Fretboard replacement

[Cobaumu]

Hey all. Does anyone know about fretboard replacement? I've got an Ibanez ATK 300 fretless that I totally dig. The only problem is that it's a lined fretless, and I've gotten so used to playing a blank fingerboard that the lines actually interfere with my playing.

I'm just looking to swap it with a totally blank ebony fingerboard. Does anyone know how much this will cost me? Am I better off just getting a whole new neck made?

 

[adam.beauchene]

Do you plan on doing the work yourself? Do you have any tools? Woodworking experience? If you don't have aspirations of bassbuilding beyond this one job, you might be better off paying someone else to do it...the money you can spend on tools gets out of hand very rapidly.

If you are adventurous, it's just a matter of planing or sanding the old one off, getting it nice and flat, gluing a new one on, shaping it, leveling it, installing a new nut, then getting the string heights correct. Check out lmii.com and stewmac.com for fingerboard blanks, and pretty much all the tools you'd need.

 

[Cobaumu]

I definitely don't trust myself to try this. I thought I'd order the board and have a local luthier do it. Would that be ridiculously expensive?

 

[Spider]

I have a cheap solution - Keep your eyes shut, forget about the lines

 

[Mikey R]

You could paint the lines with a permanent marker?

 

[mikeyswood]

it's just a matter of planing or sanding the old one off

Its an Ibanez - its held on with hide glue. Just pop the old one off and a new one on.

I would charge ~$300 if for this job and you may find it cheaper in your area, or perhaps more.

 

[PasdaBeer]

the idea of sanding a board of makes me shudder a little bit. If its a onetime thing, just have a local guy do it, dont even bother with getting a board before hand. He most likley will have some stuff around.

 

[HogieWan]

what are the lines, plastic or wood?

If they are wood, you can remove any finish if it exists and dye the whole thing black. If it's plastic, you may be able to remove the plastic (though I doubt it) and replace it with matching wood.

 

[vbasscustom]

+1 on the dye, if the lines are like maple or something it should dye nicely.

 

[HogieWan]

+1 on the dye, if the lines are like maple or something it should dye nicely.

but all the stock lined fretless basses I've seen have that white plastic for lines.

 

[Cobaumu]

what are the lines, plastic or wood?

If they are wood, you can remove any finish if it exists and dye the whole thing black. If it's plastic, you may be able to remove the plastic (though I doubt it) and replace it with matching wood.

Dying it wouldn't work so well since there are pearl dots on fretboard, which wouldn't line up properly even if I were able to dye everything else, which I probably wouldn't since the lines are plastic. The side markers wouldn't line up properly either.

 

[Cobaumu]

Its an Ibanez - its held on with hide glue. Just pop the old one off and a new one on.

I would charge ~$300 if for this job and you may find it cheaper in your area, or perhaps more.

Thanks for the info. If it's gonna be in the neighborhood of $300, I may as well just get a whole new neck.

 

[Angus]

$300 is cheap for that!

 

[uethanian]

you could black-epoxy it. dunno if you like epoxy finishes...

 

[HogieWan]

you could black-epoxy it. dunno if you like epoxy finishes...

I was going to say paint and finish. You could also put a veneer on it.

I am currently defretting a bass and I wanted to be rid of the dots and lines. I never thought of putting a veneer over it until I typed that. I have some thinking to do

 

[Cobaumu]

$300 is cheap for that!

It's also about the cost of a brand new custom neck.

 

[Spider]

yupp....If u were in eastern europe, it would be about half the cost...

 

[mikeyswood]

$300 is cheap for that!

For a tapered and radiused piece of Ebony?

 

[Angus]

Local luthiers around here would probably charge $1000 for a new fretboard. It's insane.

 

[mikeyswood]

Wow. I am in the wrong business.