Easier way to defret (change bolt-on neck) ?

[michaelsanford]

I'm starting to have prblems with the frets on my Ibanez and was considering either defretting it or getting another (better) bass.

Since my neck is a bolt-on however, is it possible to get a fretless neck, either from Ibanez or an aftermarket producer, and replace it with the fretted neck ? If they exist, are they any good ?

[JMX]

Why so radical? Have a service tech level the frets.

[michaelsanford]

Oh I don't think I was very clear in my original post.

I'm interested in going fretless, the fret problem is simply a catilyst. (the problem being that they're poking out the side of the neck and scratching my fingers ).

[Hambone]

I don't thing Ibanez offers necks for any of it's basses. Your pretty much stuck since Ibanez long ago abandoned the Fender style heel contour.

You've got some choices though. First, would be defretting of course and that can yield an excellent fretless. This can done by yourself but only if you are confident with tools. If you aren't, definitely leave it to a prol. If a pro does it, you could expect to pay as much as $100 for a quality job. YMMV. If the thought of a defretted neck isn't up to your standards, you could have a luthier replace the fretboard with something made for the job. That will run upwards of a couple of hundred but will be a very nice addition. Another less looked at route also involves a pro. That would be to assess the possibility of adapting one of any number of after market necks to your body. The Carvin neck is an excellent platform that might work as well as some of the non-Fender offerings from Warmoth. To make the match convincing you would get one of the blank headstock so you could reshape it to an Ibanez form. If the neck pocket and a couple of other precise measurements were to come together, you might have only some simple shaping to do to get'em to mate up. That's where the pro would help. He knows what to look for to determine suitability.

That all said, you might come to the realization that a SRX 300 just isn't enough of an instrument to put anything more than a home defret. You'd be right in my book. Save up a few beans and get a fretless Essex for under $175 and leave the Ibby alone.

[michaelsanford]

Originally Posted by Hambone

That all said, you might come to the realization that a SRX 300 just isn't enough of an instrument to put anything more than a home defret. You'd be right in my book. Save up a few beans and get a fretless Essex for under $175 and leave the Ibby alone.

I've been coming to that realisation over the last two days actually, and I think it might be more versatile to own more than one bass...maybe eventually trade up my Ibanez for a better fretted down the line.

Thanks for the great reply !

[permagrin]

Regarding the protruding frets, there was a thread (maybe several months ago) that addressed this, gave a technique for how to file the ends, that just about anybody could tackle. Was this from Treena?

[michaelsanford]

I asked around and the general concensus is that the neck is just dry (I do have a humidifier to prevent exactly this but I guess it's not strong enough for these winters).

I will look for fret-filing instructions though, thanks.