Fretless Conversion- Could It Be THIS Easy?? Light? Muttley? Anyone?

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stevieb

Just another guy, really.
Played a fretless, briefly, while in New Orleans last weekend, and I was reminded of why I love that instrument so much- the tone of the strings is just so different, from first pluck to end of sustain. So, I am inspired to revive my fretless conversion project.

First decision will be: The MIM Fender Jazz bass, or the Peavey Millinium? Seems like a Jazz bass HAS to be fretless, but if I screw it up, I have trashed (in part) a $400 instrument. The Peavey, costing me less than $100 (after selling the little amp I got with it, I think I have about $50 in the thing) would not make me cry if it goes south... Input on that choice appreciated, but that's not my primary reason for this thread.

It is this: I found this "how-to," and I can not bring myself to believe I can get good results from a process that's so easy: Take a gander:
How to build a fretless bass | Beats´n´Bytes

I mean, he yanks the frets, FILLS THE SPACES WITH GLUE, sands it smooth, and just oils the fretboard- and he's DONE??!? Other how-to's would have you cutting wood strips to replace the frets, glueing them into place, sanding to a fair-thee-well, and then coating the (now) fingerboard with a thick coating of polyurethane- and using only flatwound strings. And even then, they tell you you will wear down the poly- and be sure to watch for that and re-poly it, lest you wear away the wood.

So, is the easy way advised? Or is it a good way to ruin a perfectly good guitar?
 
I wouldn't just use glue. I'd take a contrasting wood, say maple for a rosewood board and rosewood for a maple board, and fill in the slots. To me glue 'shrinks' as it dries, and those tang marks just look like Hell. You'd have to sand it down a little more, and that means using a radius block. Now it starts to add up for the tools you should have. I heat the frets to soften the bond of lacquer and fret or years of sweat and beer on top of lacquer holding the fret in place. So if you have nothing, add $40 for a soldering gun, $30 for fret pullers, $20 for a radius sanding block, some sandpaper, lacquer for a maple board or oil for a rosewood board, and it adds up. Plus you need to be sure you can do it. There's not having the sense to fear the unknown (like I claim to suffer from), and foolhardy ignorance. If you have some skills, and you've done home projects before, have at it. It'll be fun. But if you're green and unsure, All Parts sells a fretless neck with 'lines'. The price depends on who you buy from. On eBay they range from under $100 (Mighty-Mite) to under $300 (All Parts) depending on the wood. Just an idea, and you can save the original neck and any potential embarrassment.
 
Yeah, I can relate! The main reason I haven't done this already is fear of the unknown.

I play lefty, and all parts does not make a lefty fretless neck. But, they DO sell a fretless bass board blank. A LOT less money than a neck, too. Thing is, I would need to radius it. I am thinking I will go down to the music store I frenquent, and ask the luthier there if he can help me with this. I will be prepared to pay him for his time, expertiese, instruction, use of tools (which would, as you pointed out, cost me a small fortune to buy,) etc.
 
If I went that route, I'd use epoxy to fill the fret slots--you could even go so far as putting dye in the resin so you had fret markers.

My own fretless started as a rescue from a trash can in the local student ghetto--a Peavey T-40 that some collegiate types had really screwed up, pulled the frets, wrecked the wiring, and put a Wilkinson bridge on it about an inch out of whack.

To me, a fretless doesn't need 2 pups with coil taps, phase switch, etc., so I swapped the neck with a Cort P-Bass copy I had--it was certainly easier than refretting the T-40 neck would have been.

The previous owners had filled the fret slots with wood putty, I sanded it smooth and it's fine for the little I use it, if I were a real bass player, maybe I'd try to make it look better, but since it never leaves the house.....
 
If I went that route, I'd use epoxy to fill the fret slots--you could even go so far as putting dye in the resin so you had fret markers.

My own fretless started as a rescue from a trash can in the local student ghetto--a Peavey T-40 that some collegiate types had really screwed up, pulled the frets, wrecked the wiring, and put a Wilkinson bridge on it about an inch out of whack.

To me, a fretless doesn't need 2 pups with coil taps, phase switch, etc., so I swapped the neck with a Cort P-Bass copy I had--it was certainly easier than refretting the T-40 neck would have been.

The previous owners had filled the fret slots with wood putty, I sanded it smooth and it's fine for the little I use it, if I were a real bass player, maybe I'd try to make it look better, but since it never leaves the house.....
 
It's entirely possible to pull the frets and you have a bunch of options to fill them and finish. As you suspect the attention to detail is whats key and not the skill level required as it really isn't a tough job if you plan and allow time to do it properly. You can make or adapt many of the tools you need including radius blocks, fret pullers etc.

So if it were me and I wanted to keep the existing neck I'd replace the fingerboard or for a solid maple neck I'd rip the top quarter inch and replace with a new blank and take it from there. I have the tools and gear to do that and it would work out quicker for me.

If you want to pull the frets. heat with a soldering iron and gently lift from one edge with a sharp flat chisel. Don't invest in fret pullers if you are only doing this once. Go slowly and try and keep any breakout to a minimum and in most cases if you go slowly you can get the breakout back down with thin super glue. After that I'd sand off any finish on there and remove all the dust from the slots. If you want to fill the slots with thin timber get some veneer from ebay and use that. Maple veneer is cheap. Use a clear slow set epoxy to set the veneer in place and sand with your home made radius block and 200 grit to force a lot of the dust into the slots and set in with the veneer and epoxy. You'll go through quite a bit of sand paper to start. Once you have an even finish let it set for a day or two and sand to 400 grit then 600 and further if you want. You will need to put something on it as maple gets dirty pretty quick. Tru oil is good and you can just add more as she wears away until after a while you have a nice finish. Other options for a once only finish would be to use a bar top lacquer or clear floor lacquer. Those are seriously tough but a little harder to work with. Finishing a neck is probably the easiest part of a guitar though so don't be put off.

Always test you work methods on scrap and junkers first to get a feel for the job.

Any specific questions just ask. Good luck
 
stevieb said:
Yeah, I can relate! The main reason I haven't done this already is fear of the unknown.

I play lefty, and all parts does not make a lefty fretless neck. But, they DO sell a fretless bass board blank. A LOT less money than a neck, too. Thing is, I would need to radius it. I am thinking I will go down to the music store I frenquent, and ask the luthier there if he can help me with this. I will be prepared to pay him for his time, expertiese, instruction, use of tools (which would, as you pointed out, cost me a small fortune to buy,) etc.
Click to expand...

Warmoth does lefty/fretless bass necks... Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Custom Bass Neck Wizard
 
Warmoth is super expensive, but of all the kits I built, they made the 'best' necks bar none. It was just 'sexy', if you can say that about a neck. Great wood, amazing workmanship. But expensive. The Jazz I built from All Parts wood was really good, and I hear they use the Fender Japan stuff, so you know what you're getting. I've been lead to believe Mighty Mite uses Fender MIM stuff, and for some reason I never cottoned to any Mighty Mite kit. But for $100 or less I might give them a third chance.
It's the nut that says if it is strung right or left handed. So you have the peghead 'upside down'. Didn't seem to bother Hendrix. ;)
 
O Jeebus!

This tutorial hurts my head just reading it!

This poor guy just butchered his axe! He's made no mention about the nut, how easy it is to soil the maple fingerboard, how bad he screwed up the crown on his fingerboard with 200 grit sandpaper, he didn't heat the frets to remove them and even put roundwounds on the bass when he was done...ahhhhhh!

I will in the very near future be posting a step for step tutorial on defretting a neck as well as epoxying the fingerboard with proper information, steps and will allow you to get a good playing instrument with little time and little money!

Fretless Knowledge. Wood and Strings, No Frets Attached.

god help us!
 
giedosst said:
O Jeebus!

This tutorial hurts my head just reading it!

This poor guy just butchered his axe! He's made no mention about the nut, how easy it is to soil the maple fingerboard, how bad he screwed up the crown on his fingerboard with 200 grit sandpaper, he didn't heat the frets to remove them and even put roundwounds on the bass when he was done...ahhhhhh!

I will in the very near future be posting a step for step tutorial on defretting a neck as well as epoxying the fingerboard with proper information, steps and will allow you to get a good playing instrument with little time and little money!

Fretless Knowledge. Wood and Strings, No Frets Attached.

god help us!
Click to expand...

Can't wait. Don't make any mistakes though or I'm going to drop on you like a truck of hot horse shit like you did to the original link. He did a half decent job judging by the pics. Also WTF is wrong with round wound? If it has the right lacquer on it no problem.

Go for it..;)
 
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