defretting the fretted

oathbass462 · #1 03-06-2006, 08:22 PM

Is it a good idea to pull the frets out of a neck and fill the slots to make it fretless. Cuz i'm getting a jazz in 3 months and i'm gonna use my current squier as a bass that i will take apart and reassemble to see how it works and modify it. my idea for making it fretless was taking from the jaco book. When i do it, i'm gonna tap out the frets and then fill it with some kind of filler. only questions are:

is this a bad idea?

what should i fill the gaps with?

what should i use to mark where the frets would be?

theshadow2001 · #2 03-06-2006, 09:06 PM

No its not a bad idea. Theres a sticky on the top of this page that will tell you how to do it. Although you mention tapping the frets out. If your talking about tapping them out from the side this is a bad idea they should be pulled out from the top. Anyways all is explained in the sticky

Stanley Design · #3 03-06-2006, 09:07 PM

It's a great idea, and fun!
Do a search on defretting and you'll get lots to read here.
I used woodfiller to fill my frets, worked good and was a natural colour to make fret lines.

I found a half done project in the garbage once, it was a neck defretted with white plastic house siding hammered into the fretslots, I eventually got it sanded and I kid you not you could not feel even the slightest bump in the neck, smooth as butter and perfectly white. It was wierd though, never seen it before.

Showdown · #4 03-07-2006, 07:16 AM

There is a good article on how to do it in this months Bass Player, written by Dan Earliwine.

oathbass462 · #5 03-07-2006, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Showdown

There is a good article on how to do it in this months Bass Player, written by Dan Earliwine.

the issue with geddy on it? cuz i got that sitting on my table right in front of me.

guy n. cognito · #6 03-07-2006, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Showdown

There is a good article on how to do it in this months Bass Player, written by Dan Earliwine.

It was a good article. Very informative. Dan uses plastic as a filler, although many others use wood. Next month they will tackle refinishing the fingerboard.

Showdown · #7 03-07-2006, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oathbass462

the issue with geddy on it? cuz i got that sitting on my table right in front of me.

That's the one.

fenderx55 · #8 03-08-2006, 01:48 PM

Yeah that was a great article, the only thing i took issue with is how effortless he made it seem while everyone on here tends to caution the would-be luthier.

But ur working with a squire that you're gonna take apart anyway, go nuts.

Showdown · #9 03-08-2006, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderx55@yahoo

Yeah that was a great article, the only thing i took issue with is how effortless he made it seem while everyone on here tends to caution the would-be luthier.

But ur working with a squire that you're gonna take apart anyway, go nuts.

He makes everything seem effortless.

I noticed one tip in that article that I hadn't seen before from anyone explaining how to defret. He put a backbow in the neck, which spreads the fret slots a little, making it easier to remove the frets without chipping the wood around them. A very simple and effective way to do it.