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Defretting Modulus Q5
- Thread starter breathin
- Start date
I know its your bass but do you really want to do this? If you really want to defret something, how 'bout if I send you my old Hondo P bass clone?
If you're still serious, you might want to contact Jerry Dorsch. He's a "graphite guru" and could probably give you better direction. His website is floating somewhere in TB-land, do a search.
Good luck with the project!
Riis
If you're still serious, you might want to contact Jerry Dorsch. He's a "graphite guru" and could probably give you better direction. His website is floating somewhere in TB-land, do a search.
Good luck with the project!
Riis
Ooohh...that's right! My feeble mind works like this:
Modulus = graphite
I should know better as I have a Genesis 5 with a wood fingerboard.
Riis
I'd think defretting a phenolic fingerboard would be a major pain. Perhaps you could order a fretless neck from Modulus or trade yours in?
- Jun 24, 2006
- 2,560
- 91
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD basses and strings; Bergantino Amps & Cabs
Anybody got any info on how to go about getting this done?
in addition to the problem of actually getting the frets out, which could possibly be a huge nightmare of it's own in graphite (not to mention sanding and filling the fingerboard), you may be opening a BIG can of worms for yourself, as one of my students found out by defretting a cheap Yamaha one time.
Some idiot 'luthier' (and I use the term loosely) sanded the whole neck down after removing the frets to remove all the cracking that happened on the fingerboard: unfortunately, the bridge was adjusted and set in such a way that once the frets were off, the action was WAY too high, and the strings would not go down low enough, so we tried shimming the bridge initially. This threw out the neck angle such that the lower positions on the neck had incredibly high action, the higher ones much too low (or was it vice versa?), so another luthier had to shim the neck to get the proper angle back. Unfortunately, the fingerboard had been planed so low that the neck screws came right through the fingerboard upon reinstallation; we finally fixed it, and now he's got a $150.00 bass that cost him $250.00 to get back on the road again. And it sounds like, well, a $150.00 bass.
My advice, based on years of dealing with this stuff: keep the bass stock, clean it up, sell it for as much as you can get, and get a factory fretless.
But you're free to do as you wish.
Cheers,
Cameron
Good advice to you in this thread so far. It is very very easy to mess up a defret job and with a great bass like your's that would be a real shame.
Heh, we can all agree on something for a change. Rock on.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems with defrets is that the bridge is set up for the height of the frets. Defretting sometimes means you won't be able to get the action low enough. On a bolt-on, you might be able to shim the neck, but it would be a major pain getting the neck to a spot where you get a nice sweet tone.
With a phenolic fingerboard, that stuff is probably just too hard, which makes it difficult to remove the frets.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems with defrets is that the bridge is set up for the height of the frets. Defretting sometimes means you won't be able to get the action low enough. On a bolt-on, you might be able to shim the neck, but it would be a major pain getting the neck to a spot where you get a nice sweet tone.
With a phenolic fingerboard, that stuff is probably just too hard, which makes it difficult to remove the frets.
I just completed a neck through project. Upon closer inspection of the frets and with some measuring I found out that the frets were placed in the wrong spots. this would have made it unplayable; it would have not played in tune past the twelfth fret. I decided to defret it and dye the fingerboard. I ended up having to route out an area under the bridge to get the action right.
On my Peavey fretless, they didn't take the fret height into account. Fortunately I was able to adjust everything and intonate the bridge. It was unlined, which made things easier. I was able to grind down the saddles 2mm and get a pretty nice playing bass.
This wasn't a de-fret....just not a well planned fretless on their part.
On my Peavey fretless, they didn't take the fret height into account. Fortunately I was able to adjust everything and intonate the bridge. It was unlined, which made things easier. I was able to grind down the saddles 2mm and get a pretty nice playing bass.
This wasn't a de-fret....just not a well planned fretless on their part.
Wow,they did'nt have their QC in order back then I guess. You should not have had to have done that to a stock instrument.
I've seen a couple of "de-fang" jobs, and one was done poorly, while the other turned out really nice. I actually owned the second one, an early '90s Peavey Foundation. It had a Maple board, and Rosewood grindings were used to fill in the fret slots.
I would recommend AGAINST attempting this on an expensive bass like a Modulus. I'd either trade for a fretless, or ask Modulus if you could get a replacement neck.
I just could not see de-fretting my ZON, and I now like fretless instruments.
I would recommend AGAINST attempting this on an expensive bass like a Modulus. I'd either trade for a fretless, or ask Modulus if you could get a replacement neck.
I just could not see de-fretting my ZON, and I now like fretless instruments.
