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 ???
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 ???
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!!!
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!!!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
phase_accurate said:
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 notice the webpage says it is rosewood.
Yes, he's often quoted as the first person to de-fret a bass, but I don't know how true it is?.
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).
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 .
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 .
here s mine 🙂
a beautiful piece of art , the best one i ever played .
http://www.aplusguitars.com/ibanez_sr3005_prestige.htm
a beautiful piece of art , the best one i ever played .
http://www.aplusguitars.com/ibanez_sr3005_prestige.htm
Ahmad_tbp said:
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.
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.
Mwaah Mwaah Mwaah.
Like doing anything well, its a matter of care and timing. Carelessly rush the job and you'll take out chunks that'll make life all suckful. Take care, fill the slots properly and seal it nicely and you'll have yourself a perfectly viable fretless.
You'll definitely need to cut your nut down a little to get a sweeter action, because your playing height is no longer a fret's height above the neck, but rather actually in contact with the neck. You'll probly also have to adjust the action at the bridge too, which depending on your current action may warrant shimming of the neck. But that shouldn't scare you if you're considering pulling the frets out.
If its your only (or even primary) bass, I wouldn't do it but thats because I use my primary bass 4 or 5 times a week.
There's a reasonable amount of info around, google for different tutorials until you decide upon the best approach you have available. Again, if you take your time and do it properly, you'll be right.
Like doing anything well, its a matter of care and timing. Carelessly rush the job and you'll take out chunks that'll make life all suckful. Take care, fill the slots properly and seal it nicely and you'll have yourself a perfectly viable fretless.
You'll definitely need to cut your nut down a little to get a sweeter action, because your playing height is no longer a fret's height above the neck, but rather actually in contact with the neck. You'll probly also have to adjust the action at the bridge too, which depending on your current action may warrant shimming of the neck. But that shouldn't scare you if you're considering pulling the frets out.
If its your only (or even primary) bass, I wouldn't do it but thats because I use my primary bass 4 or 5 times a week.
There's a reasonable amount of info around, google for different tutorials until you decide upon the best approach you have available. Again, if you take your time and do it properly, you'll be right.
I say definately do it, I've done it to 3 basses now, and if your PATIENT it's not the most difficult thing in the world to do. Theres plenty of info on the internet to find out tips, but for the aske of ease, I'll outline my process:
First you need a fret puller, theres two type.. expensive purpose made fret pullers, 26USD from www.stewmac.com, or you can buy a pair of end cutters from the hardware store and grind them down so their razor sharp (this is what I did). You'll also need a soldering iron, and some super glue.
It's much easier to pull frets if you have a bolt on neck, take the neck off, and take a piece of plywood, drill some holes in it, and use cable ties to hold the neck to it, then bolt it or screw it (the plywood) to your work bench. I slip a thin piece of cardboard under the ties to keep them from denting the edge of the fingerboard.
once you have your tools, and neck all ready heres what to do, get the soldering iron hot, and hold it to the fret wire for about 5 seconds, maybe 10.. you'll see some of the oils and glue start bubbling up next to the wire, then starting at one end of the fret wire use the end cutters to get underneath the lip of the wire and start pulling it up, DONT rock them back in forth (from the front of the neck to the headstock) but rather work the fret wire out inline with itself.
Also I don't care how good you are, you WILL chip the finger board, when a chip comes out stop pulling the wire, and super glue the chip back in place, this is where patience is important. do it for every chip. It will look like crap, but you'll fix it later. once you get the fretwire all the way out, throw it away and move on to the next one, when you've got all 20/22/24 (or whatever) fretwires out. you can fill the holes, I don't recomend using wood filler. I would go to a woodworkers shop and buy some .020" wood veneer, or buy some thin vinyl sheets from mcmaster-carr or the like.
cut the veneer into strips about 3 inches long, and an inch wide. coat both sides with hide glue (from any hardware store) and work the strip into the fret slot. once the glue is dry use a razor blade and cut the veneer off as close to the finger board as you can, repeat this for all the frets.
after you've done this get a block of aluminum and glue some sandpaper to the bottom of it. or better yet buy a neck block, they're sanding blocks with a radius specific to the neck (on a bass probably 12" or 14") then sand the finger board down just a bit to even everything out, go from one end to the other in a linear motion, not side to side.
after you've finished sanding it clean the fret board with a mild cleaner (windex works well) and then finish it, I usually just use lemon oil, but you could use any oil really, or even laquer it (although I wouldn't, it slows you down, because it's sticky)
after you've finished the whole process (this will take you all night if you want it to turn out well) restring the bass, be careful what strings you use, I use ground wounds, which are round-wounds with a flat bottom on them, I tried nylon wrapped strings but they sound like **** for playing slap. you can use regular roundwounds, but don't expect your fingerboard to last very long, unless it's made of a very hard wood, like ebony or such.
Anyway, I hope this helps you out a little bit, if you have any questions let me know and I can try to help you, also it just so happens that I'm going to pull the frets from my friends bass tomorrow or thursday, I'll take some pictures to help you out.
cheers,
Daniel S.
EDIT: also, playing on a fretless vs. a fretted is decidedly more difficult, not so much in fingering (you'll just get used to that) but doing things like hammer triplets and taps becomes much more difficult. keep this in mind before you make your final decision
EDIT2: one more thing, if it is a bolt on neck, you may consider buying another one as a spare to have around, brand new custom made from www.warmoth.com will be $200-$300, or you can buy em on eBay for 50 bucks 😀
First you need a fret puller, theres two type.. expensive purpose made fret pullers, 26USD from www.stewmac.com, or you can buy a pair of end cutters from the hardware store and grind them down so their razor sharp (this is what I did). You'll also need a soldering iron, and some super glue.
It's much easier to pull frets if you have a bolt on neck, take the neck off, and take a piece of plywood, drill some holes in it, and use cable ties to hold the neck to it, then bolt it or screw it (the plywood) to your work bench. I slip a thin piece of cardboard under the ties to keep them from denting the edge of the fingerboard.
once you have your tools, and neck all ready heres what to do, get the soldering iron hot, and hold it to the fret wire for about 5 seconds, maybe 10.. you'll see some of the oils and glue start bubbling up next to the wire, then starting at one end of the fret wire use the end cutters to get underneath the lip of the wire and start pulling it up, DONT rock them back in forth (from the front of the neck to the headstock) but rather work the fret wire out inline with itself.
Also I don't care how good you are, you WILL chip the finger board, when a chip comes out stop pulling the wire, and super glue the chip back in place, this is where patience is important. do it for every chip. It will look like crap, but you'll fix it later. once you get the fretwire all the way out, throw it away and move on to the next one, when you've got all 20/22/24 (or whatever) fretwires out. you can fill the holes, I don't recomend using wood filler. I would go to a woodworkers shop and buy some .020" wood veneer, or buy some thin vinyl sheets from mcmaster-carr or the like.
cut the veneer into strips about 3 inches long, and an inch wide. coat both sides with hide glue (from any hardware store) and work the strip into the fret slot. once the glue is dry use a razor blade and cut the veneer off as close to the finger board as you can, repeat this for all the frets.
after you've done this get a block of aluminum and glue some sandpaper to the bottom of it. or better yet buy a neck block, they're sanding blocks with a radius specific to the neck (on a bass probably 12" or 14") then sand the finger board down just a bit to even everything out, go from one end to the other in a linear motion, not side to side.
after you've finished sanding it clean the fret board with a mild cleaner (windex works well) and then finish it, I usually just use lemon oil, but you could use any oil really, or even laquer it (although I wouldn't, it slows you down, because it's sticky)
after you've finished the whole process (this will take you all night if you want it to turn out well) restring the bass, be careful what strings you use, I use ground wounds, which are round-wounds with a flat bottom on them, I tried nylon wrapped strings but they sound like **** for playing slap. you can use regular roundwounds, but don't expect your fingerboard to last very long, unless it's made of a very hard wood, like ebony or such.
Anyway, I hope this helps you out a little bit, if you have any questions let me know and I can try to help you, also it just so happens that I'm going to pull the frets from my friends bass tomorrow or thursday, I'll take some pictures to help you out.
cheers,
Daniel S.
EDIT: also, playing on a fretless vs. a fretted is decidedly more difficult, not so much in fingering (you'll just get used to that) but doing things like hammer triplets and taps becomes much more difficult. keep this in mind before you make your final decision
EDIT2: one more thing, if it is a bolt on neck, you may consider buying another one as a spare to have around, brand new custom made from www.warmoth.com will be $200-$300, or you can buy em on eBay for 50 bucks 😀
I still think its a dumb idea to remove all the frets...
id have that neck repaired and then if i wanded a fretless....
id look into getting a frettles neck like Voltaic said....
either way it IS after all your Equpment....
do what you want to...
id have that neck repaired and then if i wanded a fretless....
id look into getting a frettles neck like Voltaic said....
either way it IS after all your Equpment....
do what you want to...
phase_accurate said:
Nigel Goodwin said:
It's true, I have the magazine interview in my basement. He used boat epoxy, not varnish.
I used regular epoxy glue on the finger board after removing the frets on my first bass guitar.
It took a while to get used to the whole fretless thing, but right now I have three fretless bass guitars and one doublebass.
It took a while to get used to the whole fretless thing, but right now I have three fretless bass guitars and one doublebass.
i m still afraidin to do it ,
the jumped out fret was fuked up by one of my friends 🙁 ! , he was repairin some guitars while ago ,changing their frets , etc ... and he did them so well , so i made a BIG BIG BIG mistake and took my bass to him to help me put the fret back !
, he start his work !
, i gone out for a sec !
when i came back i saw him hammerin the fret !
..... tryin to put it back w a heavy iron hammer !🙁( ,after that the fret was fuked up completely ! it lost its flexion ,
now if i tryin to put the fret back in its place , one side comin down and the other side comes out ! 🙁(
and the fret hole on fingerboard becomes two times larger too!
if i getin abit late he would break the whole neck too , .... 🙁
it s my only bass , and it s not cheap for me , there s no one else that can fix it in my city and other repair shop said it s 50/50 that it can be fix cuz of such a big job friend of mine did !
so do u think i should start defrettin , or tryin to find someone else to fix it 🙁 ?
the jumped out fret was fuked up by one of my friends 🙁 ! , he was repairin some guitars while ago ,changing their frets , etc ... and he did them so well , so i made a BIG BIG BIG mistake and took my bass to him to help me put the fret back !
, he start his work !
, i gone out for a sec !
when i came back i saw him hammerin the fret !
..... tryin to put it back w a heavy iron hammer !🙁( ,after that the fret was fuked up completely ! it lost its flexion ,
now if i tryin to put the fret back in its place , one side comin down and the other side comes out ! 🙁(
and the fret hole on fingerboard becomes two times larger too!
if i getin abit late he would break the whole neck too , .... 🙁
it s my only bass , and it s not cheap for me , there s no one else that can fix it in my city and other repair shop said it s 50/50 that it can be fix cuz of such a big job friend of mine did !
so do u think i should start defrettin , or tryin to find someone else to fix it 🙁 ?
i completly forgot to thank alll specially Voltaic .. 😉 sorry
...
and Voltaic , my fingerboard and neck material is Wenge , it s a very strong wood , and it has a lotttt vessels on it , so what do u think ? will it stand for me long ?
...
and Voltaic , my fingerboard and neck material is Wenge , it s a very strong wood , and it has a lotttt vessels on it , so what do u think ? will it stand for me long ?
Hi,
The rogue fret needs carefully removing, tightly apply some tape either
side of the fret to minimise the risk of "chipping". Once out, you then
bend it so it has a curvature smaller then the neck. You then glue it
back in place, simply pressing it down in the centre should cause it to
seat properly.
If its your only bass I severely recommend you do not defret it.
No way would I ever only have a fretless bass, you need both.
Unless your as good as Jaco P etc. and only play jazz etc.
I'm not, I don't, I've played loads of stuff where a fretless is pointless.
🙂/sreten.
The rogue fret needs carefully removing, tightly apply some tape either
side of the fret to minimise the risk of "chipping". Once out, you then
bend it so it has a curvature smaller then the neck. You then glue it
back in place, simply pressing it down in the centre should cause it to
seat properly.
If its your only bass I severely recommend you do not defret it.
No way would I ever only have a fretless bass, you need both.
Unless your as good as Jaco P etc. and only play jazz etc.
I'm not, I don't, I've played loads of stuff where a fretless is pointless.
🙂/sreten.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.