Greetings. I'm new to talk Bass and new to working on guitars. I know you guys build basses but I thought I would ask after pulling the Frets out of the neck of the guitar and finishing it I find that I have to really lower the bridge get any kind of low action and it's not that low friend suggested putting in some shims what's the difference with No Frets being on there what size shim do you think you guys would recommend it's a bolt-on neck
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Fretless conversion
- Thread starter Ken Bankes
- Start date
Hey Ken, welcome to talkbass.
It's normal for there to be some need to lower action when removing frets from a fretted bass, since the frets provided a higher "surface" for the strings to be held against than the fingerboard itself does.
It's hard to give an answer to your question about what size shims you'll need though, since you really need to determine that for your specific instrument and there are a lot of variables at play.
I can think of two ways to get a starting point:
- Measure the height of the frets. It's probably around .040" or so.
- Set the saddles a little above their minimum and measure the action, then subtract off the action you'd like (to get the distance you need to drop the strings).
Either way you will probably need to experiment, which is easy enough with a bolt on since you can just remove the neck and try different shims. The easiest approach may be to cut a stack of shims from a thin material (hardwood veneer or other sheet stock) and try a stack that's about right, and then add or remove to adjust,
It's normal for there to be some need to lower action when removing frets from a fretted bass, since the frets provided a higher "surface" for the strings to be held against than the fingerboard itself does.
It's hard to give an answer to your question about what size shims you'll need though, since you really need to determine that for your specific instrument and there are a lot of variables at play.
I can think of two ways to get a starting point:
- Measure the height of the frets. It's probably around .040" or so.
- Set the saddles a little above their minimum and measure the action, then subtract off the action you'd like (to get the distance you need to drop the strings).
Either way you will probably need to experiment, which is easy enough with a bolt on since you can just remove the neck and try different shims. The easiest approach may be to cut a stack of shims from a thin material (hardwood veneer or other sheet stock) and try a stack that's about right, and then add or remove to adjust,
Divide the length of the neck pocket into the length of the fingerboard. Divide the result into the height of the fret. That should give you a starting point for a shim to put at the base of the neck pocket (probably around 0.005"). Once you find a shim that works, Stewart Macdonald offers tapered shims so you can have full contact in the neck pocket if you want. If the small shim works and sound is good then you'll be fine.
Yesterday when I was looking around on this site, I happened across some of y'all's projects. Basses that y'all had made. Lots of beautiful work now I can't find it. Where can I go to look at these projects having trouble navigating the spot
Might be the Winter Build Off? It's a sticky thread, stuck up at the top of this forum (Luthier's Corner). There are over a dozen entries and build threads for each.
