Jump to content

DIY Fretless Guitar Conversion


jimwratt

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I posted this in HCEG, but I just discovered this forum, so I figured you guys might be interested as well.

 

original thread here:http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1906702

 

Well I finally got underway on my first fretless conversion this morning. It took about 45 minutes to pull all the frets out. Then I just spent an hour and a half this evening gluing in wood veneer lengths where the frets used to be. I let the wood glue set for a while (a little over an hour), then I started shaving and sanding the markers down to fretboard level, and strung her on up. Here are the pics

 

Before

-1.jpg

 

Frets coming out

IMG00020.jpg

 

Frets totally out

IMG00021.jpg

 

Markers going in

IMG00022.jpg

 

 

Markers totally in

IMG00023.jpg

IMG00024.jpg

 

Ready for sanding

IMG00025.jpg

 

Half way done

IMG00026.jpg

 

All strung up

IMG00027.jpg

 

and I'm rockin

Photo28.jpg

 

the intonnation thing is a lot more manageable than what I'd anticipated, so I'm actually quite relieved. Would anyone happen to have some exercises that deal specifically with intonnation?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Good job man, it looks great. I saw the original thread, and when I get home I'll take a listen.

 

I'm in the middle of refinishing my Jackson guitar. I got the paint sanded down the other day, and plan on doing some more light sanding and grain filling before I prime. Now you got me thinking about converting the neck on that guitar to fretless. It's a 24 fret guitar, so that should be fun, lol.

 

Good job mate!

 

Edit: May I ask what tutorial you followed? Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Good job man, it looks great. I saw the original thread, and when I get home I'll take a listen.


I'm in the middle of refinishing my Jackson guitar. I got the paint sanded down the other day, and plan on doing some more light sanding and grain filling before I prime. Now you got me thinking about converting the neck on that guitar to fretless. It's a 24 fret guitar, so that should be fun, lol.


Good job mate!


Edit: May I ask what tutorial you followed? Thanks.

 

 

sure no problem, like the college student I am, I needed several sources.

 

my primary

http://www.bassland.net/howto1.htm

 

secondaries

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~jstarret/guitar.html

http://www.geocities.com/charlesarms/defretintro.htm

http://www.geocities.com/lessthanjakebass/defretting_guide.htm

 

here's what I used for fret markers

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1224

 

here are the fret pullers and sanding block I used as well

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Pullers,_nippers,_sizing/Fret_Pullers.html

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Leveling/2/Fretboard_Radius-sanding_Blocks.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

jim-


do you think this would work for an acoustic? I just got a {censored}ty acoustic for free and i want to try it on that before i mess with a more expensive guitar.

 

 

I definitely think it would work. A lot of guys like to do this with classical guitars because they have ebony fretboards which are very friendly to fretless playing. Even if yours isn't ebony, I think that a fretless steel string acoustic would be pretty cool and certainly wouldn't have a terrible sound. Just remember to use flatwound strings so you don't tear up your fretboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...