Need fretless advice

[sir juice]

I'm defretting my Ibanez very soon, a job which I've done before on my Jolana.

On my Jolana I filled the slots with wood filler, which does the job just fine. However, I really don't like the look of a lined fretless and on this bass I'd like to fill the slots with transparent epoxy. This can give a more or less unlined look once complete (look at the "how to defret" example at unfretted.com)

I worry about my intonation though, with the dots in the wrong place and no lines I feel like I'll be all over the place.

Do you think it'd work if after the defret, I was do saw very shallow slots in the side of my fingerboard, and fill them with wood filler?

That way I'd have lines I could see from above, but they wouldn't be visible to anyone looking from any other angle.

Good idea?

Thanks

[jsingles]

hmm interesting idea. I have seen people play fretless with the dots still there (in the wrong place) but were I you, I would be thinking the same thing myself. I really don't know if thats a good idea, but regardless of how you do it, marking the fret locations on the side of the neck somehow is probably very helpful. personally I think it is a cool idea.

[BassBus]

One other way to do it is how Ian Perge did it on his defreted Yamaha RBX. He filled the gaps with a blue purfling to match the body of the bass. You can see the lines close but not from a distance. Effective. Here's the link to the page on the Fretless club thread.

The Fretless Club

[sir juice]

I don't think I really have the skill to be doing any kind of inlay if I'm honest.

It's liquids that will solidify that I can work with, ie epoxy or wood putty.

Is there anything that would work for the "shows up close but not at a distance" thing that I can work with?

[Darkstrike]

I'd just fill about 5mm of the fret slot with filler, or veneer, binding, whatever, on the upper side of the board, so you can see them from above, then fill in the rest with filler the same colour as the board, or epoxy.

[pfschim]

another way to go is to stick with your original idea of no fret lines, but put markers on the top side of the neck where the side dots usually go, but lined up with the now empty fret slots. This way you have intonation guidelines that are only visible to you. I believe there are makers that do this commercially.

Remember, even Jaco left the fret lines visible.

[Kael]

I found some red cedar veneer at Lowe's that worked for filling the slots and isn't too noticeable from a distance. It was the stick on kind with a glue backing. I soaked it in hot water for 20 minutes and the glue peeled right off. The cedar is kinda splintery, but with the epoxy it doesn't matter. The veneer makes a much cleaner line than putting some sort of putty filler in the slots.