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"It played in tune so easily ..."


Davo-London

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These were Wootens words on describing the Bass of Doom.

 

Now I have on occasions noticed this when playing fretless. My intonation is OK I would say but sometimes when I look intently at my finger positions above the 12th fret I can see that the fingers are imperfectly placed but that the notes sound perfectly in tune.

 

When this happens it is kind of magical. Has anyone else noticed this, or should I book myself in to The Cockney Nuthouse.

 

No discrespect to folk with mental problems by the way.

 

Davo

"We will make you bob your head whether you want to or not". - David Sisk
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With my fretless playing I can 'slide' around and get into pitch pretty quick and actually make it sound 'on purpose'. IMO on fretless it's feel with a lot of knowledge... (knowledge lacking over here)

Brocko

Don't have a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. ~ Johnny Carson
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That comment makes a good sound bite but it's null (IMHO). The way the video was made was like having a group of guys talk about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. Everybody wants to see the bass and touch it and play it, but do they really want to live with it? There's a lot of enthusiasm initially, but give any one of them the BoD for a year and see how much rotation it gets if they have 5,10,or 20 other instruments to choose from.

 

Besides that, Victor could make a fretless 2x4 play in tune easily. The more you know about what intonation is supposed to sound like the harder it is to be out of tune, even when trying.

- Matt W.
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Indeed it was a good soundbite and did he really mean to say that? But that doesn't nullify my odd experience. My fretlii are carefully intonated and so we can remove that from consideration.

 

Davo

"We will make you bob your head whether you want to or not". - David Sisk
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To your question, which I so deftly avoided. Sorry...

 

I experience the same phenomenon on my Toby. Perhaps it's a result of the neck angle, maybe we are decieved by perception and the part of the finger we think is in contact with the string is in fact not accurate. I dunno either. I agree that lines above #12 get less reliable.

- Matt W.
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Ah good Saxofunk (Matt) so does this happen often or occasionally?

 

You want me to look at the 'board? :o

 

I'll try to pay attention next time. And the time after that. With the weather going the way it is intonation is probably changing on an hourly basis.

- Matt W.
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My new Wendler bass plays in tune more easily than other fretless basses I have owned.

 

The reason is that Dave duplicated the measurements of my vintage Jazz bass when he built the neck so the bass feels like I have been playing it for my whole life.

 

As far as the quote goes, there may be something going on with the resonance of the wood on the BoD which makes the overtones more in tune, thereby making the bass "easier to play in tune".

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To your question, which I so deftly avoided. Sorry...

 

I experience the same phenomenon on my Toby. Perhaps it's a result of the neck angle, maybe we are decieved by perception and the part of the finger we think is in contact with the string is in fact not accurate. I dunno either. I agree that lines above #12 get less reliable.

 

I don't have lines on my fretless just dots on the side. This has caused me to have to learn intonation the hard way. I learned to slide to a note and also a nice vibrato technic. The vibrato makes for a nice singing sound.

 

As far as one bass playing more in tune then another I think that it is possible that the vibration of well intoned notes over all those years may have caused the wood to become more likey to respond to those overtones.

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