convert freted bass to fretless

[Ahmad_tbp]

hi all ,,,
i have an ibanez sr3005 prestige series bass .
one the frets was jumped out cuz of an accident , and the repair shopman said its 50/50 that if it can be fixed or not ,
i think if i can take off all frets and fill the holes with wood materials , and make a fretless bass , what do u think ? is it possible ???

[inuyasha44320]

personally i dont think you should... technally its possible but if yo do your gonna have to place your fingers EXACTLY where the frets were and push really hard... i dont recomend it, if you still have the fret or it hasent come off then i recomend you take it to a guitar shop and have the fret re-seated...

if your feeling lucky you might try it yourself... ive heard if you squeze a drop of superglue under it then clamp the fret (making shure not to mar the back of the neck) and let it sit...

no promises though... anywho goodluck!!!

[Enzo]

Of course you can do it, and you wouldn't be the first. Any fretless bass requires you to place your fingers more accurately. Ain't no frets in an orchestra, and they seem to manage. You don't need to squeeze any harder than on a fretted bass.

Whether you want to or not is another matter. You could buy a fretless neck for it for that matter. Talk to your luthier about converting to fretless on that neck.

[Nigel Goodwin]

My daughter has just bought a fretless bass (she's now got FOUR basses), she had no problem with it being fretless and was able to play it immediately - bought it Saturday, gigged with it on the Monday!. However, she is a 'kick ***' bass player, and sings at the same time, so never looks at the frets anyway.

The fretless bass has a much thicker hardwood fingerboard, looks to be rosewood?.

It's the Vintage V940FL, you can see it here, she's also got the V950 5 string, but in Black not Bubinga.

[phase_accurate]

Now THAT is a nice looking bass for the price ! How is its build quality, sound and handling ?

I own an old Aria pro II fretless bass. On this one the fretboard IS rosewood. Fretless basses usually have harder fretboards than fretted basses (there are exceptions). Best would be ebony.

I once heard that Jaco Pastorius removed the frets on a Fender prec by himself and hardened the fretboard by using some two-component boat varnish.

And yes, it needs some skill to play precisely on a fretless bass but this is just a matter of practice. The cool thing about fretless basses is that you have additional possibilities to modulate your tone like using violin-style vibrato or "sliding" (you can even slide harmonics). OTOH they are less suitable for playing styles like slapping and tapping.

Regards

Charles

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally posted by phase_accurate
Now THAT is a nice looking bass for the price ! How is its build quality, sound and handling ?

Build quality is good, and it sounds great, assuming the electronics is the same as her five string though, it's probably very roughly wired!.

I own an old Aria pro II fretless bass. On this one the fretboard IS rosewood. Fretless basses usually have harder fretboards than fretted basses (there are exceptions). Best would be ebony.

I notice the webpage says it is rosewood.

I once heard that Jaco Pastorius removed the frets on a Fender prec by himself and hardened the fretboard by using some two-component boat varnish.

Yes, he's often quoted as the first person to de-fret a bass, but I don't know how true it is?.

And yes, it needs some skill to play precisely on a fretless bass but this is just a matter of practice. The cool thing about fretless basses is that you have additional possibilities to modulate your tone like using violin-style vibrato or "sliding" (you can even slide harmonics). OTOH they are less suitable for playing styles like slapping and tapping.

She slides a lot even on the fretted, but only slaps occasionally, I don't think she's ever tapped at a gig? - although as a pianist she finds it easy to do (just not her bass style).

She takes part in MusicX 2006 next week (the fourth one she's done) - essentially they make six groups out of strangers, and then spend four days writing songs. On the fifth day thye rehearse, then all six bands perform at a gig in the evening. The following week each band goes back for one day, and records the songs in the studio, it's a really great event - and only costs £20 - this years she's taking her fretless bass (of course).

[Ahmad_tbp]

hi all , and thanks for replies
my neck and finger board material is wenge , i heard it s one of the most expensive and hardest woods for neck and fingerboard ,( in compare with other fingerboards i saw , much much better than others and rosewood i think )
my problem is not playin a fretless bass , i played one of my friends fretless most easier . i just wanted to know is it possible at all to take of all frets and fill the holes w wood materials , can it damage the finger board or neck ? do i need any other changes to finger board ?
and one important thing , should i do any changes in NUT or bridge for gettin the righht action ?
any suggestion any idea ?
and if it helps my bridge is isolated mono-railed .

[Ahmad_tbp]

here s mine
a beautiful piece of art , the best one i ever played .
http://www.aplusguitars.com/ibanez_sr3005_prestige.htm

[sreten]

Originally posted by Ahmad_tbp
hi all , and thanks for replies
my neck and finger board material is wenge , i heard it s one of the most expensive and hardest woods for neck and fingerboard ,( in compare with other fingerboards i saw , much much better than others and rosewood i think )
my problem is not playin a fretless bass , i played one of my friends fretless most easier . i just wanted to know is it possible at all to take of all frets and fill the holes w wood materials , can it damage the finger board or neck ? do i need any other changes to finger board ?
and one important thing , should i do any changes in NUT or bridge ?
and if it helps my bridge is isolated mono-railed .

Hi,

Having been there and done it (converted a fretted bass to fretless)
my very very strong recommendation is to leave it well alone, there
is far too much to go wrong and you only get one shot at it.

I ended up making a fairly decent job of it, but most of the work
was fixing what went wrong rather than simply converting it.

The other problem is that some basses sound good as a fretless
and others simply don't, they just sound boring and plainly wrong.

If you want a fretless I suggest you buy one, and try before you buy.

/sreten.

[pinkmouse]

The main problem is getting the existing frets out without damaging the fingerboard. You need to buy or make some specialist tools. However, if your luthier has them, get him to take out the existing frets, then you can make up some shims to fit in the slots from either very hard plastic or lay up some veneer to the right thickness. Once completed and strung, the setup for a fretless also needs to be very precise to avoid buzzes and rattles.