I was wondering whether it's better to just buy a new fretless, or take the frets off my bass, I've heard it's not a good idea to do so but im currently having trouble saving money for a new bass and I want to start playing a fretless ASAP. However I'm not interested in buying a cheap fretless I'm looking at more like a jazz bass
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Fretless
- Thread starter tom4123
- Start date
I advise you to put down the pliers and do hold off until you do find a cheap fretless. That's not the kind of thing you want to commit to until you're good and ready.
For one thing, Squier has fretless players covered. Shoot for one of those first.
For one thing, Squier has fretless players covered. Shoot for one of those first.
I completely agree. There are just too many really decent fretless basses out there (squier, SX, others) to defret a fretted bass unless your purpose is to learn how to defret a bass.
Defretting a bass is tricky because you need to fill in the slots with wood (not just filler) or the rigidity of the neck will change leading to problems. And getting the old frets out without splintering wood on the fingerboard can be quite tricky.
I've got a couple SX fretless basses and they cost next to nothing and sound and play super. There are killer Squiers out there too. Starting out changing two variables at once (defretting job plus switching to playing fretless) is not advised. Best is to first learn fretless and THEN try your hand at defretting once you can know enough to judge the job properly.
Exactly! Looking at a different bass you can unload is a lot different than looking at your number one you just tore the frets out of.
Always keep your number one around before you make a switch.
All good advice. If you find you don't like fretless, you can resell the SX and re-coup some of the bucks. Selling a homemade de-fret is a tough go.
Relevant enough is my first electric guitar (sophomore in high school) that had new life infused it when I removed the frets:
Photobucket album of the process: Ibagax reborn as Ibaf'less.
Just finished it a couple of weekends ago. Sure, it ain't pretty, but I'm very glad that I did this project. Sentimentally, I couldn't ever get rid of the instrument, but its use as a conventional electric was depleted. Having a fretless (six-string electric guitar) added an entire new spectrum to my sound. Love it!
Photobucket album of the process: Ibagax reborn as Ibaf'less.
Just finished it a couple of weekends ago. Sure, it ain't pretty, but I'm very glad that I did this project. Sentimentally, I couldn't ever get rid of the instrument, but its use as a conventional electric was depleted. Having a fretless (six-string electric guitar) added an entire new spectrum to my sound. Love it!
I have a Squier VM fretless jazz and it's a great player now, but it took some work. I bought it used and I didn't notice before I bought it that the fretlines were slightly raised above the fingerboard. I ordered a sanding block from Stewmac though and for $50 (including sanding paper) made the neck perfectly straight.
And I have read a couple other people on here having the same issue. My advice is when you find one, run the pad of your finger along the entire length of the board, and see if you feel any raised humps at the lines, it was actually a bit obvious on mine. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from getting the Squiers though, it's an awesome bass and it feels like it should've cost $1000. Just try before you buy, or you may have to level out the board.
And I have read a couple other people on here having the same issue. My advice is when you find one, run the pad of your finger along the entire length of the board, and see if you feel any raised humps at the lines, it was actually a bit obvious on mine. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from getting the Squiers though, it's an awesome bass and it feels like it should've cost $1000. Just try before you buy, or you may have to level out the board.
There are a lot of cheap jazz basses on the market.
And cheap, now more than ever, certainly doesn't mean bad!
And cheap, now more than ever, certainly doesn't mean bad!
Nothin' in particular -- maybe some osmosis and implied pressure. I used some of that two-component epoxy (had a better experience with the quick-dry, as it made me work more deliberately) and just made sure that they were all filled. Used some plastic applicators to spread it around as flat as possible, let it dry until the next day and then sanded it with a flat block. Repeated the process a few times -- many trips to the store.
Process shown a bit in the Photobucket album. Sure, you can buy certain colors of wood dust to match your scheme from the internet or local store, but I didn't care that much.
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My advice is buy an Allparts or Warmoth fretless neck. You can buy an unfinished fretless neck and use some Birchwood Casey Gun Stock Oil to finish it. Three wipe on, wipe off coats and it's done. Ebay seems to have the best price on Allparts fretless necks.
If you want to pull frets and fill in. It's a lot of work! If you're pulling frets out of a dark wood fret board, you can buy maple veneer pieces from an eBay seller for $9 plus shipping and fill the frets with maple slivers. Once again, a lot of time consuming work!
As you are aware, round wound strings will eat up a fret board in no time! Flats are advised and some bassists hate flats. Keep that in mind.
One more bit of advise. Something to think about. Many of us bassist at one time or another desire a fretless. We buy one or make one and in a few weeks decide that a fretless bass was a mistake! More of a GAS thing or a "it seemed like a good idea at the time" kind of thing.
Then again, some go fretless and love it!
Good luck!
If you want to pull frets and fill in. It's a lot of work! If you're pulling frets out of a dark wood fret board, you can buy maple veneer pieces from an eBay seller for $9 plus shipping and fill the frets with maple slivers. Once again, a lot of time consuming work!
As you are aware, round wound strings will eat up a fret board in no time! Flats are advised and some bassists hate flats. Keep that in mind.
One more bit of advise. Something to think about. Many of us bassist at one time or another desire a fretless. We buy one or make one and in a few weeks decide that a fretless bass was a mistake! More of a GAS thing or a "it seemed like a good idea at the time" kind of thing.
Then again, some go fretless and love it!
Good luck!
I have made 2 fretless basses out of cheap fretted basses. I have made 2 playable decent basses into 2 mostly useless pieces of firewood. Not a coincidence.
It's pretty easy to do, but like most things in life, it's pretty hard to do well. The devil is in the details and there is a reason why some things are better left to professionals.
It's pretty easy to do, but like most things in life, it's pretty hard to do well. The devil is in the details and there is a reason why some things are better left to professionals.
