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Alembic Club » Alembic Basses & Guitars » Archive: 2007 » Archive through November 26, 2007 » Orion frettless? « Previous Next »

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pietzouille
New
Username: pietzouille

Post Number: 5
Registered: 8-2007
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 6:08 am:   Edit Post

Hey guys,i'm thinkin of taking of the frets of my orion,but i'm a bit scared of the sound i'll have, do any of u guys have frettless orion? does it sounds good?? (i already play frettless,all i want to know its if orion's sound good frettless)
thx dudes
cheers
keith_h
Senior Member
Username: keith_h

Post Number: 833
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:10 am:   Edit Post

I have both fretted and fretless Orions. Here is a link to my fretless Orion. It is probably my favorite bass. If you decide to have yours defretted I would be sure to take it to a competent luthier.

Keith
pietzouille
New
Username: pietzouille

Post Number: 6
Registered: 8-2007
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:36 am:   Edit Post

yes thx keith; i have a very competent luthier here in belgium..
do u think that the fact of have fretmarks (considering it would be a defrett one) would change the sound?? could it be "bad"?(alembic are never bad:-))

thx
keith_h
Senior Member
Username: keith_h

Post Number: 834
Registered: 2-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 11:59 am:   Edit Post

The most common thing I have see is after the frets are removed they get replaced with a wood such as maple. To me this seems to be no different than having a lined fretless bass built. I have not played a lined fretless so I cannot say if the different woods cause a tone difference. I do not believe it does since the amount of fret wood is small. I have heard some people say they can feel the different fretboard woods while playing. Is this enough to effect someones playing? I cannot say.

I think you could be successful in converting your Orion to a fretless if you wish to. I also think the Orion is very good as a fretless bass. Maybe somebody else will post that has more experience with defretted or lined fretless basses.

Keith
adriaan
Senior Member
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 1585
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Sunday, August 12, 2007 - 3:03 pm:   Edit Post

My Epic was defretted by a builder in The Hague, Peer Dellen. The fretlines are blackened maple.

One thing you might tell the builder is that they take a good look at the nut, because it is much too high for a fretless. What they must NOT do is to simply remove the base plate. In the end, I gave the bass to Edwin van Huik to shave off a couple of millimeters from the bottom of the nut itself (not the base plate).

And the last thing, which they'll probably forget, is to tighten all three bolts.

Epic and Orion are basically the same instrument. You'll notice that the tone of voice is much the same after defretting - just a different sort of articulation.

Enjoy!
bassjigga
Advanced Member
Username: bassjigga

Post Number: 229
Registered: 8-2005
Posted on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 1:26 pm:   Edit Post

Well I haven't played a fretless Orion, but Trip Wamsley makes them sound pretty damn good.
garyhead
New
Username: garyhead

Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Saturday, September 29, 2007 - 8:44 am:   Edit Post

I have an Orion Fretless 6. (roundwounds) IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC! BUT!....I have Europa electronics installed. So your experience may be a bit different. Very expressive with just slight variations in finger movements....punchy, greasy, growly, sneezy & doc :-)
PLEEZE don't do a hack job on an Alembic! If you must defret...instead of sell / buy one....have the fretboard replaced with one piece of wood....have professionally set up for fretless...and enjoy! Yes, it will cost more than the maple inserts...but man.....those gliss' on a one-piece ebony board....there is nothing else quite like it.

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