Bass Has Tall Frets, How to Sand Them Down and Lower the Action?

If you have to ask that question, you should not even be considering taking this on yourself. Hint: repairs are more expensive, when the repairperson has to fix screwups.

 

Take it to a pro for setup, your notions of proper setup are not grounded in reality I'm afraid.

 

This is how I learned fretwork:

Fret leveling yer tele.......101 - Telecaster Guitar Forum

That and doing a lot of fret jobs, very, very carefully. I would second having a tech do it. If you'd still interesting in doing it, there's a considerable investment in tools:

• Crowning file
• Sanding block (stewmac metal block is fantastic)
• Sandpaper
• Some form of fret protection (stewmac fret covers are great)
• That notched ruler to check neck flatness - made it myself

That being said - learning to do my own fretwork has had, by far, the biggest impact on the quality of my setups. Really amazing what perfect frets can do for playability.

 

Rereading your post though - it sounds like you want a fretless. In that case, the typical thing to do is to pull the frets out and fill the slots with wood filler. Or just buy a new neck, so you can go back to stock if you change your mind

 

Why do you think the frets will need to be filed down?

 

Use a belt sander with 80 grit.

 

Theres no reason at all for not getting very low action with jumbo frets unless you have bad fretwork with uneven frets etc.

 

DONT DO THATTTT!

Ask a pro!

Because even if you sand the frets without damaging the instrument, I doubt you could get them even enough to play.
IE: if c# fret is higher than c fret, your c is screwed. Then youd try to fix the c# , then its too low behind the d.. Keep going til you have frets WAY TOO LOW to play on, or worse.

Keep in mind an acoustic BG pretty much requires higher action and thicker frets to produce the proper resonance for an already-too-quiet instrument.

 

to distill:

action has nothing to do with fret size!

your string action is measured from the string to the top of the fret; the height of that fret off the fretboard is irrelevant, as you're just pressing the string down to the fret top, not the wood.

 

You can just pull the frets out with needlenose pliers and a handsaw with some crazy glue for backup...it will be much better than sanding anything down anywhere on your bass, if you are in that much of a rush. Otherwise, leave it alone!

 

Please tell me that this is not serious...

 

Serious or not, it makes no sense.

 

One word of advice. Don't touch them.

 

Better idea - cut them out with a chainsaw. It won't do much more damage, and it will eliminate the impulse to try and play the instrument later.

Seriously - stop what you're doing and get advice from a good tech. You should start with a good setup. Chances are the frets are fine. If you want a fretless bass, it's much less work to go buy one.

 

Actually, since this is an acoustic bass guitar, one big reason for not getting "very low action" might be that it's going to seriously reduce the amount of acoustic volume you can get. For maximum acoustic volume, you need fairly high action so you can pluck the strings hard and get as much vibration of the top as possible.

If acoustic volume is not a concern, then get the action as low as you want.

 

Acoustic volume better not be a concern with an ABG, because there ain't none!

 

So true.

High action isn't what creates more volume. It is a tall saddle. When the neck angle is correct the guitar will have a solid bridge, a tall saddle, and low string heights. The guitar will also be louder. But as noted above, it won't be very loud.

 

Quoted for emphasis.