An old junk bass..to defret or not

Lowner · #1 05-16-2006, 09:37 AM

i am not asking how to defret this yamaha junk bass I have. I have already read the sticky at the top of this page so I think I know what to do. Now here is the deal. i ahve this Yamaha bass I got from e bay. I had a cracked headstock which I fixed. It also had a tone pot that didnt work. i thought I would replace that. well now the volume pot quit working so i get no sound at all. And the plastic cover for the wiring compartment on the back is missing. I was originally going to fix up the bass and re sell it at my dads flea market stand. but I keep having to sink more and more money into the darn thing and probably wont get any profit. Now I am thinking about defretting it to make it fretless. its practically in shambles now so if I screw up what do I have to lose? right? I have all the tools the sticky says i might need right here except for wood filler.

Should I go for it?

mvw356 · #2 05-16-2006, 09:46 AM

if its a bass of no real value, the i'd say go for it. i did the same to my first bass (plywood body, no value other than emotional) i never played it, so i ripped out the frets, and just sanded the fretboard so it was even. no filler no nothing done afterwards. still need to do the nut though. i'm happy with the result, sure its not pretty, but occasionally i play it again, which i never did when it still had the frets.

Juneau · #3 05-16-2006, 09:49 AM

Do it, it made my unplayed bass a player again. I wouldnt do this on anything worth more than a few hundred to start off with, but its a fun project, and mine sounded better fretless than fretted. Plus I dont believe they make a fretless version of the Ibanez GSR series, so its kinda unique too

Lowner · #4 05-16-2006, 02:52 PM

I defretted this afternoon. I used a chisel and hammer the pulled the frets out using a pair of needle nosed pliers. I took a gougge out of the fret board her and there but I am filling the frets in with wood putty so those gouges will be filled in too. Converting this bass to a fretless is fun.

ZombieGhosTrain · #5 05-16-2006, 06:17 PM

Aye, it is fun. I did the same thing to a crappy bass I had, and afterwards I was searching for more things to do to it....

improvpwnd · #6 05-17-2006, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvw356

if its a bass of no real value, the i'd say go for it. i did the same to my first bass (plywood body, no value other than emotional) i never played it, so i ripped out the frets, and just sanded the fretboard so it was even. no filler no nothing done afterwards. still need to do the nut though. i'm happy with the result, sure its not pretty, but occasionally i play it again, which i never did when it still had the frets.

exactly my situation.