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Post subject: Fretless guitar
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:56 pm
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Hi, not sure where to start this tread but I'm planning to defret my strat so here I am :P

Just need some advice, I don't know how to filled the fret gaps on the fingerboard, is a rosewood fretboard... And I think that's all! hehe :P any experience defretting guitars :?:

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:45 pm
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Good luck.

http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LIN ... em_defret1

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:32 pm
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I did this once, i ended up trading it away later on though. its just not as fun without a sustainer system or E-Bow

anyways I pulled the frets out and then filled the slots with slices of Walmart gift card's :mrgreen: after you widen the gap and glue them in with CA glue they sand down fine. you will need a quality radius block though. you want the board as flat as possible, little dips in the board are very frustrating....... also they sound best with flat wound strings,
zero sustain though :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 4:39 pm
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Thanks guys, I'll let you how it goes!!

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:37 am
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John Frusciante and Guthrie Govan are some of the few artists who play fretless guitars.


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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:02 am
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How's your intonation..... :?: Having played a Viola and a Violin, I can attest that fretless is not as easy as it may seem, you will be back to the woodshed, starting from step 1....
Forget about those side fret markers as your fingers will require to be placed exactly or you will be sharp or flat.....

I would suggest getting an aftermarket neck slotted for frets, fill in the slots with ebony strips prep the fretboard and if things turn out not as playable then just put the original neck back on...

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:16 am
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A few years ago on this Forum there was a sudden burst of interest in fretless Strats. At least a couple of Forum users set about removing frets, for the purpose of making necks for use with a slide.

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We saw some photos of fingerboards with differently coloured strips of wood where the frets had been, but I don't recall anyone telling us how they got on with the instruments long term. I believe elsewhere I've heard people saying they found they didn't like it - so maybe you'd try it first on a cheap Squier neck or similar, just in case.

Far as fretless guitars played without a slide goes, I've seen Italian player Antonio Forcione using a fretless classical guitar and getting many interesting sitar flavoured sounds out of it. Great stuff, though I don't think you'd want more than one or two numbers done that way.

Anyway. Here's a whole website devoted to the subject. Might be useful...?

http://www.unfretted.com/loader.php?LINK=unfretting

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:25 pm
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Hi guys, well to be honest with you I was kind of lazy about the whole defretting, I need to change the neck of my guitar anyway I think is $@!&*% up :? but I could try to defretted once I got my new neck :P

(Yep, it's a Squier guitar hehe)

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:44 am
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I have a Squier which I defretted a couple of years ago.

First impression - "Oh god, what have I done?"

Second impression - "There's no sustain and it sounds awful!"

Third impression - "Oh, hold on, if you do this it sounds a lot better..."

Fourth impression - "Hey, I'm starting to really like this!" :lol:

The key is getting the board as smooth as smooth can be. The tiniest little ding in there can cause chaos. I ended up doing the Jaco epoxy trick in the end and sanding that down - vastly improved tone and sustain.

I find a fretless really fun to play - I started out as a little kid back on cello before I switched to guitar, so I think there was a bit of me which still had the craving to get rid of the metal interlopers. :lol:

My fretless Strat is (well, was - neck is off the body at the moment awaiting an even smoother sanding!) a complete hack job, but it proved the concept enough for me to want to put together a higher end version, as I love the expression you can get out of it, and it was nice to pick it up for the first time and just feel utterly lost - came up with all sorts of new things, most of which carried over to my fretted side too.


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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:12 pm
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The only thing I would add/ask is; why do you want a fretless guitar? The reason I ask is that as others have insinuated, most folks who try them for any period of time, -really- don't like them. It's not really the same as a fretless bass and requires twice the technique in order to play well...and for something like slide and such, there's no real advantage at all.

If you have played a fretless guitar and do have some specific or significant reason for wanting one, then yea...there's a few ways to go about this, including inlays as others have suggested. That said, not that I typically have anything against mods in general, if this is just a fanciful wim or you think it'll improve your speed or something or that nature, trust me when I say that you REALLY need to play one before screwing up a guitar neck...it's a serious b_tch to play a fretless guitar because without virtually perfect technique, you're almost always out of tune somewhere.

Just something to think about.
Jim


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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 2:59 am
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lomitus wrote:
it's a serious b_tch to play a fretless guitar because without virtually perfect technique, you're almost always out of tune somewhere.

Just something to think about.
Jim


That's the main reason I defretted one, actually. Nice to have a challenge. :mrgreen:

Plus, when you get it right, you can get some really unique sounds. I liked it enough to take mine apart and start making a proper job of it, put it that way! Also, some of the little changes in technique found their way back into my normal fretted playing, the same as when I used to play early guitar synths (with appalling tracking which requires absolute accuracy and very cunning muting) a lot - when you suddenly have to approach a mostly familiar instrument completely differently, it opens you up to all sorts of ideas as well as highlighting a lot of areas where you've become sloppy over the years.

But yes, picking up a fretless guitar is an incredibly humbling experience, I'm certainly glad I first tried it out unplugged so nobody could hear the result. :shock:


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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:57 am
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Ned Evett uses a glass fingerboard ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9KEE4lotJo

... and the Guthrie Govan videos with a Vigier guitar are worth watching for playing tips on fretless. I believe the Vigiers have brass fingerboards, reinforced necks and come fitted with something ridiculous like 13 gauge strings to get any kind of sustain. Sounds scary until you realise that you don't have to do string bends any more, just keep on sliding up and down.

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Post subject: Re: Fretless guitar
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:28 am
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Ceri wrote:
...but I don't recall anyone telling us how they got on with the instruments long term.

Vulpinity wrote:
- First post, above -

Ha! That's a great post. Question answered. Thank you for that! :)


GilgaFrank wrote:
Ned Evett uses a glass fingerboard... and the Guthrie Govan videos with a Vigier guitar are worth watching for playing tips on fretless. I believe the Vigiers have brass fingerboards...

I also have this hazy memory of a maker doing a guitar with a stainless steel fretless fingerboard too. Been pummelling my brains to recall more about it without success, though the name Vigier is pressing some sort of faint button. I'm sure I saw it in Guitarist magazine a few years ago - and I'm sure as heck not going back through a mountain of those to find it again! :lol:

Cheers - C

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