On the edge of placing a stick order and still pondering a Railboard vs. a wood stick of some kind, I was curious about the following statement on the Stick.com site with regards to the fretboard texture of the current Railboards in production.

"Sound and playing feel will be the same, except that lateral finger motion on the strings, such as vibratos and blues bending, will produce about half as "edgy" a sustained sound, the Rail tips having a hard anodized texture that is about half as grainy as the glass bead blasted Rail tips of last run. The tips are not as smooth as on our regular stainless steel Rails, however, and will still produce some of the violin bow effect discovered in the first run of Railboards."

I would guess that there are some that have played and compared the sound and feel of the smooth fretboard vs. the textured fretboard...any thoughts?

Not that smooth vs. textured is an option, I was just curious.

Thanks

Mmmmm. ...
Me thinks proper technique never requires you to push hard enough on the strings to actually feel the fretboard. If you are, you are bending your notes out of tune. Hope I interpreted your post correctly...

cheers,
Don't bend it Like Beckham

The first Railboards had a "sand-blasted" surface on the front, which was a little "rough". This meant that when the stings were rubbed along the frets it was a little like bowing on a violin string. It was an interesting effect, but a bit too much when trying to use vibrato.

So when Emmett refined the texture on the surface he made the frets smoother. Now they feel more like regular Stick frets.

To Kev-C's point, the newer smaller Rails are actually low enough to the board that you can feel the wooden surface. This is not true on the Railboard though, the frets of which are higher than the Rails on the wooden and bamboo instruments.

Thanks kev...close enough interpretation. I'm hoping to take your advice soon...well, considering possible wait times on a new one.

Greg...I was suspecting that you would chime in. Thanks for the explanation.

Personaly I just love the way my railboard sounds when I go for that endless sustain on a given note... I suppose the added friction of the fret keeps the string vibrating louder, much like with be bow on the double bass... It allows me to have full control at all times and it's up to me alone to decide when the sound stops.... Perfection!


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I really wanted to "love" the Railboard.However, I found it cold and I could not get used to the feel of the instrument... In saying that.... The sound of the instrument is just amazing, particularly the Low End of things. You can not go wrong with whatever you decide... But ya gots to ask yourself

"GOT WOOD"?

I love my railboard, but since I got my Wenge grand I have literally not touched it (The railboard). String spacing was/is a major difference on the two...

Funnily enough, I am looking forward to the additional spacing as compared to a grand stick for two reasons.

One - My current setup has me playing the melody side through a mark 5. With the gain level providing a good amount of distortion , I have a slight bleed through when playing the thickest bass string.

Two - I come from playing guitar, on a grand stick, to ensure I don't brush adjacent strings, I am playing more on the tips of my fingers rather then more towards the pads. It's a different feel then on the guitar.

I am hoping the additional spacing gives me room to breath and bend a little easier.

I will definitely share my observations when my railboard arrives. It is my understanding that the gk3 custom pickup is completed so it shouldn't be long now.

Larry

I like the "scritchy" feeling that the anodized frets have compared to the steel ones. It's different--I don't have the control yet, Rodrigo, that you do. But there's texture there to work the strings on.I think that the playing experiences between my Railboard and my Rosewood 10-string are significant and there are plusses and minuses on both sides--they just sound and feel and play different. I prefer the wooden Stick to the Railboard when playing acoustically, but the Railboard PAS4 sounds sweet--especially on the bass side, as rclere says--when plugged in and phantom powered.
I love the extra string spacing from the Railboard. But I find that I appreciate the Rosewood more and more for being almost a different instrument than the Railboard. My next Stick will definitely be the Grand--10 or 12--and definitely Wenge. That shit's just beautiful! Butter! But to tell you the truth, I want the NS/Stick bass more and more every day! Adds: Okay, I want the AcouStick, of which I think only two exist in the world. Just sayin'. I had to cancel the wait on the GK3s, and I've had my Railboard for exactly 31 days now. No regrets but best of luck with the MIDI pickups! I'll probably add double MIDI to a Grand Wenge (but next year! Man's gotta eat!) when I have all the time (and more money) in the world.

Your wait is almost over, Larry! Sweet!

paigan0,

Its my understanding that you cannot do double midi, if you look at the pictures of the the current design there is excess space taken up. That is why i am using an sy300 on the bass side and the gr55 on the melody side. I do know the midi pickup in my soon to ship stick, is a new design, maybe they shrunk it. if they did i would do two midi pickups as well. I like to have options.