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defrettting my bass (pics inside)
- Thread starter kirbywrx
- Start date
That's a beautiful set of basses. I have a junked bass that I wanna try defretting just to get practice at it, and this thread was a real inspiration. Thanks for the pics!
Is it fretless really necessary for Metallica riffs though?
Is it fretless really necessary for Metallica riffs though?
Originally posted by Headtripus
Is it fretless really necessary for Metallica riffs though?
Until it sleeps
Defretting my bass certainly taught me alot more about how guitars and such are made, and improved my wood working skills. i encourage anyone who ishes to do it, to do it! but i am by no means a professional, my techniques are somewhat primative, but hey, im happy with the result!
how long did it take you all together.
im thinking of buying a fretted bass and defretting it.
since i cant find a good fretless in my price range.
since ive never done this before.
do you think i should try it first on my POS Squier.
im thinking of buying a fretted bass and defretting it.
since i cant find a good fretless in my price range.
since ive never done this before.
do you think i should try it first on my POS Squier.
DO NOT try this on a bass your cant live without. if your screw it up, your bass-less. anyway it took me just over a week all up. you can get everything up to cramming the putty in on the first day. you must leave the putty for 24 hours, and every coat of polyeurathane you put on, you have to leave a minimum of 24 hours, so about 5-6 days al up, depending on how many coats you put on.
yeah thats a worry.
i dont have a back up
but im getting a new bass but i cant find a good fretless.
so im thinking of buying a fretted and defretting it.
my squier is already unplayable.
broken nut, warped neck, missing a tuner.
so should i try it on that to see how good of a job i can do.
awesome dude! your procedure was almost identical to mine. my fretboard (rosewood) also lightened up a good bit when i sanded it. did you leave the fretboard as is (no finish)? i did that first, but went back and added a coating of polyurethane and ZING, its in MWAH heaven now! rock on dude 
If your squire is broken to pieces and is unplayable, i wouldnt do it. this procedue costs money (about $50) so you dont wanna put money into it and get a cheapo result. put the money into fixing up your squire, and if you have any money left then, well go ahead and defret.
DEFELDUS: nah, i didnt play it without the polyeurathane, although it was mighty temping. and im glad i did wait, because oh my god...... MWAAAAAAHHHH
I just did this project as well on my old Ibanez GSR200. The costs were about the same, $20 U.S dollars. It turned out great, and like you said I was expecting for worse but it feels like one of those $900 frettless Warwicks ! I would have taken step by step pictures but my digital cameras broken 
. Anyway, rock on with your sweet bass
. Anyway, rock on with your sweet bass
Looks good, from a distance you can't see the fret line marks!
Do you plan on doing anything else to the bass?
Do you plan on doing anything else to the bass?
Nothing is planned as of yet, but i need to do something about the action and make the nut lower.
This seems to be a very popular way to de-fret a bass. I'm just wondering if I could just order a new fretless fretboard, pop my old one off and slap on the new one and be ready to go?
Yeah, thats a possibility, but where i live its near impossible to order a board, or any other part for that matter
i tried to defret mine using a soldering iron, took a little more heat to get mine out, now my bass has like scorch marks on the frets but i guess a little sanding would do the trick.
