Defretting a neck with binding?

[SMILEYSIXX]

I've seen tons of threads on defretting, but I haven't seen anyone address neck binding. My dean has binding on it and I want to defret it, but I'm not sure how much of a hindrance the binding would be. Would I just go about defretting with the same method or is there something specific I should do?

 

[Musiclogic]

you need to find out if the tang is glued at the binding, if not, just take care to not flex the binding, and you should be fine, also if leaving the binding in tact, you can start from the middle and work your way out to the ends, but this can be trickier, and take some extra time.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

You can always do the Dan Erlewine trick and file down the frets, leaving the tang in the fret slot. I did it on my acoustic bass and itcame out great. It was also easier and quicker than I thought it would be. You need to remove the nut, and then you take a file and lay it flat on the frets and start filing lengthways on the neck. It's like the first step in leveling frets, but you just keep going until they are level with the fretboard. You will see nothing but metal shavings until you reach the board. As soon as you see wood dust STOP. It's good to start sanding with a radius block at that point just to clean up the file marks. Most folks like to put a hard clearcoat on at that point. That's more difficult than getting rid of the frets.

 

[joeyl]

ouch, I wouldn't file the frets down because I am afraid wood shrinkage would expose sharp metal blades under the strings

 

[Bridge Builder]

You can de-fret it, but if there are nibs on the ends of the frets you'll have to cut them (simple to do if you're using a set of fret pullers). After that you need to precisely cut the filler lines (I use veneers) to the length of each fret slot. You could use a trapezoidal shaped piece to completely fill the top of the fretslot, but I'd use a gap filling super glue, or at least a titebond type glue, under the fret line material to fill in any empty space under the new line. This is a time consuming job! I typically upcharge $50 to do refrets with binding, but for fretless conversions with binding I upcharge $80, and it should probably be $100! In this instance, time really is money.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

ouch, I wouldn't file the frets down because I am afraid wood shrinkage would expose sharp metal blades under the strings

I've had no problem with mine, and I filed my frets down about four years ago. I can't imagine shrinkage of the fret board to the extent of actually lowering the playing surface unless purhaps the bass was built of green wood. If the fret tangs left behind somehow became higher than the surrounding wood, they would be flat on top.

I would trust about any process or procedure recommended by Dan Earlewine & this was his process outlined in Bass Player.