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As long as you are first made aware of the different challenges that come along with a lined fretless fingerboard. Even though it still has fret lines, it is more challenging to play than many people think.
Your decision to do this should be taken into careful consideration. With that being said, as long as you slowly, carefully, and patiently follow every step in this video, than this will be a successful and rewarding procedure.
Skip to main content. Share Tweet Email Comments. Get daily bass updates. Get the latest news, videos, lessons, and more in your inbox every morning. Related Topics: bass tech , how to. More from No Treble. Share your thoughts Cancel reply. I suggest go buy a fretless bass like I did, instead of going thru all that!
April 3, December 4, Charlee Throneburg. Max Vockner. April 6, You might begin with a dremel tool, but you'll want to finish off with a flat file either way before any gouge is in danger of falling below the fretboard. Cut out pieces of tin can lid to tape or glue between frets until you're in the final stretch, and filing then sanding into the resin, carbon, or wood. You'll need to varnish, but not fill the nice nickel fret lines.
Examine the quality of the underlying fretboard before embarking on this first. Fretboards can become worn from people gouging out wood during bending. Some fretboards may have never been flat to begin with, as the manufacturer merely had to level the frets themselves, not the fretboard. These are good points, Kristal. I reckon they're detailed enough to warrant posting as an answer. As this post is a dupe, it might be worth posting an answer to the question linked to above. Featured on Meta.
Now live: A fully responsive profile. Linked 9. Related 4. The next day, after the glue had dried, I cut the maple down flush to the fretboard with a razor:. Now came the most critical task: leveling the fretboard. It is equally vital to have a fretless fingerboard be absolutely dead flat.
On a fretted instrument, you want each note to sound clean, with no buzz; on a fretless instrument, you want each note to buzz equally with all the others. Not cool. Just like on fretted instruments, I level the playing surface on my neck jig, using a flat beam and radius blocks to get the board dead flat and to true the radius. Wood dust is nasty stuff, and is in many cases poisonous! This particular neck was pretty far from being flat, so I had to take off a lot of wood to get it right When I say a lot, I mean just a fraction of a millimeter.
To a guitar tech,. This was partly what I intended anyway — the fretboard was pretty gross when it came in, so I wanted to down to the good wood. I started with 80 grit sandpaper, and worked my way up to grit, at which point the wood starts to shine like glass. To seal and protect the rosewood, I applied several coats of gunstock oil. It looks a lot better than when it came in, methinks:.
Next was a vitally important step: the setup. Fretless is hard enough to play in tune as it is, and if the nut is too high it becomes almost impossible! And done! The Ovation bowl design really brought out some zing in this bass, which really works to bring out the fretless qualities. Now all Kirk has to do is learn how to play it in tune…. I am a musician, guitar tech, and founder of Strange Guitarworks.
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