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fretted/less bass?

A

angel.of.death

Oct 14, 2008
62
1
38
mexico d.f
www.facebook.com
#1
hi, i just saw this johnny brown video, he´s playing a bass with half fretboard fretted (from 1 to 12) and half fretless (from 13 to 24). i know i could buy the same bass on the website, but i was thinking about modify one of my basses by taking off half of the frets. you guys think that would work?, or theres something special to make those fretboards? im thinking about modify an yamaha rbx270. what you guys think? :) here´s the video (pretty awesome by the way)
YouTube - ‪Johnny Brown BGF Fretted/Less Bass‬‏

thanx :cool:
 
#4
I dont see how a convertable fretted fretless bass could have even close to good fretwork. It would have to be able to very precisely reput all the frets perfectly level etc etc each time you switch back to fretted version. None of this millimeter or even half millimeter variance stuff I think would be allmost unavoidable.

As far as defretting the lower half of a fretboard, Ive seen a couple this way and they seemed to work fine. Venoms bass player played a bass like that off and on actually. As long as upper half of the fretted neck is real well done and other factors for low action are done. Then fretless lower half of fretboard can work fine imo. Youd prob want fretlines put in for the fretless lower half for appearance sake though. Otherwise might look too odd to both you and others in actual practice and use. Lol.
 
#5
darkstorm said:
I dont see how a convertable fretted fretless bass could have even close to good fretwork. It would have to be able to very precisely reput all the frets perfectly level etc etc each time you switch back to fretted version. None of this millimeter or even half millimeter variance stuff I think would be allmost unavoidable.

As far as defretting the lower half of a fretboard, Ive seen a couple this way and they seemed to work fine. Venoms bass player played a bass like that off and on actually. As long as upper half of the fretted neck is real well done and other factors for low action are done. Then fretless lower half of fretboard can work fine imo. Youd prob want fretlines put in for the fretless lower half for appearance sake though. Otherwise might look too odd to both you and others in actual practice and use. Lol.
Click to expand...

venom, the metal band?. yeah, i wont touch the 1 to 12 frets, the defret would star from the 13 to the 24 fret. but my worry is that i might have problems with sound, string height/action, string tension,adjustment, things like that you know?. the frets mark would depend of the filling wood color that i might use, but that´s a good idea :cool:
 

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