Converting a fretted bass to fretless
bassist305pj
Posts: 10
Hey im just about to convert my fretted bass to a fretless. I just want to ask what would you use to fill in the gaps where the frets used to be for a rosewood fingerboard so that fret lines are very faint or non visible. I would also like to ask how would u go abbout removin fret inlays and filling the gaps, is it recommended? i just like the look of a bare fingerboard.
¸.¤°°¤.¸!Do ThE eVoLuTiOn!¸.¤°°¤.¸
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Before you pull frets and inlays from a fretboard, remember that the frets are part of what's holding the neck from bowing forward. It is possible,, and can look good, but you have to account with sudden release of the compression when you pull the frets, which can cause the neck snapping or the fretboard separating from the neck!
You can devise a brace to hold the neck straight while you do this. If you can find some matching rosewood , sand the scraps to dust and make up a color matching paste with a solid glue. I have to look up a good type of glue, but you are basically matching the color, then sanding and finishing the board again. I'll look up the glue and get back to you.
( see Paco's 1954 thread about sniffing lacquer thinner!:D)
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Finesse out the frets. A good way to do that is a pair of pliers like nippers. Try heating the fret with a soldering iron a bit to loosen the hold, especially if they're glued in, or tapping them on the edge. The first one is the hardest, then it's easy. Your risk here is big chips coming out of the wood.
Like MIG says, try some 1/8the strips of rosewood if you can find them. If you can cut a piece of rosewood to close to the width of the gap, glue pieces in with good wood glue. Maybe some dark wood like walnut, or light like maple. If you can't do this, sand a bit of the fretboard, which you'll have to do anyway, and save the sawdust. You can mix this with a good wood filler that can take a stain, and fill the fret slots. Sometimes you can work the inlays out by heating them with a soldering iron, sometimes you drill them out. you can fill them too with wood filler and sawdust. It won't be invisible though
Now is the time to change the radius of the fretboard if you want to. Whatever you do, you probably want a radius block of wood that you can stick sandpaper to and smooth out the fretboard to keep the radius consistent.
Remember that the fret dots on the side of the neck will be meaningless, too, so mark some fret slots on the side for reference, like gold paint or inlayed diamonds.
Then nitrocellulose lacquer.
You can also remove the fretboard if you really want to. Heat and steam.
Then for like 40 bucks, you can get an ebony fretboard and glue that puppy on!
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,_wood/Bass_guitar:_Fingerboards/Bass_Fingerboard_Blank.html
You can get a lot of info and supplies from stewmac.com
Good luck!
Jaco did it!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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You can fill the gaps with a wood filler, that's fine. Just not some cheesy spackle. You can prestain some, let it dry and see if it matches before you stick it in. You can always try to pull one inlay out and see how it goes. I'm still trying to find the filler that's best, I'll probably talk to my friend this weekend . He knows the stuff. I forget right now.
If you're not going to lacquer the neck, and you don't know what radius you want, just play it like it is and see how you like it then change it later.
Lemon oil is good to use on the fret board. You want something to moisturize the wood, and it doesn't cover up the tone.
You'll probably have to recut or file down the nut, too.
You got it! Cool project.
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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I remember reading that like years ago, and tried to find it for you...
That's definitely the ideal way to do it. But that kind of job by a professional luthier would cost buku bucks. And to do it yourself would be quite the experiment.
Like Bob said, you'll want to keep the fretboard very well-conditioned if you don't put a finish on. The nitrocellulose lacquer would be the least invasive finish, but if you want bare wood, keep the fretboard conditioned with lemon oil.
It's so cool that you're taking this kind of project on... you'll learn a lot about it. You can start picking up old Peavey and Squier basses and practice de-fretting them, get really good, and go pro...
one of my best friends and i have converted a bass and two guitars to fretless's and what we used was epoxy..and it has worked very well, we have it down to a science....its clear so the lines are hardly visible. the bass took us about 3 hours being our first project, the last guitar we did was a strat and got it done in a little over an hour.once you remove the frets (we used a chizzel and hammer and were carefull about it...we taped up the frets so just the fret holes were through and filled up with epoxy...once we removed the tape we used a razor blade and scraped away the excess epoxy...then got a tounge oil and oiled down the neck. works like a charm. the bass being that it was a fretted before hand with a rosewood neck..gave it a darker sound than a normal fretless...almost like an upright at times but with all the sustain...if you were gonna do a guitar i would suggest getting a sheet of metal such as a thin brass such as a door stop piece at home depot or somethin and cover the fretboard with that for sustain..but you dont need to worry about that for bass.