How to make a fretless bass
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- Опубліковано 13 лис 2013
- Full guide:
www.tune4media.com (Link isn't available at this moment)
A short video blog, showing you how I easily made my fretless bass.
This is the woodfiller method, and it's working as a magic! - Навчання та стиль
No matter how many times I hear fretless basses being played, regardless of model and body type, Jaco will come to mind all the time.
I don’t know who Jaco is so that doesn’t happen for me.
I know Jaco Pastorius but don't always think of him when I hear fretless bass. I think of Pino Palladino.
That "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" sounds amazing with that Bass. I thought I was good, until I saw you play that piece.
That was my late father's favorite piece playing his upright bass.
i have 5 bass guitars...one of these babies becoming fretless
you did it ?
Sand bass lol
you actually in Tokyo Bill? Japan is a pretty awesome Place.
Tokyo Bill you now have 69 likes
After de-fretting a 5-string bass I picked up, I used 8 coats of tung oil on the fretboard. It looked amazing, but it was not durable. Within 3 months I had heavy string marks. I scraped it all off and used about 20 coats of super glue (cyanoacrylate). Two years later, after daily play, no marks at all. Oil is good for a fretted neck, but it won't hold up to string contact.
I saw on a video where someone used a layer of "Epoxy" They bordered the neck with tape on each side of the neck including the "Nut" and "Butt with about a 1/32" rise on each side and then they applied the epoxy.
Thank you very much for these videos !! Just finished my conversion to a fretless and very happy with the end result..
Awesome guide, simple... straight to the point! Sounds great too!
Thanks for this video. Extremely helpful for us "back yard mechanics". Wood pieces for the fret filler is nice, but I don't have that kind of time (or skill, or patience). Wood filler is the way to go. Good enough for Jaco; good enough for me. I just pulled the frets from my Ibanez GSR200L. Let the good times roll.
Buying a GSR206 and getting started on this tomorrow!
Thanks for the succinct, informative video! The wood filler is currently drying on my cheap-o Squier bass.
I did this a few weeks ago to an old soundgear GSR100 I had laying around. I used white wood filler as to not only mimic the frets, but also to fill the little gaps between the fret markers/inlays, that way I can easily see where my notes are. I also applied 4 layers of crazy glue with a whole sanding process between each layer, to form an acrylic layer that strengthens the fretboard. Absolutely blew my mind how it turned what I considered a garbage instrument into one of my favorites to play!
Well done. Sounds great. Cheers.
Great tutorial, I have a fretless LTD bass with no fret lines and it's a pain to play in pitch. having fret lines really helps.
very nice brother, wish I was brave enough to try this
I've done a few of these now using super glue for the neck finish - applied using a pad made from kitchen towel. it works best on rosewood because of the porosity. starting with the thinnest glue several coats can be applied to strengthen the wood, then successively thicker ones to finish. the result is much harder than polyurethane. make sure the wood is free from oil before starting by wiping with white spirit first.
Couldn't find a single video that isn't so much accurate than yours. Simple and very explanative by itself, thank you so much ! im on my way to buy my Flat strings and right into my fretless conversion !! any other suggestion that u have skipped on this video? or that's all?.
Excellent video -- thanks for that!
really nice job !
That looked way easier than the veneer method. Sounds good too
great video man, I believe I'm going to give it a try.
assimilating darkness result ?
Thinking about trying this on my UBass. The rubbery strings sound awful if your finger isn't exactly between the frets. Tried someones fretless last week and I really liked it.
That bass has a real nice tone to it. I have a fretless that was turned into one using the wood filler method and it's cheaper and just as good. The filler is harder than the fingerboard and is designed to stay in place permanently. Some people say that when there neck bends with time, the filler pops out. My guess is that they used low quality filler material. Enjoy that fine sounding fretless.
And if like me, you've decided to seal the fingerboard with polyurethane. You'll probably never have to worry about that (as long as you've sealed the fingerboard with no dents)
Well done. Concise!
What about a finish on the fretboard, other than lemon oil, isn´t it needed? thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I will try with my Ibanez Gio. It should work. If I screw up .. then so be it.
I am optimistic on this project. Thanks again, brother.
You're welcome, good luck!
+Bloodless Pharaoh Did it go well?
How much do you sand the nut, how low should it be? Also what grit sand paper do you use for the first and second sanding
That's cool and all but why does your guitar only have 4 strings?
lol !!! :D
I bet you have a 48 string bass
Hi,
9 years since you've done this conversion.
Have you noticed any negative side effects of using wood filler?
I've heard it doesn't really like temperature change and could crack.
Thank you
Nice sound on fretless mode
Hello tun4media, after 7 years do you have any problems related to the conversion with wood filler? i wanna try this and compared to the veneer this is much more simple, after searching if the wood filler was fine to use it a lot of people say that it wasnt, but i wanna hear what a person who actually use the wood filler have to say after having that bass for i guess a long time if you still have it, i hope you read it, thank you.
Hi, after 7 years it still plays great!
*Important note: A few months after the conversion, I've sealed the fretboard with 3 coats of polyurethane, which made the fretboard a lot more durable.
@@Tune4media Thank you so much :D
Hi how come you did not use superglue finish on this fretboard. This is common with fretless even on rosewood etc.
Dose any one know what to use on a maple neck instead of lemon oil
What grit of sand paper should I use?
A really technical and incontrovertible explanation, please : What is the use of the "radius" of the fretboard in a bass guitar? For me ... absolutely nothing. A bass can have a perfectly flat fretboard. P.S. I've been a bass player since 1982, bassist by many, but many years before .
Brilliant....thanks. : )
גבר!
well.. it is a good video !! two thumbs up! but if i have clear barnish i have to do the same process? with 3 sanding steps?
Thanks.
If your fingerboard has a finish applied, you may have to refinish it with polyurethane, epoxy, etc. the sanding is crucial for the defretting stage
is the link still available?
What type of sand paper?
Man, thanks for sharing good video!
I decided to convert my old and cheap bass to fretless. Can I use lemon oil if my neck is maple but fingerboard is rosewood? Also do you have any ideas how to make fretlines more brighter?
Cheers!
Hi, thanks
Yes, you can use lemon oil it doesn't affect the neck if you apply only on the fingerboard.. (although I have another video, explaining about adding finish to rosewood so the strings won't mess up the neck so quick.. check it out it's in the link on this video)
to make the fretlines brighter.. there's a verity of color for woodfillers so pick something bright, I put a bright reddish woodfillers on a rosewood fingerboard and it's very bright and clear
Very nice video man :) what it the exact model name of that bass, it sounds awesome and i would like to buy one :)
Thank you :)
The bass is LTD J204
Thanks. It worked.
I had my mim jazz bass converted to fretless , dosnt have the sound I like at all
Great work!! Thank u very much AHI!
One question though-
Are there any problems when you tune the trussrod? Dis the filling ever break appart?
@Daniel Itzakian
You're welcome!
Good question, for me, I didn't notice any change (maybe the wood filler I've used is somewhat 'flexible' since it has some fibreglass reinforcement)
Also, today I have a polyurethane finish that adds some "filling" and flexibility to the fingerboard..
But anyways, I think when it comes to wood fillers, worst case, you can always add..(that's its purpose after all)
tune4media Thanks 😁
I did exactly this on an old P bass but i never finished the project because my dad was cleaning the garage and threw away all the electronics i had set aside (i was also painting the bass) 13 years later i still have the neck and body and one day ill finish it 😅
Same but I just ripped all the frets out of mine and called it a day
מטורף! תודה רבה אחי
Somewhere over the rainbow?
Thanks for the video Aaron Rodgers. Was the wood filler durable? Or did it wear out pretty quick?
Freddy Ramirez this video is almost 5 years old and the bass is still playing and still great! I should say that what you don’t see in this video is that I’ve added a polyurethane finish (just a few month after this video) to the neck so I guess it has a lot to do with the endurance of the neck/wood filler
Good job. What grit of sandpaper did you use?
Thank you!
As far as I remember I went on a relatively fine 800-1000
But, since this video I've added a polyurethane coating and wet-sanded it to even finer finish with gradually going all the way to 2000 grit paper
Easier method than using veneer. Does it hold up as well as the veneer? I have a Yamaha TRBX-305 I want to convert. :-)
Rod DeShong After 5 years, the bass is still kicking :)
Hey Noam! Thanks for the great video! I realize I'm 5 years late, but I'm just thinking of doing this to my Ibanez SR305. The wood filler method certainly seems to be the easiest method! Just curious before I try it myself, but how has it held up over the last five years? Is the wood filler still good?
Nithin Prasad Hi, I’m glad you liked the video. After 5 years, this bass is still great and intact, BUT, about six months~ after I did this, I added a few coats of Polyurethane, so I honestly can’t say that it’s the wood filler that’s holding on or the Polyurethane that seals everything and prevent it from falling apart. I can however, say that I’m glad I chose to coat the fingerboard with the Polyurethane. Hope that helps.
tune4media Thanks for the super prompt reply! And yes, this is super helpful! Guess adding some polyurethane would be worth it just for the peace of mind, if nothing else. Thankfully it's not too expensive or complicated to add. Thanks again! Cheers! :D
Nithin Prasad Good luck!
@@Tune4media Did you use gloss or matte polyurethane?
@@AlColossus Gloss, but I don't really think it will matter that much (in terms of feel)
Using roundwound strings and can i skip the lemon oil step?
Lemon oil is pretty stupid, a luthier will tell you that. The woods for making instruments are dried for years before being used, and everybody thinks you've got to "soften" it with Dunlop lemon oil (so well played Dunlop, nice marketing).
If you use roundwound, you should use the Jaco Pastorius' method : polyurethane coating. This way you won't damage the fretboard as fast.
Nice! I've ordered a Chinese 7 stringer from ebay and it turned out to be crap - mainly the fretwork. Refretting would cost almost as much as the instrument itself, turning it into a fretless could be a nice money-saver project. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this video, it's most helpful. Question: Would you recommend this process for an ebonal fret board, like the one found on a Fender Squier Deluxe V? Thanks for any and all infor you might have on this.
andrew herrero Hi, unfortunately I don't have much experience with Ebonol or Ebony.. but, I believe this process can be done for all kinds of wood, since Ebony is like the "top quality" choice for upright bass fingerboard I have the feeling that it's gonna sound great!
I don't think it would work the same seeing as ebonol is a synthetic material
I really don't know enough about it.. since Ebonol is replacing ebony finger board (especially in fretless instruments) I believe it should be fine.. my concern is that you might have to think about different filling metirial (maybe epoxy) maybe, woodfiller isn't gonna stick very well to ebonol
Did you have to change to flatwound strings after conversion?
Alan Wilson I did, although sometimes I switch back to rounds for certain projects
nice trick with wood filler, however, superglue on the nut is a killer as it'll make it uber hard to remove if needed later.
Thank you, I've put so little glue that the nut naturally fell in one of my setups... and you're right, it's really unnecessary
what grit sand should i use?
As far as I remember, I've used 1200 paper.
If you have an un-lacquered rosewood neck, keep in mind that it's already finished, so you only need relatively fine-grit sandpaper to get rid of the bumps made by the woodfiller
So what happens if you dont fill in the fret gaps? Is the bass still playable,is the point of filling in the gaps just a visual thing or an actual functional thing?
I personally think it's to prevent the frets from chipping over the years, also, to make sure that you don't have weak points that will be bent over the years.
tune4media makes sense,now that you mention it
if I have a maple fretboard and I do this process ..... will affect my bass? what can i put instead of lemon oil?
Hi, If you have a finished/varnished maple fretboard, basically your fretboard is already protected with finish (you can add a thin coat of any clear varnish just to "fix" the wood filler into place and add strength) If you don't have a finished fingerboard, I'd suggest you to stain the fingerboard with polyurethane in fact this is so protective and great that I decided to apply it on my rosewood fingerboard as well. Make sure you learn how to add finish, soft and wet sanding, polish.. things that will make the fingerboard smooth after the finish you're adding.
You can watch my new video Fretless Bass Conversion: Maker's Notes
I covered some extra details about finish and more for this fretless conversion project.. Hope I helped you..
nice It's cause I want to do this project on my OLP 4 string bass & it has a maple fretboard! Man!! thank you! your video it's amazing ! :)
Thank you :) I'm glad I could help you
Is there an equivalent of lemon oil for maple fretboards?
Ideally a maple fretboard is sealed with lacquer so lemon oil is irrelevant or even worse. So bottom line is, there's really no need for oiling the wood if it's sealed with lacquer, In fact, I've coated this bass with polyurethane lacquer so now lemon oil over my bass is not very beneficial as well ;)
Hope that helps..
great! thanks for the info
And if not sealed you could use tung oil, also works on rosewood
Can I just use a clothes iron to heat up the frets
Hmm.. I believe it will do the job (if it's hot enough).. only it has much larger surface so you gotta be careful so you won't burn the fretboard..the heating process is just to melt the glue.. now.. maybe ask, or search any info about your bass. the frets might even aren't glued and it will be unnecessary.
Is it necessary to detach the neck?
Hi, not really, but I guess it'll make your life easier :P
Could you or anyone explain me how to sold properly? I've been soldering the same fret for half an hour but it's not working, I've even melt some lead over the fret, but no results.
+Kevin Manrique What do you mean? It's possible that you bass hasn't got glue under the frets..basically, even if you have glue, you can pull out the frets, but the glue will leave chips all over the place and you fret slits will be a mass.
+Kevin Manrique 'Your fret slits*'
+tune4media Indeed, it didn't have any glue under the frets, I just needed a better aplier t get the job done. Thank you very much, completely useful and concise video!!! Cheers!
What grit sand paper did you use?
As far as I remember very light 1000~1200
Please don't use wood filer, use pieces of a plastic sheet or veneer, glued with cyano. Fill the side scratches with fretboard dust you got from sanding it then pour cyano on the dust.
how many mm the nut must be lowered? thanks
Hey, so It's actually not in the video but what I've done later is to gradually remove height from the nut and tested it on the bass with strings. I'm not a professional so I just kept going until it felt great under my fingers (I'd roughly say, it was about 1.5-2 mm)
Any magical machine to simply shave down the fritz to be flat with the fingerboard
Way labor intensive and too hard to not damage the fretboard!
Sir! can i use wood sealer as an alternative to woodfiller? and what else should i use to measure if the fret board so to know that is flat surface is equal?
"Make some ukulele's. It's a great way to learn without using up a whole lot of materials"
That should be on a T-shirt!
Hey guys, just came here to warn you: yes, there can be too much wood filler. This is a great tutorial but it only fails on saying that there is never too much. Be careful because it can be really difficult to remove the wood filler and also it can ruin your fretboard. Just put some in your finger and draw the line on the fret, don't put too much. Thanks for this vid though, really good and you sound awesome on bass. Stay groovy my dudes 😎
Thank you for your input! I think you're right.
It's good to really 'shove' and compress the wood filler, but I may have not mentioned cleaning some of the excess wood filler that stays on the surface right after you apply it.
Fretless just sings. also way to be mostly in tune! really hard to do if you're used to frets your whole life.
Great vid--got a question:
How much did you sand down the nut?
will lee Thank you, basically, sanding the nut is sort of an optional stage. The logic behind it is that the lack of frets allows you to lower the action from the nut side. I think the height varies from bass to bass. I've sanded the nut while the strings on the bass and test fit it until I was happy, careful not to sand too much
Thank you!
חחחח חיפשתי סרטון איך לפרטלס את הבס
רואה את הסרטון פתאום קולט "דבק שפכטל"
חחחח
חחח אותו דבר
i recomend u to blow the frets sawdust instead of using a knife, makes no difference and u probably dont fuck up the fret
@Julian Luchelli Fassa
Check the link on this video, it's another video with updates.. I'm answering some questions there and giving more suggestions for a fretless conversion
Thank you very much !! i have my fretless now on my hands and it sounds tremendous !!! As i said, this video and ur guide on the link that u gave, worked PERFECT for me! thanks !!!
Julian Luchelli Fassa You're welcome! I'm glad to hear that!
please reply : I made all the steps perfect now I'm at the final sanding, I'm thinking to flat matte clear coat or epoxy beacuse the lines with filler might be damaged, but I really don't know what to use 1epoxy or polymethene spray or floor clear coat vernice?
+Nikos Fender.
***** I've applied polyurethane, and it works perfectly.
Watch my other video, I explain how I did it..
You can also learn (in general) how to apply poly and wet sand it to a smooth finish.
good luck!
Hated the fret buzz of my Gibson Grabber.; so a little wood filler, a little satin poly, sand refinish and oil... worked great 45 yrs ago. First fretless Gibson Grabber. and I had no idea what I was doing. Sold a $399 guitar for a grand! Bet someone is still playing it.
There are many similar projects in Woodprix's plans.
You're cute 😁
All of that and the bass sucks!
why? lol