Crazy talk...

PerpetualBurn · #1 10-28-2002, 07:26 PM

Here's a dumb question...

Does anyone have, or has anyone ever seen a fretless Jem? did Vai ever use a fretless axe? Fretless jem with the vine would be kinda kool...

Rob

**cerealk** · #2 10-28-2002, 07:28 PM

Nope, not seen one

Rich · #3 10-28-2002, 07:30 PM

The bottom neck of the triple neck is fretless

vaijem777 · #4 10-28-2002, 07:31 PM

Actually, the first (lowest) neck on Steve's triple-necked VWH is a fretless. VERY cool to play! In the 5 minutes that I spent with it at the '97 NAMM Show, the majority of the time was on the fretless neck. It kinda threw me at first...very odd playing a guitar with no metal on the fingerboard!

vaijem777 · #5 10-28-2002, 07:34 PM

D'oh! Rich was posting at the same time I was! LOL

here's a pic:

http://www.vai.com/Machines/guitarpages/guitar040.html

PerpetualBurn · #6 10-28-2002, 07:35 PM

whats different about it, i mean, im really interested in getting a fretless guitar, since i used to play violin, and i thought it could be a kool nostalgia kinda thing...

but on a more serious note, Vaijem, do you remember what was wierd about it, what threw you, was it difficult to play? is the tone very different, does the string resonate very differently? can you do two handed tapping? is sweep picking possible...??? so many questions...so little time!

Rob

Rich · #7 10-28-2002, 07:35 PM

I had less to say

vaijem777 · #8 10-28-2002, 07:42 PM

First of all, keep in mind that I only had about 8 minutes to myself before the guys at the booth freaked out. (the other 3 minutes were spent on "The Snake".

)

The only amp near the guitar was a teeny little Ibanez 10 watt P.O.S., so I can't really comment on the plugged-in tone. Acoustically, it rang fairly well. The thing was frikin' HUGE though. The size was the first thing that threw me. The second was the fact that I'd never experienced a fretless guitar neck at all. I wasn't sure what to do. I was personally just thrilled to even be NEAR the guitar, let alone hold it and play it. I wasn't aware that the guitars were actually OWNED by Joe & Steve. There were also L.A Custom Shop guitars made for J. of White Zombie (Iceman) and Noodles & Dexter from the Offspring (Talman & USRG).

The JEM Triple was cool, but extremly uncomfortable to hold/play. The Snake was incredible, but me session with it was interupted by a frantic Ibanez employee. Hey! It was their fault they hadn't put up the "Do Not Touch" signs yet! That's the one bonus of hitting the doors at 10AM Thursday morning.

As for the fretless neck specifically, it's definitely something that would be extremely cool if you have great (perfect) pitch. Definitely a terrific tool to tune your ear up a bit. I personally wouldn't be able to do a fretless guitar justice, but I'm sure that there are a ton of possibilities.

PerpetualBurn · #9 10-28-2002, 07:47 PM

So i guess the pros and cons of fretless guitars are one of the great mysterys of the guitar world... im sure that fretwire is there for a reason...and i wanna know what it is!

if all else fails, rather than taking frets out of my guitar, i can always put frets into my electric violin...bwhahahahaa

Rob

vaijem777 · #10 10-28-2002, 07:50 PM

Same basic theory as a fretless bass I guess. There are some techniques that can really benefit from a fretless guitar (slides, slurs, etc). It's almost like a whole new instrument in some ways though.

PerpetualBurn · #11 10-28-2002, 08:03 PM

I have been lucky enough to recieve the gift of Perfect Pitch, which is why i dont see the fretless guitar as much of a problem 'pitchwise' but havning never played one, i have no idea what it would do to my playing. Slides must be incredible, but what happens to other techniques, ie tapping, sweeps, etc etc... hmmm

Rob

trajectory fish · #12 10-28-2002, 08:20 PM

I think a fretless guitar would be extremely cool for playing leads, but for chords, I wouldn't be able to do without frets.

pawel · #13 10-28-2002, 10:01 PM

Just wondering...would you need a perfect pitch to play a "lined" fretless guitar/bass, like the Jaco Pastorius bass, that have the frets painted/inlayed...? I am asking because i remember playing a fretless bass once (it was too loud in the shop for me to tell if i was in pitch) and i started thinking about fretless guitars...

Jupiter · #14 10-29-2002, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PerpetualBurn

I have been lucky enough to recieve the gift of Perfect Pitch

I have Perfect Pitch, too, and it certainly is a gift. But don't you just want to die whenever you hear two birds chirping a few cents off from each other, or electronic beeps { cell phones, timers, etc... } that are a little bit off from each other? Or is it just me? It's like i tell people when they ask me about, sometimes it' a blessing, sometimes it's a curse.
About the fretless... yeah, i've always wanted to try one of these out myself. I'll probably buy a cheapie guitar one day and de-fret it to try it out. And wouldn't you just KiLL to hear a fretless in the hands of someone like Allan Holdsworth of Fredrik Thorndendal { Meshuggah } ?
Ben

sniperfrommars1 · #15 10-29-2002, 04:03 AM

Sweeps on a fretless. you better be REALLY QUICK> I couldnt see anyone doing an good sweeps with a fretless but to each his own. Somone on the site had a link to a japanese guy who had alot of custom jems, and one of em was a fretless with a 555 inlay. Kind of weird guitar

Crazy talk...

interesting...

I guess no-one knows...lol

pitch

Re: pitch