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Want a fretless... what to do?

Evil Undead

Evil Undead

Oct 31, 2009
3,844
587
#1
I know the obvious answer is "buy one" lol but I've got 2 options

Either I hunt round the car boot sales and charity shops etc and find a cheap one for under £50 to de-fret, sand down and re-finish myself

Or...

I spend £90 ish on a dirt cheap new fretless just to play around with.

I can't decide which is better. Both are tempting options... part of me thinks I'd like to try the first option, mess about, defret, learn a few things, and design my own paint job :)
but then the other side of me is very aware that I'm shockingly bad at DIY etc and it could (and quite probably would) go horribly wrong... so might be better to go for the new one.

So I'm wanting opinions really on what you guys would go for... :D
 
#5
Buy an SX Fretless for ~$100 US (don't know what they go for over there, but you I think you can get them from sxguitarspain.com).

If you don't like it, practice modding on it, or sell it off for $75 and you've paid $25 to discover you don't like fretless. I you like fretless, then sell it off an put it towards a nicer one like the Squier!
 
#7
If it's a fender, get a fretted one and do the job yourself. I just bought an american standard and removed the frets and front position markers and moved the top dots to sit on the line. Looks much nicer than any fender fretless bass with white lines.
 
#8
De-Frett that i did to my "Aria-Pro-II CTB series"

Remove neck, Remove frets an covered the finger board in epoxy resin filling in the slots Ware the frets were an all over the rest of the board to fill in any little imperfections in the wood .

aria1002.gif


Then starting with a file rub off the rough parts then start with different grades of sand paper making sure that only removing the excess resin an NOT the wood!
Finish with a coating of lemon-oil an put back together,
The nut will need a small amount of cutting an slight truss rod tweak , an there you have it !!

aria2002.jpg


Would look nicer if there weren't any fret markers but hay!!
 
#9
Looks really great!
Seems like massive amounts of work for me to go and bugger it up lol
I've seen a cheap FL for £101 on ebay (shipped)... perhaps I should do that? What do you guys think?
I ain't no DIY girl :(

Just out of interest Danny, why does the nut need to be cut?
 
#13
JazzyJames said:
Just save up some money and wait until you can afford something worth buying.
Click to expand...

I've got a few quid stashed away for one, but never played a fretless... I might hate it lol

Deathblade Eric said:
The original nut is cut to fit a fretted neck, whip the frets out & the nut needs a tweak to compensate for the extra space caused by the defretting. Plus, having a scary-low action on a fretless makes it easier to get the Mwahhh out of it.

Pete.
Click to expand...

danny-79 said:
As part of setting the action on it, dropping the string hight to about minus the hight of what the fret wire used to be .
Click to expand...

That makes perfect sense! Thanks to you both. I definitely don't have the skills for this... my better half does so I may rope her in HAHAHA or I may just buy something cheap in case I hate FL, or am cr@p at it!!
 

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