Re: fretless guitars

on 8/3/01 2:43 PM, MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com at
MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com wrote:

> From: "D.Stearns" <STEARNS@...>

> How do you like the fretless? Are you amplifying it at all? I've had
> better luck with nylon string acoustic fretless instruments than I
> have with steel, how's your experience been?

Dan,

The fretless is truly wonderful. Before having the frets pulled, I'd been
somewhat worried about sustain issues of steel strings on an acoustic. I was
concerned that it would sound like a pizzicato violin. It's somewhat quieter
than a fretted acoustic, but it does sound good, kind of a cross between an
oud and a fretless bass. The brightness of an all maghogany guitar seems to
be an asset for the tone.

I'm playing it unamplified at the moment, although I might stick a pickup in
at some point. The wound strings have more sustain than the trebles, so I
sometimes play the trebles with the fingernail of my left hand, like an oud
or sarod player would do. I find I naturally gravitate to playing it with
one finger sliding around, I'd noticed this worked well on my fretless banjo
too. I haven't done any fingerboard treatment, although I might do that
later too. For now, I do like the sound from

I haven't composed anything for it yet, but I've been improvising alot in
various open tunings with it and trying different scales that I saved from
the tuning list that peaked my interest. One of these days I'll set up some
mics when neighbors aren't mowing their lawns, and record something with it.

Seth

--
Seth Austen

http://www.sethausten.com
emails: seth@...
klezmusic@...