Defretting

[5StringThunder]

I'm looking to rip the frets out of a bass and I have a couple questions:

-can I fill the slots with epoxy or wood filler instead of veneer strips?

-what's the best was to remove inlays?

-what's the best way to fill the inlay holes after they've been removed so that it appears as though they were never there?

Thanks.

[wraub]

Well...
I used veneer to do mine because most available info suggested that to do otherwise risked the Wrath of Khan, or something.

Best way to remove inlays would probably be to use an exacto blade or similar, risk the expected damage, and fill where the inlays were, probably with wood dust that matched the board best.

Good luck.

wraub

[Musiclogic]

Epoxy and wood filler both shrink over time, thus eventually becoming narrower than the slot they were filling, thus most pros use veneer or thin plastic. As for the dots, using wood dust and glue will give you the clay dot look. Epoxy and matching veneer will yield much better results by cutting circles out of a paper backed veneer you can get a relatively good match, or using circle punches or plug cutters to create exact size circles, then it is just aligning grain. As for pulling the frets, you can get a decent "fret puller" from Ebay for about $8 and go onto Youtube and watch some "defretting" videos for handy tips on how to do the job correctly.

[5StringThunder]

Thanks for the input. Where can I get veneer at a decent price?

[Phendyr_Loon]

Originally Posted by 5StringThunder

Thanks for the input. Where can I get veneer at a decent price?

It depends on the type of wood.
I wanted to use walnut on my fretless build, instead of buying veneer I just ripped a few strips on my table saw out of leftover stock that were close to the slot width and used sandpaper to fine tune the fit.
Veneer is cheap enough through Lmi but I just used what I had.