Members filterthing Posted January 15, 2008 Members Share Posted January 15, 2008 ahhh, nice title huh? anyway years back i had my guild b302 defreted, the rosewood neck now has maple fret markers in place of frets. I just found an old video of me playing it (before the fretless job) and it just sounds so much better. How much of a job is it to refret a defretted fretless? And does it abuse the neck to keep pulling frets in and out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thumper Posted January 15, 2008 Members Share Posted January 15, 2008 I defretted my '62 Jazz reissue, filled the slots with plastic wood and dressed the board. the original frets were totally shot, so I figured wtf. I had it professionally refretted to the tune of $450 last year. A major part of the expense was recutting and cleaning the original fret slots. If you can do that yourself, you'll save some brass. Otherwise, look out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goofball Jones Posted January 15, 2008 Members Share Posted January 15, 2008 That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted January 15, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 15, 2008 The fingerboard will survive in the hands of a skilled luthier. However, as Thumper notes above, it will cost a bit to clean out those fret lines and all the residual muck. Any competent luthier can handle the job, but how clean a job it is will depend on their experience and skill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members filterthing Posted January 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2008 cool, thanks all... maybe it will just remain fretless. In the video i was watching, it had such a nice growl to it, made me want that back. As a fretless on the neck pickup it does have a very nice upright type sound. Nothing like a fender fretless, but still nice. ahh, the things we do in our youth... seemed like such a good idea at the time, only cost me 100 bucks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thumper Posted January 16, 2008 Members Share Posted January 16, 2008 If you plan to keep it, you might want to consider having the refret job done, expensive as it is. B-302s are nice basses. I think Guild did a nice job of getting a Jazz tone without being a complete clone. They've been creeping up in value over the last few years, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members filterthing Posted January 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2008 yeah, it was my first "real" bass, so I have no desire to get rid of it. I swear I saw somewhere they made a fretless model, but I am not sure. I have also heard that the pickups are sought after. I hate to say it, but it is really an ugly bass compared to some others of the time. Makes the Gibson ripper look pretty. Anyway, if anyone has a good shop they go to in the valley, burbank area of LA let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poomwah Posted January 16, 2008 Members Share Posted January 16, 2008 ouch, had no idea it would cost so much :[ I made the same mistake on my ripper, thought it was such a good idea at the time. Oh well, in my case, I could get another ripper cheaper than I could have mine refretted for. And neither is in the budget, so I guess I've got a decoration, hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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