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 Discussion Forums
 Luthiers' Corner
 Luthiers, I ask...why not a fretless guitar?
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| Author | Topic: Luthiers, I ask...why not a fretless guitar? |
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rforman Member |
posted 11-30-2003 08:06 AM
   
? |
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Michael Darnton Member |
posted 11-30-2003 08:55 AM
We can make 'em--can you play it? Right now you only have to slap four fingers down within a window of an inch or so, but with a fretless guitar, you'd have to put every one in exactly the right spot, every time. That's aside from the issue of what such a thing would sound like, which I suspect wouldn't be encouraging. :-) |
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rforman Member |
posted 11-30-2003 10:14 AM
Why do you think precision would be an issue, violin and cello players achieve it; and what about slide guitar - you got put the slide in the exact right spot in order to sound the note you want, and further when you are playing slide you are not really using the frets for but for indicating position. So I don’t see finger placement as an issue. But perhaps if the player doesn’t fully dampen/stop the string you obviously wouldn’t get a clean note? |
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Peter Woodman Member |
posted 11-30-2003 11:07 AM
There's no technical reason not to. Vigier make a fretless electric guitar. I suspect the reason the rest of us don't is because of very little perceived demand. We gotta make a living. |
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Rick Turner Member |
posted 11-30-2003 11:07 AM
I've made several and modified a Gibson Chet Atkins CE...converting it into a 12 string fretless nylon string for Jackson Browne. We call it the Chet Oudkins. The major issue for most guitarists is the lack of sustain as the string is damped by the fingertip. |
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Frank Ford Moderator |
posted 11-30-2003 10:26 PM
Yeah, and just try to form a chord all at once on a fretless. Violinists manage double stops, but. . . |
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Mr Bloop Member |
posted 12-01-2003 07:05 AM
A well known Breton guitar player(at least well known in Brittany)called Gilles LeBigot plays a fretless nylon string .It sounds fantastic,tho I imagine it would be quite difficult to play. |
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dwatwood Member |
posted 12-01-2003 07:55 AM
Why would you want to move away from something that already works? If there was any demand, fretless guitars would have taken off long ago. I can see that it might be okay for some lead or fingerstyle, but I agree with Frank that chording would be a pain. Don |
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John B Member |
posted 12-01-2003 07:55 AM
I had a fretless Washburn for a year or two; it was a "project guitar" I bought from Mass Street Music. The truss rod nut was stripped, all the frets had been pulled. I messed around with neck shims to try to get the right neck angle and shaved the nut down to try to get the right action. Eventually I used the neck to practice installing frets. Oh, and you obviously haven't been to www.fretlessguitar.com ... |
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John B Member |
posted 12-01-2003 07:58 AM
Almost forgot, Dave Fiuczynski has been playing fretless in a band context for years. http://www.torsos.com/Website/home.html |
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Teja Gerken Moderator |
posted 12-01-2003 09:32 AM
Godin makes the 11-string Glissentar, which is a really cool sounding instrument. I think the key is to not approach a fretless guitar like you would a fretted instrument, but rather think of it as a single-note instrument. My friend Sandor Szabo uses an eight-string classical on quite a few pieces of his albums on Acoustic Music Records, and it's very effective. |
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