Converted fretless

[gearbot]

I converted my Alvarez four string to fretless. Out came the frets, in went the wood. The glue dried, I sanded the surface, got it all nice and smooth, and put on some lemon oil. It was great up until I decided to tighten the neck a little. The wooden fretlines started to get all out of place, and now it buzzes in some spots. Some rose a little out of the fingerboard, some went down/shrunk. I don't want to do it over and have the same thing happen. Is there anything I can put on and smooth out the dips with?

[jannda]

What kind of wood did you use to fill the fret curfs with you need to use a very dense wood or you run into this problem. String tension compresses the wood and it tends to move around.

[gearbot]

I see... yeah, it's some softer wood. I have some maple, a little thicker than whats in there now. I could do it over, but only if that's my last option.

[coyote-1]

This is why it amazes me that players go to all the trouble of creating a half-assed fretless when, for a few hundred bucks, they could get a REAL fretless without all the problems.

[jannda]

Yor other option would be to resand the fret board down but that might not fix it and might cause even more problems like removeing the radius or changing it which isn't always a bad thing but not always good either. this is why luithiers stay in business.

[gearbot]

haha... you're right but I'm broke. Plus this bass had little going for it when it had the frets. I don't want to re-sand it or laquer it or anything like that. Should I just redo it with the maple? Would it eliminate the problem?

[Kindness]

 

haha... you're right but I'm broke. Plus this bass had little going for it when it had the frets. I don't want to re-sand it or laquer it or anything like that. Should I just redo it with the maple? Would it eliminate the problem?

 

 

Maple would help. I can't promise it will eliminate the problem because that depends on your luthier skills.

[gearbot]

I'm no luthier, I just glued in the wood and shaped them flush. Whatever happened after that was based off of the physical change from string tension and truss rod adjustment.

 

What I'm wondering is if maple and super glue (for porous materials) will hold up through changing strings and tweaking the rod.

[Kindness]

 

I'm no luthier, I just glued in the wood and shaped them flush. Whatever happened after that was based off of the physical change from string tension and truss rod adjustment. What I'm wondering is if maple and super glue (for porous materials) will hold up through changing strings and tweaking the rod.

 

 

It should.

[gearbot]

Another long night of wood particles and sweat for me I suppose. Thanks for the advice.

[Kindness]

 

Another long night of wood particles and sweat for me I suppose. Thanks for the advice.

 

 

The superglue is going to be the strongest part of the equation. I am not sure if that means you want more or less of it, since it will be less able to flex under the stress of the moving neck. I don't have firsthand experience with these types of repairs so I'd have to think about it some more.

[gearbot]

Any idea as to what glue gets used for the factory fretline inlays?

[Kindness]

 

Any idea as to what glue gets used for the factory fretline inlays?

 

 

I would use a yellow or white wood glue, but I could be totally wrong. I honestly haven't done this or thought about it before.

 

However, when stabilizing a fretboard or when repairing dings in a board, I use a very non-viscous superglue mixed with dust I've collected from the board to create a very strong and stable repair. These repaired sections have never created a problem for me when adjusting the relief in the neck.

[jannda]

A good quality wood glue would be my suggestion because it would more likely to flex with adjustments. Amd maple would be a good choise or ebony if you want dark lines but you can always stain the board if you don't like the lines.

[Kindness]

 

A good quality wood glue would be my suggestion because it would more likely to flex with adjustments.

 

 

That was my thought, but not having experience I was unsure if there would be creep issues as the markers are placed under compressive stress.

[jannda]

I don't know either but it sounded good? I would think it would be a better choice that super glue for this application.

[birdboy7007]

If your fret-line holes are clean, a tinted wood filler works wonders. I used it on the bass which I converted to fretless. (I had a maple neck so I used a rosewood coloured filler for contrasting lines)

[gearbot]

Flexible is good. Anything that won't separate under the stress should work. I just don't know about these materials and their performance.

 

I initially tried wood filler, but it wouldn't keep smooth. It wore away at the surface and left me with the same problem I have now with the buzzing. Then I put in the wood. Could I smooth it out by putting something over the wood pieces to seal them?

[birdboy7007]

Re-reading it now, it appears you didn't reseal the fretboard? Or you just tore the frets out and didn't sand it down?

 

When I did mine, I took the frets out, sanded it all down nicely/smoothly, then sealed over with a few coats of spar laquer. Worked wonders.

 

Edit: I should add cleaned slots and filled with dark woodfiller, then sanded smoothly, and sealed.

[gearbot]

Ok. That sounds pretty secure. Does the lequer have much effect on the tone vs. just oiled wood? I might want to try that instead of re-doing the whole thing.