bass defretting ? for Light (or any other qualified person)

[cello_pudding]

buy a fretboard (not neck) that's fretless.

take off the strings...apply iron (as in clothing iron) to frets...which heats up glue...creating an ability to put a putty knife in the crease under the fretboard. heat up another section...move knife down...until you're at the other end.

then glue on the fretless fretboard.

 

[notCardio]

And where do I buy

a fretless fretboard for an EB-O? Or a Dan Armstrong plexi? Or a 1972 Univox beatle bass?

Why is this such a hard concept for people to grasp?

Is it me? Am I not explaining myself well enough?

 

[notCardio]

Sorry

I'm getting frustrated to the point where I'm counfused as to which thread I'm replying in.

Anyway, I'm not willing to screw up a new $600 Mustang playing luthier. I want it done by a real luthier. So that I may end up with a product that's actually usable.

 

[apl]

Isn't there a reputable luthier in your metropolitan area?

 

[cello_pudding]

the person i learned that fretboard removal thing never did it before either.

turned out well too.

its not too difficult.

if you've ever used glue, i think you could do it.

but hey, i'm cheap. that's just me.

 

[Light]

buy a fretboard (not neck) that's fretless.

take off the strings...apply iron (as in clothing iron) to frets...which heats up glue...creating an ability to put a putty knife in the crease under the fretboard. heat up another section...move knife down...until you're at the other end.

then glue on the fretless fretboard.

That is, by the way, like ten times more work then just getting it defreted.

Really bad idea.


Light

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

 

[notCardio]

Isn't there a reputable luthier in your metropolitan area?

You tell me. Is there? I don't know anyone who's had anything like that done, and all of the people I've talked to at music stores just want to sell you something. Once they find out that you're not looking to buy anything from them, they sorta lose interest in talking to you. 'Excuse me for a minute....' and that's the last you see of them.

 

[cello_pudding]

That is, by the way, like ten times more work then just getting it defreted.

Really bad idea.


Light

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

defreted? every fret being withered down or removed and then filled?

it's nothing compared to what i said, and i think it would look nicer.

 

[Light]

defreted? every fret being withered down or removed and then filled?

it's nothing compared to what i said, and i think it would look nicer.

Having done both, I can tell you for certain you are dead wrong. Replacing a fingerboard without ruining the neck is a HUGE amount of work, even if you are stupid enough not to fix the finish issues it creates.

Pulling frets, if you know how, is fairly quick. That and filling the slots take less time than removing the fingerboard without causing the neck to twist and warp in like 15 different directions. The biggest time and difficulty with defretting is always going to be getting the neck perfectly true after the neck is out, which you also have to do if you replace a fingerboard. Well, that and filling the slots, but that is not all that bad.

Sorry, but you have no clue on this one. Believe me, there is a LOT more to replacing a fingerboard than just yanking off the old one and slapping on a new one, at least if you want the instrument to be playable.


Light

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

 

[apl]

You tell me. Is there?

I've only lived here a couple of years, dude.

Amazing. I typed in luthier indianapolis in Yahoo and got http://www.kennaquhair.com/ in Burlington.

 

[notCardio]

Well now I know where to go to get a bouzouki made if I ever get a gig at Greek restaurant.

Mmmm, feta.

And it doesn't matter how long you've lived here. Everyone I've ever asked (and I've asked plenty, believe me) says they don't know of anyone.

Now, if you need amp work done, I've been told Uncle Albert's is the place to go, and somebody at Uncle Albert's used to do the occcasional guitar refinishing, but no luthiers. I've got friend who always wanted to get into it who said he'd give it a try, but he's never done it, and that's not exactly what I was looking for.

The quest continues.

 

[apl]

The first listing when you Yahoo indianapolis luthier is Frank's Violins. I called them and he said they have an excellent guitar repair guy who can defret a bass beautifully. I got stuck when he asked what kind and had to say I was inquiring for a friend. Their number is 317-251-5950.

 

[dkelley]

I had this done professionally many years ago (17 years ago?) to one of my basses when I was a pro player. It was a neck thru ibanez musician, no chance of a bolton replacement for that. They did remove the frets and filled them with a light wood (but very thin and fine, not super easy to see but there if you wanted to look for it). I would have prefered no fret lines, but it turned out to be helpful when I'd lend it to my second bass player when I'd play guitar in our fusion band - he wasn't as comfortable with fretless but loved the tone, fret lines were perfect.

Anyway, it worked great for several years, but eventually started buzzing like crazy in all sorts of different spots. the fingerboard of the bass was ebony - amazing how regular pro playing with roundwounds on a fretless can wear down even something as hard as ebony...

So I pawned it for almost nothing. Sad but true. It wasn't worth repairing, would have cost more than the original instrument due to how it was made which would have caused lots of problems when removing and replacing the fingerboard. Apparently sanding it wasn't a cure since the wood they filled the fret holes with was different in texture than the fingerboard which made everything wear unevenly.

Anyway, defretting cost me like $300 back then by the big pro in vancouver at the time (Shuriva woodcraft, not sure if the spelling is right). Ichi did it for me but I wore it out after about 8 years or hard pro playing. That's sad. But I do recommend taking it down to the fingerboard rather than filling it over the existing frets - that must look damn ugly... never ever seen that in my life after playing 70 or so different fretless basses in my career. One of the nice things about fretless is the thin ness of the fingerboard, the delicate way you can play. make it thick and all epoxy covered and it would have to be a pretty thin fingerboard in the first place not to end up being a huge nasty thick beast to play. However I HAVE heard of defretting it, filling the fret holes, and THEN epoxying it or similar. I think that's sort of what pedulla does (well not the defretting part since they're fretless to begin with).

I will say one thing - making that musician bass fretless improved it ten times. The only fretted bass I ever loved after that was my alembic series 1. Takes $7000 to make a fretted bass that's as good as a well made and well maintained fretless costing only $1000. From my experience anyway.

Cheers

I seem to recall you estimating about $40/fret for a fret job, how much for a DE-fret job?

I'm toying with the idea of having a bass professionally de-fretted, because it's not the standard P or J that you can get aftermarket fretless necks for.

And before someone gives me the 'hell, just do it yerself' routine, I might buy a cheapo and play around with it, but I would like to have something of quality that will be finished while I'm still breathing.

Thanks.