Not a huge fan of the fretless tone on this, but

[whyachi]

man its cool. I'd love to have something like this to play around with. I've seen custom shops do it, but Ibanez getting into it is new to me.

http://www.ibanez.com/news?ceId=2914&cat=4

 

[dNA]

Holy midrange, Batman

 

[AprioriMark]

I want one.

-Mark

 

[BassmanAK]

Think I'd rather have a full fretless......
Interesting concept though, for those of us
who are somewhat tone deaf in the lower register.....  :confused4:
There HAS to be a difference in the action between the
fretted/fretless sections.....

 

[AprioriMark]

I have a sweet fretless, but the utility there is super cool.

-Mark

 

[whyachi]

There HAS to be a difference in the action between the
fretted/fretless sections.....

I saw a builder on Talkbass do one like this, 8-string, and with those single string bridges they just recessed the fretless side ones a bit into the body to adjust. In the beginning of the video you can see that the fretless D & G bridges are sunk in a bit.

Anybody else thinking of taking a lined fretless Gecko 6 and modding it now?

 

[Mor Paul]

There HAS to be a difference in the action between the
fretted/fretless sections.....

I saw a builder on Talkbass do one like this, 8-string, and with those single string bridges they just recessed the fretless side ones a bit into the body to adjust. In the beginning of the video you can see that the fretless D & G bridges are sunk in a bit.

Anybody else thinking of taking a lined fretless Gecko 6 and modding it now?

I'm not sure if there is a best solution.

If you recess the bridge, the strings are further away from the body, and further out on the fretted section.
If you raise the fretless section, you've got a fretboard that isn't flat.

 

[tubby.twins]

Wow.  This is kinda messed up.

 

[dNA]

If you recess the bridge, the strings are further away from the body, and further out on the fretted section.

:icon_scratch: I don't follow. How does recessing the bridge make the strings further away from the body?

 

[whyachi]

If you recess the bridge, the strings are further away from the body, and further out on the fretted section.

:icon_scratch: I don't follow. How does recessing the bridge make the strings further away from the body?

He means that on the fretless side, the strings would be closer to the body - and the fretboard.

 

[dNA]

ohhhhhh. I didn't understand that he was saying on the fretted section: the strings would be further away from the body.
gotcha.


Still, wouldn't you expect there to be a difference in action between the fretted and fretless sides? I haven't played a fretless, so I don't know how that would feel but I would think it's not that big of a deal?

 

[Mor Paul]

If you recess the bridge, the strings are further away from the body, and further out on the fretted section.

:icon_scratch: I don't follow. How does recessing the bridge make the strings further away from the body?

He means that on the fretless side, the strings would be closer to the body - and the fretboard.

Whoops, I was a bit unclear.

 

[Jeremiah]

I think maybe the mini-pickup that is dedicated to the fretless strings is too close to the bridge, making the sound a bit too much on the bright twangy side. I wonder what it would have sounded like if it was next to the neck pickup instead.

 

[dNA]

I think maybe the mini-pickup that is dedicated to the fretless strings is too close to the bridge, making the sound a bit too much on the bright twangy side. I wonder what it would have sounded like if it was next to the neck pickup instead.

I agree. I was thinking it'd probably be fine if it was even just switched to the opposite side of the bridge pickup. The difference an inch makes is more noticeable right near the bridge

 

[NLD09]

That clip sounded pretty ballin'.

 

[line6man]

This was on TalkBass a few months ago. :blob7:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=618621

My thoughts on the matter:

Interesting design for sure, but pretty pointless IMO.

Why did they choose Rosewood for the fingerboard??
For the fretboard, Rosewood is probably fine, but for the fingerboard, roundwounds are going to destroy that wood, and it won't be easy to sand it down or epoxy it.

I only play fretless, so I would have wanted the bass kind of opposite that.
Fretted E and A strings at the bottom, and then fretless E, A, D and G strings at the top.
I would have also wanted the pickups system to be a 6 string J pickup at the bridge position (Possibly a split coil for the 4 and 2 strings.) with no neck pickup. Obviously that's just me though, I don't think anyone else would want to buy a bass like that.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=618621

 

[DangerousR6]

Screw the bass, I gotta have one of these..... :hello2:

 

[dNA]

hahah. you would.
i don't like floyd guitars or any of ibanez flagship guitars, but that guitar looks pretty f'in sweet


also, i googled the bass and was surprised to see that it's going for $1000. I guess i was expecting it to be a fancier thing. But I guess ibanez doesn't make too much stuff in excess of a thousand bucks really. and certainly not brand new products