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Post subject: Turning a fretted bass into a fretless...
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:13 pm
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I have an old bass that I'm thinking about turning into a fretless. I read that to do this, you should use a soldering iron to heat up the frets, then remove them with pliers. Does anyone have any suggestions or additional advice on this??


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Post subject: Re: Turning a fretted bass into a fretless...
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:26 pm
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I don't know how to remove the frets but after the bass is fretless cover the neck with a hard polymer if you're planning on using roundwounds. If you want to use flatwounds D'Addario has some awsome chrome strings with a real mellow tone.


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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:39 pm
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http://largemouth.wordpress.com/tag/def ... tructions/

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/sh ... genumber=1

http://www.geocities.com/charlesarms/


These links all helped me. Patience and perseverance are the key.


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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:00 am
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My "precision" bass was filed down, so you still see frets, but they're flush with the board and have no effect.


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Post subject: Removing frets...
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:52 pm
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I've never used a soldering iron, although that seems to be the recommended way to do it. Try using a cheap toe-nail clipper and gently go from one end to the other. As for filling the fret slots, someone told me to use thin strips of plastic, like binding material to fill the slots. I just use wood dough (putty.)


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Post subject: de fretting
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:04 pm
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I went at mine with a screw driver and hammer, gently of course


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Post subject: Re: Turning a fretted bass into a fretless...
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:42 pm
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LiquidSoul wrote:
I have an old bass that I'm thinking about turning into a fretless. I read that to do this, you should use a soldering iron to heat up the frets, then remove them with pliers. Does anyone have any suggestions or additional advice on this??


I have a Fender Fretless Jazz Bass neck if you want to save yourself the trouble ! ------Ron


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:13 am
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just buy a fret less neck its allot easier


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Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:05 am
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Jaco Pastorius had his own way of getting them off way back when, but I agree with buckethead47, just but a fretless neck...

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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:41 pm
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fredrodgers wrote:
My "precision" bass was filed down, so you still see frets, but they're flush with the board and have no effect.


The problem with filing down the frets and leaving the fret tangs in the fingerboard is that the wood of the fingerboard will wear faster than the fret tangs and soon you will start to hear the tangs as you glissando (slide)up and down the neck.

If you are going to defret a Fender neck- (which I consider a real waste of a good neck because you can easily buy a replacement fretless neck for less money and hassle, and keep your original neck fretted) You should have the entire fret removed and fill the slot with wood or plastic lines to mark your fret intervals. The wood or plastic filler strips will wear along with the fingerboard much more gracefully.

Then when you get a gig that demands a fretted bass, or you just get tired of playing fretless, or you want to sell your bass and you suddenly realize that a fretted bass is 10x easier to sell than a fretless, you can just swap the necks back and have an unmolested Fender bass to use or sell. :)

Good luck

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Post subject: Going fretless
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:41 pm
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Having read the thread, I would have to agree that straight out buying a fretless neck is a much better option, however;

If you are going to mod the guitar yourself, make sure that you fill the fret slot iwth a stiff piece of sheet polystyrene. This can be found at most hobby stores or RC outlets. Polystyrene is easy to shape and you can buy it in the exact gauge you need to fill the gap left by your old fret (after of course, the neck is sanded and all glue and residue removed).

Once you have the strips in and have resanded the neck, then be sure to seal and lacquer (if you wish) the neck. I would definitely suggest using flatwounds instead of roundwounds for a fretless application. The strings are more expensive, but they last longer and do not tear up the fretboard like roundwounds.

I have been playing my fretless now for over 20 years and I would not play anything else. Good Luck!

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