Neck: Question?

[Diabolic]

well this probably is not the place to post this but i could not find were too... but anywho

I really want a fretless bass but i dont got money to buy one, if i were to take out all the frets on my bass would it be the same?

[perfektspace6]

I'm only partly being a smart-ass when I say "delayed gratification".

Defretting a bass is not easy and there are several inexpensive fretless options if you look around.

[dvh]

I have done exactly that.

I found a SR 400 (an old passive one) in a pawn shop for $200. Someone had modded it with a Seymour Duncan P pickup (there's half the cost of that bass right there but the shop didn't know it).

The guitar was very heavily used so I decided to make it a project. I took it apart, had the finish stripped, and defretted it myself (it has a rosewood fingerboard).

I filled the fret slots with cherry veneer strips using carpenter's glue. When all was dry the board was sanded smooth.

The whole thing worked out quite nicely. I guess I should post some pics, but I'm off to work. I'll post some later.

BTW - an important tool for this was a wire end cutter, ground smooth on the front to be able to go flat to the board and grab the frets.

Like I say, I'll psot some pics later.

[steveb98]

Defretting a bass isn't that simple of a process. You have to be carefull removing them or you end up with pits that have to be filled or sanded out. Old fret slots filled and fretboard finished

If serious about playing fretless make one your only bass forces you to get good at it real fast. But if you have a lot of work, getting a cheap fretless to learn on might be the better idea. I picked up a used Fender MIM FL JBass for a couple hundred, you will probaly spend almost that much defretting a bass.

[Erick Lam]

A friend defretted a bass with a hammer and a screwdriver (used as a punch). He didn't even fill the slots and sounded great. No buzz!

I wouldn't try that myself though.

[dvh]

I've posted a description and photos on the Setup & Repair page. There is a Sticky post there about defretting.

Cheers

[the_fonz]

Originally Posted by steveb98

I picked up a used Fender MIM FL JBass for a couple hundred, you will probaly spend almost that much defretting a bass.

well, i defretted a bass for $130, including the price of the bass