Now HERE is some innovation!!!

Check this out, guys! A bass that actually gives you the ability to switch from being fretted and fretless! I almost didn't believe it when I read the tile, but the video tells all:



Now THIS is a great idea!

Cool! any idea what they cost?

I've seen those before. The company is Mikey Guitars, IIRC.

Mo Beach wrote:

Cool! any idea what they cost?

A whole lot

Cool! Thank you, KS! The video doesn't reference who makes them, so I couldn't list the maker.

And I am not at all surprised that they are expensive. I can imagine that the mechanism to raise and lower the frets must not be a simple one. But that sure does make for one neat feature! I would LOVE to have the ability to switch the frets in and out like this!

And here is their website:

http://mikeyguitar.com/

Its a really cool invention, but, IMHO, not yet perfected.

Two big problems come up, one, in fretless mode, the action is high, two, if you beat the frets down, re fretting becomes a nightmare.

Still incredible though!

All you need is a mechanism to lower the bridge, nut, pickups, and tuners for when you switch to fretless! Duh! hahahaha

woah!

now thats the neatest inovation i seen for bass in a long time!

not that its something i'de be willing to fork out the cash for ... it doesnt make me say, "i gotta have that!"

two things i would be concerned about ........

buzz ... all the mechanisim and parts to do that on a not traditionally mounted fret (i dont know how they are mounted or how the mechanisim moves from fret to fretless) makes me think it will either buzz, buzz after being played a year or buzz after the first time it falls over and hits the deck.

fret wear ... i could see taking it to a local luthier and them just saying "no!", or saying, "sure ... thattl be $1500". i would hope with the complication of the mechanisim and the reality of that natural problem of fret wear that mikey decided to use stainless steel frets.

On a fretless, you want the board to be as smooth and hard as possible, correct?

So what I wonder about that bass is how do you make the fretless board flat? Are the frets flat on top (square shaped), not curved? If you sunk normal fretwire down to the point where the top is even to the top of the fretboard, you'd have some curved wedges of air in between the fret wire and the sides of the slots on the figerboard where the frets slide down. And square frets sound very uncomfortable.

And--wouldn't the fingerboard and frets wear unevenly? That sounds like it would be a nightmare to maintenance the frets or the fretboard or the neck.

But still...that is such a cool idea

Someone makes a bass that has the 1st-12th fretted and the 13th-24th are fretless. Could be interesting!

Yeah! Brown's Guitar Factory, I think? Cronos from Venom has been doing that for quite some time

Its cool, because Browne's raise the fingerboard after the frets, by the thickness of the frets, so you get no action change up high.

Ah...you mean this?



And a Kahler to boot! But I think some of you have already seen this one. Still, it absolutely blows me away every time I watch it! The guy is incredible!

I know! That video's sick.