home-made fretless

[Sir Trefor]

I played a fretless bass for the firs time a week ago and really liked the feel and tone that I could get out of it.

It dawned on me that I could just take the frets off any bass and have a fretless- I even asked a bass player who said that this has been done; but I was just wondering how I could fill the slots after such a procedure.

thanks,

Trevor

 

[Light]

I played a fretless bass for the firs time a week ago and really liked the feel and tone that I could get out of it.

It dawned on me that I could just take the frets off any bass and have a fretless- I even asked a bass player who said that this has been done; but I was just wondering how I could fill the slots after such a procedure.

thanks,

Trevor

Jaco was playing with Wayne Cochran & C.C. Riders, and about 20 minutes before a show took a butter knife to his bass, and thus the "BWAAAA" was born. This is NOT, how ever, advised. Pulling frets can cause a lot of damage to the fingerboard. A lot. I am not even going to begin to explain how to do it, because until you have experience, you WILL fuck up your fingerboard trying it. There are sites out there which can tell you the right way to pull frets, and how to either buy or make the right tools (and it really does take special tools to do it right). If you want, search for refreting information, and modify from there. But don't do that, OK?

When we do conversions for people, we usually talk them into buying a new fretless neck. It is cheaper than having the frets removed properly, filling the slots with a contrasting veneer (so you can at least still SEE where to put your fingers), and then getting the fingerboard perfectly true (which is even more essential on a fretless). There are a lot of very good quality necks out there. A lot of people are very fond of the Moses Graphite necks, but Warmoth makes a nice fretless bass neck, as do (I am sure) many other companies. Of course, this assumes you are playing a Fender bass or a copy.

The other possibility is to find a new (fretless) bass, which is probably the better idea. You can not get a good slap tone out of a fretless (even Les Claypool plays fretted basses for a lot of his slap stuff), and fretless just doesn't sound right for most Rock, Funk, Punk, or Metal. Occasionally, as a special sound, but not as a primary sound. Most professional bassists I know who play fretless also carry a fretted for these styles. Moridian makes a great bass gig bag which holds two basses for just this reason (they also make double guitar bags, but I have never actually seen anyone use one). If you don't have a fretted bass, you will probably miss it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[DigitalSmigital]

Les Claypool is the guy who does all the Pink Floyd stuff? Or am I thinking of somebody else? Googletime!

 

[Scooter B]

Les Claypool is the guy who does all the Pink Floyd stuff? Or am I thinking of somebody else? Googletime!

You are definitely thinking of someone else.

Les Claypool started with Primus and has done other stuff like Frog Brigrade and several other projects.

 

[Toad Rush]

Not necessarily, because the Frog Brigade covered Animals from start to finish as one of their cds. So in a sense he does do Pink Floyd, just not usually .

 

[Light]

Les Claypool is the guy who does all the Pink Floyd stuff? Or am I thinking of somebody else? Googletime!

You are thinking of Tony Levin, who has done the Pink Floyd stuff since Rodger Waters left. Tony Levin is one of the truely great bass players in the world, best know (probably) for his work with Peter Gabriel (who he has worked with since Peter Gabriel left Genisis). He is also the bass player for King Crimson, since the Dicipline era. Tony Levin rarely plays fretless, by the way. He plays an electric upright (with a 38 inch scale!!!!) when he wants the BWAAAAAA. If you want proff that he is one of the greats, try playing the bass line for "Don't Give Up" sometime. Fucking hard!!! (Of course, I am a pretty shitty bass player, but I am working on that.)

Les Claypool is best known for Primus, which is amazing in the bass deparment, if a little flashy for my tastes.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Sir Trefor]

Jaco was playing with Wayne Cochran & C.C. Riders, and about 20 minutes before a show took a butter knife to his bass, and thus the "BWAAAA" was born. This is NOT, how ever, advised. Pulling frets can cause a lot of damage to the fingerboard. A lot...

If you want, search for refreting information, and modify from there. But don't do that, OK? ...

filling the slots with a contrasting veneer (so you can at least still SEE where to put your fingers)...




Light

What you should know, right off the bat, is that, first of all I don't even own a bass yet(I'm a guitar player who wants a fretless bass). Second of all, I will perform this procedure no matter how much advisory I get against doing it(All I wanted was something like- "use this kind of wood filler to fill the slots..."). Third, and finally of all, although most of the people hear know more about musical insturments than me, I am an experienced woodworker, and I am confident that I can remove the frets without damaging the fingerboard.

And why would you need to know where the frets are with a contrasing veneer? A fretless bass allows more freedom for intonation

Forgive me if I seem hostile.

-Trevor

 

[Light]

What you should know, right off the bat, is that, first of all I don't even own a bass yet(I'm a guitar player who wants a fretless bass).

If you don't already have a bass, you should just BUY a fretless bass. Or buy parts from someone like Warmoth. You will be much happier with the results.

Second of all, I will perform this procedure no matter how much advisory I get against doing it(All I wanted was something like- "use this kind of wood filler to fill the slots...").

Don't use wood filler. Use Veneer. It gives surface which will actually last.

Third, and finally of all, although most of the people hear know more about musical insturments than me, I am an experienced woodworker, and I am confident that I can remove the frets without damaging the fingerboard.

This is NOT woodwork. It is lutherie. Though we do woodwork, there are a lot of very specialized skills in our business. This is one of them. If you are not experienced in lutherie, you WILL fuck up your fingerboard.

And if you are talking about using wood filler, your experience is in carpentry, not fine woodwork.

And why would you need to know where the frets are with a contrasting veneer? A fretless bass allows more freedom for intonation

No, the point behind the fretless bass is the BWAAA. Sure, there is some wiggle room for correcting intonation, but the intonation points are always within a few thousandths of an inch of where the fret would be. Lined fretless is easier to play, particularly if you are just starting.

Forgive me if I seem hostile.

-Trevor

And forgive me the same. I hate to see instruments fucked up, which is what usually happens when amateurs try and do my job. Trust me, nailing together some pine furniture does NOT qualify you to work on guitars.


Here is a little math for you, by the way, on what it would cost to make a fretless bass from Warmoth parts.

Pickups (Bartolini's) for J-bass - $140 (at least, that is what I charge. You can probably get them for less if you want).
Finished J-Bass Neck - $201-211 (Maple neck/Rosewood fingerboard, Satin or Gloss finish, Gloss recommended as they are harder)
Finished J-bass Body - $320-330 (Alder or ash)
Bridge - $30
Gears - $30

Total - $721-741

Try finding a bass as good as that could be for less. You won't.

And that is using premium parts. You can get bodies and necks which are quite good (though not as good) for quite a bit less.

As I said, the information is out there for how you remove frets, but it is a really bad idea to do it yourself. You do not have the tool, and it doesn't make sense to make it (you can't buy it) if you are not doing this full time. You also do not have the experience, no matter what woodworking experience you have, unless you are a luthier, in which case you would already know how to do this.

Always remember, it takes us twice as much time to fix your mistakes as it would to do it right in the first place, which means it costs twice as much.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Sir Trefor]

If you don't already have a bass, you should just BUY a fretless bass. Or buy parts from someone like Warmoth. You will be much happier with the results

I would love to- To be honest I haven't even searched the net(or eBay) for one. I just assumed that they are less popular, and more expensive than other basses- at my local guitar center out of all the basses there is only one fretless- a Warwick, which sounds amazing, but costs $800. I am working on a budget of less than $200. I was thinking about an Ibanez.

As far as playing it goes- I have been playing the guitar for almost 2 years now, and I've been playing the bass(my sisters) for about 1. The only reason I want a fretless bass is to experiment with new sounds in my music.

This is NOT woodwork. It is lutherie. Though we do woodwork, there are a lot of very specialized skills in our business. This is one of them. If you are not experienced in lutherie, you WILL fuck up your fingerboard.

And if you are talking about using wood filler, your experience is in carpentry, not fine woodwork.



Trust me, nailing together some pine furniture does NOT qualify you to work on guitars.

The only reason I said "wood Filler" was because when I asked anothr musician about this subject he told me that he had heard of other musicians doing this. Obviously just using regular "wood plastic" would both look bad and wear fast.

Perhaps I will just have to buy a fretless bass, but I do enjoy the satisfaction of doing something myself- and by the way, I have an old harmony guitar that i purchased for $25 that I would use for practice first.

-Trevor

 

[geet73]

I have seen quite a few budget fretless basses. Rogue and Carlo Robelli are two brands that come to mind. Cheap, but they're fretless. Any intonation problems will be fixed by you anyway.

 

[EddieRay]

What you should know, right off the bat, is that, first of all I don't even own a bass yet(I'm a guitar player who wants a fretless bass). Second of all, I will perform this procedure no matter how much advisory I get against doing it(All I wanted was something like- "use this kind of wood filler to fill the slots..."). Third, and finally of all, although most of the people hear know more about musical insturments than me, I am an experienced woodworker, and I am confident that I can remove the frets without damaging the fingerboard.

And why would you need to know where the frets are with a contrasing veneer? A fretless bass allows more freedom for intonation

Forgive me if I seem hostile.

-Trevor

This is what I did. Got myself a used, cheap, playable 4-string bass. Got instructions from The Bottom Line mail list. Used a hot steam iron on the frets to loosen the glue. Then carefully pried off the frets. I filled the fret lines with strips of clear plastic and super glue. Sand and finish to taste. That's the really short version.