Fretless guitars?

Turd Ferguson

Okay I'm looking to take the frets off my guitar and play it fretless.

All I can find online are guides to changing frets, which are no good cos I know how to take them off its just what to do after that I need.

Does anyone know what to do once I take off the frets, wheather to fill the gaps on the fretboard and sand that down or just sand the entire thing to make it all smooth?

Dord

Look for a guide on defretting a bass. There are many of them out there. Same principals. I'm not sure if you'll like playing a fretless guitar though. Totally different.

Doctor J

If you go ahead with it, fill the slots left behind and then sand them flat, the entire fretboard should be smooth to the touch.

However, a mate of mine did this many years ago, it was great for comedy but useless in every other way and he permanently ****ed up a perfectly useable guitar. If you're gonna do this, buy a cheap POS first and make absolutley sure you want to do it to a guitar you like.

Voodu Child

The best fretless guitars usually have a non-standard fignerboard. Vigier fretless guitars have an alloy of some sort on the fingerboard surface. Other materials commonly used are glass, and various plastic composites.

Thats beyond the reach of a hobbyist (probably) so don't be surprised if your sustain etc sucks compared to Bumblefoot and co. Definitely check some resources to see what the best treatment is for the various woods, depending on what you have. For example, I don't know if a maple fingerboard would want to be laquered or not...I get the feeling that a thick polished laquer might give quite good results.

But it sounds like a good and interesting project, so best of luck.

Turd Ferguson

It is pretty much for comical effect. I'm going to do it to a crappy squire strat I have, so if I balls it up then it doesnt really matter. I'm just interested to see what it sounds like. I played a fretless acoustic before and I loved it, it had an awesome sound.

But about filling in the holes left. Would a regular wood filler do or would I need something else?

smellslikeshoes

I done this on an old strat copy that was given to me for about 25 euro, I filled in the fret wire holes with a filler called plastic wood sanded it then covered it with nitro lacquer. Its a very good idea putting some sort of hard finish on it after you have done it because the hardness will help with your sustain and give you more durability. It was actually pretty cool and sounded completely different. The sustain is poor but you get a real cool smoothness that in my opinion is worth it just for the experience.

-=al=-

check out the guitarist ned evett, i was talking to him about fretless guitars and aparently a cheap way is to get a soldering iron and melt away the frets....

it sounds dangerous

eoin5

voodoo_child wrote: »

The best fretless guitars usually have a non-standard fignerboard. Vigier fretless guitars have an alloy of some sort on the fingerboard surface. Other materials commonly used are glass, and various plastic composites.

Thats beyond the reach of a hobbyist (probably) so don't be surprised if your sustain etc sucks compared to Bumblefoot and co. Definitely check some resources to see what the best treatment is for the various woods, depending on what you have. For example, I don't know if a maple fingerboard would want to be laquered or not...I get the feeling that a thick polished laquer might give quite good results.

But it sounds like a good and interesting project, so best of luck.

You dont see many maple fingerboard fretless basses, I wonder if theres a reason for that.

Doctor J

-=al=- wrote: »

check out the guitarist ned evett, i was talking to him about fretless guitars and aparently a cheap way is to get a soldering iron and melt away the frets....

it sounds dangerous

That sounds like the worst idea I've ever heard. I can't imagine that amount of sustained heat on the fretboard would do it any good at all, plus molten metal dripping off a fretbaord is hardly safe.

Dord

-=al=- wrote: »

check out the guitarist ned evett, i was talking to him about fretless guitars and aparently a cheap way is to get a soldering iron and melt away the frets....

it sounds dangerous

That's physically impossible with any standard soldering iron.

The reason why you see soldering irons used in fret repairs or removals is that they can be used (carefully) to soften any glue that may be holding the fret in.

To remove the fret, it's probably best to get a fretpuller.

eoin5 wrote:

You dont see many maple fingerboard fretless basses, I wonder if theres a reason for that.

I've seen a fair few around. It depends on the tone you're after. The fingerboard wood plays a more important role in the tone when you have no frets.

Doctor J

Fender made a maple fretboarded fretless Precision in the 70's. John Paul Jones used them for most of his fretless work, you can see him play one on the Led Zep DVD.

Dord

Still make 'em actually, well Fender Japan do.
I think they may be Ikebe-Gakki specials now

-=al=-

yup i thought it was crazy too but the dude does play fretless guitars for a living, so i figured that he done sometihng like that for a fretless, you diggggg homie

i said it sounded dangerous to him and he said yeah thats part of the fun

Jessieannas

Buy a cheap one and play it. Then, get rid of the frets. I'd say sanding it down fully is the best thing. But I wouldn't know, because my guitar is Spanish...

Turd Ferguson

I'll try filling in the fret holes with wood filler first and if that is crap I'll just sand the whole bugger down.

Dord

Read this thread http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3869850

It's a guide to defretting a bass but the principles are exactly the same for guitar.

dreamr

would a fretless bass not just be like a double bass? (i am clear of the facts that one is acustic and the other not.)

Dord

dreamr wrote: »

would a fretless bass not just be like a double bass? (i am clear of the facts that one is acustic and the other not.)

Different scale length, different construction, different strings.... I could go on. Different instruments.

Nyquistic

You can remove the frets with a fret puller, it's worth the investment if you want to do it right. Frets shouldn't be glued in, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to the soldering iron advice. Once you get the frets out, fill the grooves with epoxy resin and sand it down gently using a block with a radius matching the neck ... you'll get that from the same place you get the fret pullers, e.g. http://www.stewmac.com/. The epoxy (i.e. Araldite or similar) works well because it works like markers which is a help to get you started playing "fretlessly". Rosewood necks work well, don't know about maple though ....

Demeyes

I've been thinking about doing this recently. I've just bought a cheap tele that I'll do it to if I don't like it much or if it doesn't get played.

First pull the frets. I've heard that you can use a soldering iron to help loosen them up. Then clean the holes. Fill with epoxy resin. Then sand it down. You'll also want to cut a new nut for the guitar and give it a new setup. I'd imagine thicker strings might be on the cards too, to help sustain.

I wouldn't mind having one around for recording and messing around with. I've got an e-bow too so I'd think they might be interesing together.

Eoin Madsen

-=al=- wrote: »

check out the guitarist ned evett, i was talking to him about fretless guitars and aparently a cheap way is to get a soldering iron and melt away the frets....

it sounds dangerous

That would be one amazingly hot soldering iron. :pac: Ah... and plus the fingerboard would ignite long before the frets started to melt.

dreamr wrote: »

would a fretless bass not just be like a double bass? (i am clear of the facts that one is acustic and the other not.)

A doublebass is tuned an entire octave lower. The scale length is longer, and the neck radius is much smaller. You can get electric doublebasses, and you can get upright fretted or unfretted bass guitars, but they're still not the same.