Hey there...

i want to pull the frets out of an old AccuBass I have lying around.
How should I proceed?

How do I pull them out and how do I fill the holes afterwards?

Is there anything else anyone would like to add so I don't ruin my bass? :)

thanks a lot

ezdrul

I myself have just done this to my Squire P, and it's not that hard. Just get a chisle or flat-head screw driver, and SLOWLY tap out the frets, using both ends of the fret. If you go fast, it will tear at the wood (as I found out :rolleyes: )

I used Maple Veneer to fill the slots. Just place it in the groove, and use a razor blade to trim it to the right shape. After a little sanding, it comes out looking very professional.

Rock on
Eric

Heating the frets (e.g. with a soldering iron) helps preventing fretboard tear.

Good luck!

Originally posted by JMX
Heating the frets (e.g. with a soldering iron) helps preventing fretboard tear.

I've read this before, does anybody know why it is like that? Shouldn't the heat cause the frets to expand and therefore be harder to pull out?

Bye,
Gero

On most basses, frets are held in place by glue. Heating the frets melts this glue, allowing the fret to slide out easily.

thanks for all the input guys

I'm a newbie considering defretting. So, help me out here.

I heat up the frets (to melt the glue), remove the frets (with a flathead screwdriver), then fill it (Maple Veneer? Where would I get this, and how much would it run me?) Is that all there is to it?

Theoretically yes

I don't know how well this transposes across to the delicate art of defretting, but I've found that stuck screws can often be freed by heating them with a soldering iron, letting them cool and then unscrewing them

The theory, as I understand it, is that the heat expands the metal, which pushes it against the sides of the screwhole and slightly enlarges them. When the screw cools, it shrinks back to the original size but the hole remains slightly larger than it originally was.

The fretwire I've seen had a patterned surface to grip the sides of the slot, so my screw trick might work on those.

Needless to say, be very careful of hot metal - and watch where you put that soldering iron, especially if you're then exerting yourself to extract the fret!

Wulf

I'm actually about to defret my P Bass as well. Apparently the best way to heat the frets is to steam them. take of the strings (oviously), hold the thing over some boiling water, and i dunno, i guess tapping them out with a screwdriver would be a good idea. then fill 'em in with that stuff that the other guy was talking about.

oh, and you might want to get some flat-wound strings, cause playing with roundwound could end up damaging the fretboard deprending on your style of play.

good luck.

what about using wood filler? does that work well?

I used a wood putty when I defretted mine. If you have a rosewood fretboard, you might want to coat it so you won't damage the fretboard. Rosewood is fairly soft compared to maple and it can get chewed up, depending on the situation. If you have a light touch, it really doesn't matter what type of strings you use. I have rounds on mine, because I don't like the feel and sound of flats. So far there has been no damage to the fretboard or the acrylic coat.

I have filled fret slots with a mixture of Superglue and wood-dust from the fingerboard. It worked well.

I fill & coat mine with 2 part epoxy. I only use stainless steel rounds on my epoxied rosewood boards and haven't seen an further damage then the fret removal processes.

Don't forget you may need to cut the nut and shim the neck to get it set right as a fretless.

Take your time and Good luck. I had fun doing it

James

I don't know how advisable it is to use steam. 1-it will probably saturate the wood, warping the neck backwards; 2-unless you have some method in mind of pinpoint steam application, the broad heating of the fretboard may loosen up the glue that holds the fretboard on - ouch!
I have heard several times of using a soldering iron to heat just the frets, to break down the fret glue bond.

I used polyester resin to fill my fret slots. Worked great. And don't even waste your money on flat wounds. They are expensive and terrible IMO.