'De-fretting' my bass...

[Light]

Just save up enough to buy a cheap fretless, that way you've still got the fretted version, which you will want again at some point. If you try the DYI thing, just be prepared to junk the bass when it doesn't work. Some guys just like to do stuff like this for fun, and that's cool, but they're not doing it to save money. The most famous case, of course, is Jaco Pastorious' defretting of his Jazz and glopping on multiple layers of epoxy. That, however, was as much luck as anything, not to mention the fact that Jaco could have probably played anything and made it sound good. I suspect that he was also pretty high when he made the decision to rip the frets out.

To Light - why won't it work on a maple? I've always wondered why you vitually never see maple fretless and would like to know the science behind it.

Good luck all.

In order for maple to work as a fingerboard, it MUST be finished, and the strings wear away the finish very quickly.


Light

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

 

[STAT1STICK]

I de-fretted one of my old guitars once (not recommended). To this day, I'm not really sure why I did it... It gave me this really wierd sitar effect when I played it. I'm not sure if it was from the strings being so close to the neck or if it was because I had the action really low. Either way, it wasn't really cool. I had to rip the neck off of another guitar and bolt it on the guitar I destroyed. It's not the same as it was before. Now I just use that guitar for various experiments and odd tunings. Really the only thing it's good for now.

 

[notCardio]

Hijack Alert!

In order for maple to work as a fingerboard, it MUST be finished, and the strings wear away the finish very quickly.


Light

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

Elaborate, please.

Why does maple have to be finished, but others don't? Isn't maple naturally harder than rosewood? I would think that would mean it would not need a finish as much. Note, I'm not doubting you, I just would like someone to explain it to me so I understand why. I know that it used to be that the only maple fretboards you saw, whether bass or guitar, were thick, high gloss finishes. Now you only see that on the high end Fenders. The rest of them have satin finishes. Is it because the technology of finishes has changed to where satin finishes are possible now whereas they weren't before, or is it just a fashion trend?

 

[notCardio]

neither here nor there

I used to go and see a cajun band semi-regularly where the bass player played a six-string fretless. A six-string fretless in a band where the normal bass part is almost like the tuba part in polka band. He said he had to or he would get so bored he'd have to kill himself. He was pretty creative with it without getting so flashy it stood out. I nicknamed him 'Six the Hard Way'.

You're all fascinated, I can tell.

 

[EddieRay]

Elaborate, please.

Why does maple have to be finished, but others don't? Isn't maple naturally harder than rosewood? I would think that would mean it would not need a finish as much. Note, I'm not doubting you, I just would like someone to explain it to me so I understand why. I know that it used to be that the only maple fretboards you saw, whether bass or guitar, were thick, high gloss finishes. Now you only see that on the high end Fenders. The rest of them have satin finishes. Is it because the technology of finishes has changed to where satin finishes are possible now whereas they weren't before, or is it just a fashion trend?

I defretted a maple neck. I have no regrets about it - I even use roundwound strings - but I did it before learning that people usually don't defret maple necks. Since doing it I've played several old fretted, maple-neck basses that I thought would sound wonderful as fretless. There's just something about some aged maple necks that, in my opinion, harbor a certain tone and beg to be defretted.

 

[Light]

Elaborate, please.

Why does maple have to be finished, but others don't? Isn't maple naturally harder than rosewood? I would think that would mean it would not need a finish as much. Note, I'm not doubting you, I just would like someone to explain it to me so I understand why. I know that it used to be that the only maple fretboards you saw, whether bass or guitar, were thick, high gloss finishes. Now you only see that on the high end Fenders. The rest of them have satin finishes. Is it because the technology of finishes has changed to where satin finishes are possible now whereas they weren't before, or is it just a fashion trend?

Rosewood and ebony are naturally very oily woods, so they can survive the elements fairly well. Maple is NOT an oily wood, and is there for far more prone to eviromental stresses. Maple fingerboards (and necks) which are not finished have a tendency to become sort of like diving boards with the seasons. I've seen unfinished maple necks that move more than a quarter inch up and down over the corse of the seasons. And these are old necks, which should have stabalized. Now, when you consider that typical action on an electric guitar is less than 1/8 of an inch, that's a BIG change.

As to the finishes you see on necks these days, well, satin finishes are a LOT cheaper than glossy finishes. But people have always expected to see glossy finishes on guitars. In recent years, people have come to accept satin finishes on guitars, but usually only on lower cost instruments. Look at the top of the line Gibsons, Martins, or Taylors (or anything by a small shop builder), and they are shinny. Bob Taylor has famously said he wants to find the guy who decided that guitars should be shinny, dig him up, and kill him again. Twice. It is a very time consuming and labor intensive process (though I don't know what Bob is complaigning about. He has a robot that polishes HIS guitars).


Light

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

 

[notCardio]

EddieRay

I defretted a maple neck. I have no regrets about it - I even use roundwound strings - but I did it before learning that people usually don't defret maple necks. Since doing it I've played several old fretted, maple-neck basses that I thought would sound wonderful as fretless. There's just something about some aged maple necks that, in my opinion, harbor a certain tone and beg to be defretted.

Was it a gloss or satin, and how did you defret it? I mean, what did you use as filler, and what finish did you put on it?

 

[thewanderer24]

I'm not an expert tech, so I won't get into the different finishes and techniques for defretting. It's a very common and standard operation, though.

I do get paid to play the bass on a regular basis, though, so...

My Caveat:
If you are having trouble with accuracy on a fretted bass, you are going to sound absolutely TERRIBLE on a fretless. You won't be able to play any notes in tune. String/fret noise is one thing. Every single note you play being out of tune by varying degrees is much worse.

Long term, you can clean up string and fret noise with a little work on technique.

Short term there's a few much easier things than moving to fretless. One, someone already mentioned using flatwound strings. They will have much less high end, and much less fret and finger noise. You can also make sure to use older dead strings.

Roll the treble off on the bass and/or preamp or DI and/or in the track. The passive treble roll off knob that comes on most basses is GREAT for getting rid of exactly the kind of noise you are worried about.

You should make sure that you use mainly the neck pickup and NOT the bridge pickup. This will help you de-emphasize noise and give a warmer sound.

Also, with your plucking hand, the further away from the bridge you pluck (more towards the neck, or even over the neck), the warmer and smoother a sound you will get.

Those are my two cents...