mighty might fretless neck on ????

[poomwah]

I want to try fretless, but don't know if I will like it, I'm on a super tight budget, so I figure I would get a mighty mite fretless neck.
But first, I wanted to see if anyone knew if it would fit any of the following sacrificial lambs that I have in the closet :

Ibanez Iceman
Ibanez exb 404
Dean Edge (not sure which one)
Epiphone Thunderbird

[tabdog]

I don't know man. Some of the Dean Edge with
the 22 fret necks may be close?

You could save your self some $$$ if you just
took the frets off one of your "sacrificial lambs".

It's easier than folks would have you believe. I
can do it and finish the neck with Tru-Oil in one
night and it will be ready to go in the morning.

I just use a fencing tool like this one to pull the
frets,



I filed the face of the tool so it could grab the fret
low and rock it gently until it gives up,



Take some saw dust from sanding the neck and
mix it with Elmers glue. Put that in the fret groves.
That stuff is stronger and harder than the wood.

You'll have to cut the nut down some.

Finish the fingerboard with a few coats of Tru-Oil
and polish with Car Polish and your ready to go,



Just a suggestion. You could have it done days
faster than you could order a Mighty Mite neck.

I've done 4 basses this way and it don't cost
didley,

Tabdog

[poomwah]

beautiful bass, dog.
I have thought about doing that, I'm just paranoid about all the things that can go wrong.
I don't have a radius block so I know I'm not going to get the fingerboard countour right.
My biggest worry is that I'm not going to be able to get it done right, and its going to hinder my transition to fretless, or worse yet, give me a misguided bad impression of playing fretless.

[godofthunder59]

It most likely won't fit any of those bodies with out either modding the neck or body. Maybe just buy a cheap Squire body?

[poomwah]

unfortunately I can't afford a squire body, in my budget, if you can call it a budget, I can get a mighty mite neck, a rogue fretless bass, rondo is even out of my budget right now
I did remember though that I do have a spare thunderbird neck. So maybe I'll go with tabdog's suggestion

[tabdog]

Originally Posted by poomwah

beautiful bass, dog.
I have thought about doing that, I'm just paranoid about all the things that can go wrong.
I don't have a radius block so I know I'm not going to get the fingerboard countour right.
My biggest worry is that I'm not going to be able to get it done right, and its going to hinder my transition to fretless, or worse yet, give me a misguided bad impression of playing fretless.

Thanks Poomwah,

That's a hand made bass. Solid figured curly
maple body with 5 piece neck through body
and a redheart fingerboard. I bought it and a
TKL hard shell case from the builder for $90.



It is easier to defret a neck than you think.
Just take the frets out and sand smooth.
Then cut the nut down. You can cut the
nut on the bottom so you don't even have
to worry about cutting the string grooves.

At this point, it is a playable fretless bass.
The rest is just window dressing.

Folks will tell you I am wrong, but they don't
know. They ain't done it I have. You don't
have to change the radius or need a radius
block if you don't change the radius.

I have changed the fingerboard radius by
just eye-balling. I even made the neck
narrower and thinner just by eye-balling.
I have taken twist and bowes out of necks
by grinding the fretboard strait. I did my first
defret in 1972 on an electric guitar and
re-fretted it. So, I do have some experience,
but I'm far from an expert.

In my book, it's easy,

Tabdog

[poomwah]

thanks tabdog, I'll give it a shot on my spare thunderbird neck. If it works out, and I like it, I'll defret something else too :]