Members Freeman Keller Posted January 13, 2019 Members Share Posted January 13, 2019 Six string Ibanez bass. Perfectly good frets [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32449382}[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32449383}[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32449384}[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32449386}[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32449387}[/ATTACH] mwah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danocoustic Posted January 13, 2019 Members Share Posted January 13, 2019 Considering my recent dental surgery, your thread title is strangely compelling. Nice job, Freeman. I've had a couple fretless basses and they're all kinds of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 13, 2019 Moderators Share Posted January 13, 2019 ah, the Jaco Pastorius treatment...I'm still making friends with my fretless acoustic 4 string...but the possibilities are refreshingly unpredictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted January 13, 2019 Members Share Posted January 13, 2019 Personally I like frets but that looks like an excellent conversion job. Hats off to you, sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 14, 2019 Moderators Share Posted January 14, 2019 I'd like more exposition. Such as, what's the soldering iron's job? And how are the wood "frets" smoothed down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danocoustic Posted January 14, 2019 Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 I'd like more exposition. Such as' date=' what's the soldering iron's job? And how are the wood "frets" smoothed down?[/quote'] Frets come out a lot easier and with less fretboard chipping if they're heated. It also helps release any glue that might have been used in their installation. I can't answer how Freeman did it, but I would go belt sander/palm sander/radiused caul lined with sandpaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 14, 2019 Moderators Share Posted January 14, 2019 My thought was that heating the frets would cause them to expand, making them more snug in the groove and therefore harder to extract. Shows what I know. And I thought about using a sander, but thought it might cause the wood to splinter, leaving gaps instead of a smooth fingerboard. I couldn't think of a way to take most of the wood sticking out down close to the fingerboard, to a point where sanding wouldn't pose a risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 14, 2019 Author Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 Its pretty standard to apply heat to the frets when removing them. It does a couple of things - first, many techs use a little bit of glue when they put them in, glue lubricates the slot and can help to hold it it - particularly with ends that go over binding. Most glues will release with a little heat. The heat also helps activate any oil that might be in the wood. The little pipette has water in it, again, its seems to help release the fret with the minimum damage to the board. Standard fret slots are 20 to 23 thousands wide - the material that I filled them with is 0.020 rosewood purfling. I gave the owner the option of ebony for a black line, maple for a light line or rosewood to match the board - he chose the latter. One thing that was a bit of a hassle is that the CNC that cut the slot followed the radius of the fretboard rather than making a flat bottom from one side to the other. I had to take a little fret saw and flatten that bump in the middle so the rosewood would sit in the bottom of the slot. he rosewood was glued into the slot with CA, I just took a sharp chisel and went across each fret starting in the center and paring it off towards the end. Scraping and sanding with a radiused block (Ibanez basses are apparently 16 inch) and, bingo. I had done a couple of fretless conversions before so I knew the basics of setting them up, but that took almost as long as the conversion itself. I ended up with about 8 thousands of relief, nut clearance basically on the board (4 thou or so) and 12th fret action around 0.070. An interesting question is where do you set the intonation on a fretless instrument? I fingered it on the nut side of the 12th fret line and had to bring all of the saddles to almost their most forward position. Makes sense, tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 17, 2019 Moderators Share Posted January 17, 2019 I would probably have centered on the position marker dots, but I would have tested the harmonics first... but I don't make a living at mods and repairs, it is just a sideline... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Perfessor Posted March 18, 2019 Members Share Posted March 18, 2019 I tried a blow torch once and when the smoke cleared all that was left was the frets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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