The Twins...

[J. Wes]

I concentrated on the fretless about halfway through the build because I didn't have any fretting tools, so it was finished first. This is where the fretted project got a reboot...

Body is routed and ready, neck has truss rod installed and fretboard is glued on. I cheated a bit here...I bought a pre-slotted fretboard.

 

[J. Wes]

I learned a lot on the fretless neck. I did a "teardrop" shape on the neck. Just experimenting, really. I like it, but it's weird. So on this neck, I did the proper measuring and used the faceting method. I cut a bunch of angles until it was roundish. As a result, it's very symmetric and much thinner than the fretless neck. I'll say that I like the feel of this neck better. One day, I may cut the fretless neck down to this shape...time will tell.

This angle also shows the Abalone dots I installed on the side. Same as the fretless neck.

Needless to say, it also incorporated a crapload of sanding.

 

[J. Wes]

...and now it begins...

This is the part that I was worried about. Now that I have the tools and materials, it was time!

 

[J. Wes]

Here's the fretting method I used. Sure hope it's right...

First, pull a rod of fretwire from the tube...

 

[J. Wes]

...and roll it through my cheap, Turkish fret bender.

 

[J. Wes]

Using my fret wire cutter, cut the fretwire to the right length...I cut it long, actually, because...

 

[J. Wes]

...because I wanted to hide the ends of the fret tangs on the edge of the fretboard. Here is where I'm using my cutters to nip the fret tangs.

 

[J. Wes]

Here is the fret with the tang nipped. You can see how the bottom part of the fret can now be hidden on the edge of the fretboard. I'll show you that later.

 

[J. Wes]

The cutters can only cut so close, so I used my flat file to make any leftover tang go away so that the bottom of the fret (on the edges) is completely flat.

 

[J. Wes]

Then the fun part...hammering them home. I seated each end first, then hammered the whole fret home from the inside to the edges. It seemed to work best for me.

Of course that's orange tape to protect the fretboard from my "accurate" hammer blows.

 

[J. Wes]

After the fret job was done, it was that time again...time to dress up like a spaceman and get to spraying!

 

[J. Wes]

Fretted bass woodwork...done!

 

[J. Wes]

Oopsie!!!

I missed a tang, or more accurately...didn't seat the fret perfectly down the middle. The others left a small notch that I filled with rosewood dust (collected from sanding the radius in the fretboard) and superglue, then sanded flat. This tang made its way through. Poop...

 

[J. Wes]

And it's done. I've been playing it for a week, and I really like it.

 

[J. Wes]

After playing it, I found about 5 high frets. Time to level, crown, and polish the frets...so here I am!

 

[J. Wes]

And that's the build...the highlights anyway. I do have some sound clips, but can't post them yet.

 

[J. Wes]

Is that a battery box on the front of the fretless?

Both look great! Any sound clips? Keen to see how they differ!

I am doing a build right now with ash body...absolutely no idea what finish I will use. Though I think I cannot leave it "ash" looking (light coloured) due to the maple fretboard I have.

The black rectangle is Velcro for my wireless. Sorry for the confusion. Both basses are passive!

 

[Means2nEnd]

They look amazing great job

 

[pnchad]

Yeah nice work - very classy

I'm glad I'm almost exclusively a Fretless player - I'm still intimidated by fret work

Impressive

 

[goodkingzog]

Do you have any pics of making the pickguards, routing the bodies for them and setting them in place?