jammy Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 (edited) Well I decided to convert the Yammy 112 I bought a while back to fretless, and I've finished it off today. To get past the wear and sustain problems associated with wood fretboard fretlesses the fretboard has been coated in a thin layer of epxoy resin, then radiused and polished (It still needs a little more polishing, but I havn't bought a buffer yet) This is how I did it ... First the frets were pulled with a set of side cutters, making sure not to take any chunks out of the fretboard. http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/1.jpg Once all the frets were out I needed to fill the fret slots. I used clear epoxy which I dyed black with crushed water colour paint. http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/2.jpg http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/3.jpg I then used a home made radiused sanding block to sand off the excess epoxy and the finish from the fretboard, leaving me with what you see below... http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/4.jpg I then spot-filled any bits of fret slot I had missed and re-sanded. http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/5.jpg Next came the expoxy coating - I spread it out over the whole fretboard, It felt kind like icing a cake As you can see from the photos below, the finish is quite un-even, but it leveled out somewhat after this photo was taken. http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/6.jpg http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/7.jpg Now comes a small gap in the photos (I was too busy working to take any ) Once the glue had dried I started to radius sand it, half an hour later the board was pretty smooth, bar a few areas which the sandpaper hadn't touched (these were the low spots). I added some more glue to these areas and re-sanded. Once the board had it's basic shape re-sanding was done with finer and finer grits of sand paper, then finally T cutted to get it up to a shine I plan to buff it once I have the gear, but It'll do for now. http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/fretless/8.jpg I'm happy with the way it plays, and it's only cost me £90! It's currently strung up with 10's, but they feel like cheese wire - I think I need to go a little heavier! Edited May 15, 2005 by jammy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 so how does it sound verses fretted? ive seen fretless guitars but ive allways wondered what it sounds like...i can imagine that theres more possibilties with technique like sliding and hitting notes in between frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pibrocher Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Looks like a nice job man. Bet she plays pretty sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted May 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 It plays really well actually. There's a little loss in sustain but apart from that it's all good. Sliding between notes for lead lines gives a strange effect, it gets even weirder when you start to slide chords I think I may fit a sustainer to it - that would be mad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 putting in a sustainer would kick butt. im always looking for new ideas to creat different sounds, so maybe ill go for fretless on my slide guitar, it would solve two problems. but seriously, awesome work bro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 Did you lower the nut slot hight at all? Ive read somewhare that fretless basses have lower nut slots that freted, i was just wondering if its the same for guitars and if you did it. Really good work, i might go fretless on my Shine strat thing one day. I like the idea of getting some weird sounds from my guitar, that will really spice up my final Advanced higher music composition im writing (got 2 years to get it amazing ) Good work mate! Keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3Va1L Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 (edited) guess it wouldn't change much except height... no FRETbuzz nice work btw... pretty cool Edited May 16, 2005 by Pr3Va1L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted May 16, 2005 Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 I think that was the whole point in lowering the nut slots, so you dont have to push down forever to get the note. Im probibly wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pibrocher Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 I always understood fretless instruments to have a particular buzz that was desirable. With fretless basses the idea is the control that buzz and make it as appealing as you can. Its just part of having the string laid on a flat surface compaired to across a fret. I was thinking though that having a lower nut would decrease the angle of incidence where the finger depresses the string wich would increase the area of string that is buzzing on the fretboard. I imagine you'd want to find the happy medium here as with all low-action setups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted May 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 I left the nut exactly as it was. I prefer high action, and it seems to work just fine now so it's staying where it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted May 21, 2005 Report Share Posted May 21, 2005 is the intonation right? because the problem ive seen with taking the frets off of basses is that the little bit of extra room that you have to push the string down changes the intonation of the note. my friend just discovered this for the first time when he built a fretless bass and had to set up the nut lower than normal to achieve the right sound and intonation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted May 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2005 The good thing about fretless instruments is that any intonation problems can be fixed by just moving your finger (sort of). You play using your ear instead of the lines on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techmonkey Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 The good thing about fretless instruments is that any intonation problems can be fixed by just moving your finger (sort of). You play using your ear instead of the lines on the board. ← Ok, I know this thread is ooold... But I just thought I'd add that this is so true! When I defretted my fretless at first I spent weeks adjusting the truss rod/nut/string gauges/intonation trying to get it to play, feel and look perfect... then I just realised, hang on a minute, it doesn't need to be perfect... At first the problems were only subtle (harmonic chords not working above the lines etc) and over the last few months it's gone so far out that to get a note to be in pitch at around the (ex)7th fret, my finger ends up in the middle of the two lines! But I've also noticed that I've enjoyed playing my fretless way more. FWIW: It's a 34" scale length bass that I defretted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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