How to set up a frettless guitar / bass

[robert43]

Hi on the weekend I went to a boot sale & a person had a nocked around mid 90's bass guitar Daion ( no no the true Daion a Korean made 1 . For $5 ( no strings its a P&J bass. It was dirty but I thought what the heck for that amount of $, if it dosent work I give it to my 14 year old son to hang up in his bedroom.
Any way I tried it & it worked .
Waht I want to know whats the dirrence between seting up a fretted guitar compare to a frettless
I know the nut will have to come down. but how much?
I have allready go the fretts out via a iron & a small pair of wire cutters.
Thanks

[ranchtooth]

For one thing, you don't have to worry about getting the intonation dead on... when you don't have frets, its all up to your fingers! Theres hardly any setup at all. Lowering the nut can help with ease of playing, and it is always good to make sure the fingerboard is level.
I recall reading that a fretless plays easier with a dead flat fingerboard rather than with a radius, but thats probably more a question of personal preference.

[ux4484]

ranchtooth said:

For one thing, you don't have to worry about getting the intonation dead on... when you don't have frets, its all up to your fingers!

Maybe if you have perfect pitch and superhuman hand-ear co-ordination... ;D

Intonation is about the strings in relation to each other and is (IMO) more noticeable when off on a bass than a guitar. If the (now) fretless bass is not intonated to itself, your playing position will not be the same on every string, and you will be off-tuning to compensate (or playing cents off to be in key).

I'm betting that most first time fretless players are still using (or making) position markers on the neck edge. I know I did when playing the Bass Viol in H.S. Not only that, but if you DON'T intonate it, get used to it, and then play another fretless, you will sound miserable. Half the scale length (most P/J styles are 34") which should be 17" from the edge of the nut, that's your octave mark, then set intonation as in any guitar.

It is quite the challenge playing fretless. The only fretless I have ever fell for was a G&L back in the early 90's. I've played a few since then, it's the only fretless that seems to work right in my hands.

Warwick has a nice article on their site about going fretless. It's worth the read.