Fretless lines wanted!

[shantijoe]

Hi All
despite the advice to train my ears I need to line a fretless for accurate recording. I've tried 'silver ink' pens on my ebony board but they rub off.
Does anyone have a recommendation?
thanks all, joe

[Happy Jack]

Don't line the board, Joe, just mark where the fret-ends would be.

[IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20SOLD/Ibanez%202366%20FLB%201972%20SOLD/CIMG0142.jpg[/IMG]

[fonzoooroo]

^ good point well put... Or, clean the board with meths, re-do your paint penning, allow to dry, then blow a couple of coats of rattle can lacquer (halfords is as good as any) over the board (after masking the bass up, obviously(!)

Won't last forever, but should do the job for a while.

Otherwise, it's taking a saw to your board and inlaying it.

[shantijoe]

Hello Jack
fine point but you don't mention how you'd mark the edges- "ahh there's the rub!"
cheers, joe

[Badass]

And any ideas on where to mark the side of the board, if there are no marks present now....Please don't give me some mathematical equation to work this out

[shantijoe]

"where to mark the side of the board?"
I have an identical fretted bass so lined it up and marked it- there are templates available on line I believe so try a search engine,
all the best, joe

[Badass]

Ah a template sound like a better idea....Thanks

EDIT: just to save others searching

[url="http://scalelength.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=67"]http://scalelength.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=67[/url]

Edited October 11, 2012 by Badass

[shantijoe]

Hi All
still looking for advice on lining a fretless do here's a bump!
ta, joe

[lettsguitars]

There really is no easy way to line a fretless board. Any paint/pen/laquer you could think of will rub straight off. The only way i to do it properly with quarter lines or full lines with wood veneer/maple or other hardwood. You could paint them on and then epoxy the board which is an art in itself. The online fret calculators can tell you where they need to go, Stewmac have one on their webite. Whatever you do, DO NOT try and laquer a fretless board with rattle cans. It doesn't work.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Badass' timestamp='1349961159' post='1832740']
And any ideas on where to mark the side of the board, if there are no marks present now....Please don't give me some mathematical equation to work this out
[/quote]
If you want something temporary and cheap get some sticky dots from a stationers and put them where your tuner tells you the note is. Just do 'frets' 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 etc. it's enough.

[brensabre79]

I used a small hand-drill (2mm) to make little holes (about 1-2mm deep) in the top edge of the board where the frets would be, filled them with a mixture of baking soda and superglue (you have to work fast!) and sanded back to smooth.

If you want lines under the strings then you'll have to get the saw out and fill with veneer like Mr Letts says.
Its actually quite important that the lines are filled with a suitably hard material (like the wood its replacing) so as not to cause the neck to become more bendy - sawing lots of lines along a length of wood is exactly the technique used by furniture makers to get a strip of wood to bend!