]

You'll have to pop around for a play, Eliot. I'll leave the light on for you.
Shouldn't take too long, it's only about 4,500 kilometers as the crow flies.
Oh, and bring one of your cool basses with you. And cake! :-)

[Andyport]

Looking excellent Lawry...the fingerboard is coming up a treat.
Top job.

[lawry]

OK - I'm hoping DB will read this...
Got a question about the nut. What gap height do I need between the strings and the fingerboard at the nut on a fretless, DB? I've done some web-crawling and it varies between 1-2mm or 0mm. I am not prepared to use any of this info as gospel as I don't know what's knowledge and what's opinion.
Thanks in advance for your input.

[wokkaboy]

looking sensational Lozza, never knew you coated fretless fingerboards with superglue !
Look forward to seeing the control veneer plate Loz, should look excellent

[Gavin1393]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from lawry on February 17, 2014, 14:24
OK - I'm hoping DB will read this...
Got a question about the nut. What gap height do I need between the strings and the fingerboard at the nut on a fretless, DB? I've done some web-crawling and it varies between 1-2mm or 0mm. I am not prepared to use any of this info as gospel as I don't know what's knowledge and what's opinion.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Oh, for DB.....

Ok - I'll let him explain the intonation offset and how this relates to string height.....

[lawry]

Sorry Gav. Didn't mean any disrespect. I just automatically thought bassB.
I understand that the higher the string at the nut then the more effect it has on intonation on the notes at that end. What I am hoping to find out is what is a good height for the strings at the nut on a fretless. After all, my fingers are going to be the biggest problem for intonation.
I am more than happy for you to give me the low down (poor pun I know, but it had to be said)

[Brendan]

Good question Lawry - was wondering the same myself...

[gavinturner]

Awesome job Lawry! Man that fretboard looks amazing. I didnt know about the superglue either. A great tip if I ever find myself doing a fretless. The body is also looking stunning. This is going to be one glorious bass when you are done! Amazing.

Cheers,
Gav.

[Gavin1393]

First thing to make sure of is a very straight neck. With a fretted board you will usually look for a slight bit of bow in the neck. Not the case with fretless. Ideally you want the strings lower and as close as you can get to the fretboard without creating a buzz. For slap bass you would want to go a little higher. The straighter the neck, the lower you can go in terms of string height , the better the resulting tone or as the vocabulary of the day goes, the MWAH factor!
The second point is to consider the string height, string thickness and the effect of string height on intonation. The last piece in the set up will be the height at the nut. As you reduce string height, the scale length will effectively shorten, you may need to adjust the saddles to keep the bass intonated correctly. Get the saddle height set and then begin work on the nut. Typically ( on a fretted guitar) you would be looking to be slightly above the first fret in terms of the nut. Again, depending on how low you want to go, you could comfortably go almost down to the fretboard and get great tone on the open strings.
Its pretty much personal preference but as a starting point, grab your trusty "fretted" bass guitar and measure the distance from the fretboard to the strings and then subtract the height of the fret! You can take this measurement at the nut and indeed at any of the markers all the way up the neck.

Hope this serves as a guide!

[lawry]

Bleed in' hell, Gav.
I came looking for advice and ended up with a manual. Thanks very much for the detailed explanation. Hopefully I don't make a cockup of it.