SamIAm Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 I was gifted a fretted bass following my loss of nearly everything in a fire in August. I've been converted to fretless playing. I'd appreciate you experience/thoughts on how to best de-fret a bass. S'manth xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 (edited) Nippers and heat the fret to soften any glue... Are you going to use a contrasting venier to make wood frets and sand smooth as markers, or just fill with super glue or araldite? Prolly need a lower nut of deepen the slots... Edited October 6, 2022 by PaulThePlug 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted October 7, 2022 Share Posted October 7, 2022 20 hours ago, Smanth said: I was gifted a fretted bass following my loss of nearly everything in a fire in August. I've been converted to fretless playing. I'd appreciate you experience/thoughts on how to best de-fret a bass. S'manth xx Thought here is "Don't do it". Buy / Trade / Sell for a fretless. It's 2022. No need to go all Jaco now 😳 Trust me. I'm in Brighton 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 If you pull the frets, you'll need to fill the slots tightly with strips of hard veneer or plastic (a light colour is handy as you can check your intonation visually). Some years ago, I made the mistake of pulling the frets on an old bass and filling the slots with ordinary filler. The neck promptly bowed when I took the strings up to tension, as the filled slots were less resistant to bending. It was bad enough that I couldn't correct it with the truss rod. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted October 9, 2022 Author Share Posted October 9, 2022 It turns out (As I learned at the South West Bass Bash) that this bass is perhaps best kept in it's original state. So fret-less-ness will not be in it's future! I am so grateful to be able to learn from those who know more than me! S'manth x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_dinger Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 I came to the same conclusion - a pair of basses of the same model suggested that one should be converted to a fretless. However, I was persuaded that a bass with position markers for a fretted bass, and a stiff truss rod, would not make a good fretless, and reduce the resale value of the converted instrument. I actually spoke to the designer of my bass, and learnt that about a dozen of them were made for the Japanese market, so, maybe one of those will come up.... yeah, right!! In the meantime, don't you already have a rather splendid fretless!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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