I'm going to be getting another bass soon and was thinking about de-fretting my current bass (RBX170). I'm not sure if it would sound good fretless though, and if I should leave it fretted as a backup bass. The frets are also pretty worn down, but hasn't affected the sound at all. I would like a fretless bass, but I just don't have the money to get one since I'm going to get a Ibanez ATK300 for my next bass. So fretless Yamaha RBX170 good idea or bad idea?
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Fretless Yamaha RBX170?
- Thread starter SPAZ5446
- Start date
It has a pretty balanced sound with the split coil and the j style pup. Good sustain and the action is very adjustable, I've had it set pretty low before. I was thinking of defretting it myself, I've seen it done by heating the fret with a soldering iron so it can pretty much peel out, and putting painters tape on either side of the fret to protect the fretboard. There is probably a much better and less risky way of doing it, since putting a hot soldering iron that close to the fretboard seems like a terrible idea.
I wanted to do the very same thing as I love my RBX170. I just bought a Warwick Corvette fretless from someone here instead. If you do get this done though, please post pics and sound clips. I might still have to attempt it.
I had an RBX170 once. It was my first bass.
Personally, my biggest concern about defretting would be that the bass has a Rosewood fretboard, which is not going to last very long if you don't epoxy it.
I wouldn't waste my time with it unless I was planning an epoxy job to protect the board, but even then, I would rather just look into another bass.
Personally, my biggest concern about defretting would be that the bass has a Rosewood fretboard, which is not going to last very long if you don't epoxy it.
I wouldn't waste my time with it unless I was planning an epoxy job to protect the board, but even then, I would rather just look into another bass.
I am going to epoxy the fretboard but now i'm starting to think about a half-fretted half-fretless bass, like 12th fret to 24th fret are fretless. Would it work or would the action needed to clear the frets not work well with the fretless part?
I have encountered a problem while defretting my bass. I only took off the 18th fret to the 24th fret and the 18th fret (now fretless) can't play! It can't even touch the fingerboard because of the fret in front of it causing to mush tension, so this is a problem. I don't really use the higher frets often so it won't totally ruin my bass but will this problem continue unless the whole thing is fretless, or by the time it gets to the 12th fret that fretless note right after the fretted one will be able to play?
You can find a used fretless version of the same bass for under 2 bills. Not really worth the effort IMO.
That said, I have a yammy rbx260 fretless (just one passive P pickup) and its great. The fretlines are inlayed wood, a nice touch on such a cheap instrument.
That said, I have a yammy rbx260 fretless (just one passive P pickup) and its great. The fretlines are inlayed wood, a nice touch on such a cheap instrument.
I understand, I've never done anything like this before but I do understand how to do it, but so far this is half-fretted half-fretless plan probably won't work out.
Decided earlier that I'll just defret my whole bass, and I'm so glad I did! I was just giving it a test and it feels and sounds great (for me, I don't know about other people). Still has a good slap tone too which surprised me. I'll post some pics once I fill in the fret slots.
