defretted rickenbacker

[quincy_j_clomo]

Hey Folks!

A while ago i had my rick defretted, and i'm loving the way it plays now. Unfortunately, it took all the treble out of it. i expected this problem a little bit, but not to the degree of which i am experiencing. i had been thinking it was because i left it as a bare-wood fingerboard with no finish. i just spoke to a luthier about it, and he said it was more likely because we filled the fret slots with wood putty, which is too soft. he said he would happily replace the wood putty with maple for me, and the price is right around what i was expecting to pay anyway. i guess i'd just like some more opinions on the matter. so here are my options:


A)put a hard finish of some sort on there
B)replace the wood putty lines with maple
C)accept the loss of treble and just deal with it

thoughts?

[cstar]

I am no expert, and I think many others would know much better than myself, but I think the loss of treble is simply a byproduct of it being fretless, and not so much the wood putty. I would think that for any given instrument, a defretting would cause it to be substantially less trebly. I always describe the sound of a fretless as tubby and fat; I think that's just the nature of the beast. I suppose the maple could help a little but I don't imagine it would make a considerable difference. Hopefully some one with more knowledge can chime in though!

If playability is what you're going for, and not a change in sound, have you considered a refret with smaller frets than whatever it had before?

[Phendyr_Loon]

Yes, you should have the slots filled with actual wood, not just for tone but for the stability of the neck.

A few other things that just crossed my mind which might get the tone to your liking are string selection and capacitor and potentiometer value selection.

[Pilgrim]

Please get the dang putty out of there (it's the wrong material to use - makes me doubt how much your "luthier" knows, because no professional I know of would use it) and get some kind of solid material in there. Most commonly one would use plastic or wood veneer in that application.

Putty is the wrong material - should not be used. Over time it can compress and allow the entire neck to bow forward - and a truss rod won't correct it. One way to bend wood is to cut a series of slots across it, then apply pressure toward the slots. Sound familiar?

I would do this immediately, without waiting. Treble is another matter. Play with different string sets and you can probably compensate.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by quincy_j_clomo

Hey Folks!

A while ago i had my rick defretted, and i'm loving the way it plays now. Unfortunately, it took all the treble out of it. i expected this problem a little bit, but not to the degree of which i am experiencing. i had been thinking it was because i left it as a bare-wood fingerboard with no finish. i just spoke to a luthier about it, and he said it was more likely because we filled the fret slots with wood putty, which is too soft. he said he would happily replace the wood putty with maple for me, and the price is right around what i was expecting to pay anyway. i guess i'd just like some more opinions on the matter. so here are my options:


A)put a hard finish of some sort on there
B)replace the wood putty lines with maple
C)accept the loss of treble and just deal with it

thoughts?

And the, "price is right"? Sounds like you're getting what you paid for.

Frankly, I think your best bet at this point, is to have the fingerboard replaced.

[Duckwater]

If the price is reasonable I'd say get the slots filled in with maple and have the fingerboard covered in epoxy, then put some aggressive sounding strings on there.

[Pilgrim]

As JLS notes, "Luthier", and, "wood putty", in the same sentence... is pretty much an oxymoron. They don't compute.

Here's what I did when I made a bass fretless.

I went to a hobby/craft shop and bought a craft saw with a blade .022 wide. I also bought a few strips of styrene plastic that were all .020 wide.

I used the saw to clean out the fret slots after removing the frets, then roughly pre-cut and super-glued the styrene strips into place, pressing them well down into the fret slots. I trimmed the styrene with a razor blade, and all that was left to leave the fretboard very smooth was a light sanding. Styrene plastic is not compressible and the neck is perfectly stable 8 years later.

Frankly, if there's putty in those fret slots, you can do this yourself without recourse to the luthier of questionable skills. it would yield to a saw easily. The styrene will leave visible lines but you can always use a Sharpie to darken it.

[darkstorm]

Get a better repair person. He should have never use putty for fret fill.

[JLS]

Here's what I did when I made a bass fretless.

I went to a hobby/craft shop and bought a craft saw with a blade .022 wide. I also bought a few strips of styrene plastic that were all .020 wide.

I used the saw to clean out the fret slots after removing the frets, then roughly pre-cut and super-glued the styrene strips into place, pressing them well down into the fret slots. I trimmed the styrene with a razor blade, and all that was left to leave the fretboard very smooth was a light sanding. Styrene plastic is not compressible and the neck is perfectly stable 8 years later.

Frankly, if there's putty in those fret slots, you can do this yourself without recourse to the luthier of questionable skills. it would yield to a saw easily. The styrene will leave visible lines but you can always use a Sharpie to darken it.

Yup! 'Zackly how I done it! Never underestimate the wealth of usable stuff in your local hobby shop!

(If you still have one--they're going down faster than bricks & mortar music stores!)

[M.R. Ogle]

True, true. Hobby shops are down to Hobby Lobby, Michael's and the Hobbytown USA chains, mostly.

[pocketgroove]

Originally Posted by M.R. Ogle

True, true. Hobby shops are down to Hobby Lobby, Michael's and the Hobbytown USA chains, mostly.

We call that place Snobby Lobby over here...they're pretty pretentious and non-helpful.

[SB Dog]

I am thinking about having one of my Ric 4001C64 basses
(2009) converted to fretless.

I took the bass in finally, for a lower set up from what it originally had. The "Twelfth Fret" in Portland OR. discovered the bass has a small factory QC issue with the neck and dual truss rod arrangement.

Neck adjustments can not be made to lower the action without leaving the neck in a twist or having a rattling truss rod. Essentially a re-surface and re-fret (or no fret) is required to fix the issue. If I would have realized that I was required to send in the warrenty registration within 10 days of purchase back in '09, this would definetely be a warrenty issue. Because I did not, It is on me.

I have been wanting a quality fretless (Victor Bailey) bass, but I think if the de-fret job is done right, it should be quite a unique instrument. Short of sending it back to Rickenbacker, I certainly would not trust this job to anyone less than the most recommended and trusted custom guitar shop I know of.

I know they are going to carefully strip off the fretboard finish, remove the frets, fill the lines (I need to verify how) and paint the fret lines to match the Fireglo red. The fretboard will be re-finished to match original condition. It is not cheap, but I know it will be done professionally and flawless.

What are some thoughts?

[tabdog]

I like to fill in the fret slots with saw dust
from the fingerboard mixed with Elmer's
glue and work it all the way into the slots.

The mixture dries much harder than the
wood. It does not match the color but it
makes a great filler,



Tabdog