Mind Riot Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 Hi all. I got the wacky idea to try to convert a guitar into a fretless after I saw some videos of people playing them online. I didn't know how well this would turn out, so I did it on a dirt cheap Johnson strat copy to minimize the risk involved. I didn't document the process here, but I did on Harmony Central, so I thought I could just post the links to the threads so anyone interested can take a look. It was a very fun project, and I certainly welcome any comments. Here's the completed guitar thread, with some before and after pics: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums...d.php?t=1685835 And here's the build thread were I chronicled everything we did in detail: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums...d.php?t=1661585 Hope you all like it, and any thoughts welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of Magni Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 (edited) I like it, that's a pretty cool project. And as one person mentioned it would be great to play it with a slide too. I really hope you're going to give us some sound clips! Edited July 15, 2007 by Son of Magni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonsg26 Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 pretty darn cool im a huge fan of fretless guitars i would love to try to make one. So do you think a fretless gibson or fender is in your future or mayby an original? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan. Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 |ooks rea||y, coo|. i had a|ways thought that fret|ess guitars were |ike the |och ness monster or bigfoot, but i guess there is a who|e guitar sub cu|ture that uses em'. PS. you are the first person i have met that had a johnson (we|| second, i so|d mine to some one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubab0y Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 I love fretless guitars. I got a saga kit just to see what they were like and was getting the frets playable and went 'screw this' and defretted it. I can't stop playing it now. And it doesn't take a whole lot of practice to get the hang of it. It's lots of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 Definitely a much improved version of itself. Even if it didn't play at least it looks cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axxion Posted July 15, 2007 Report Share Posted July 15, 2007 cool fretless! did you put a new top on it? because im wondering how you covered up the middle pickup rout? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheIRS Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Nice work! I think i might make a fretless out of one of the cheap POS's i have lying around here. Also I've been planning on making pickup rings for my in progress guitar out of wood, and you just proved to me that it can look gorgeous, so I can't wait to make mine. So how does this 'new' fretless play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Wow, what an amazing refinish! Great work, you and your friend did a great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mind Riot Posted July 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 I like it, that's a pretty cool project. And as one person mentioned it would be great to play it with a slide too. I really hope you're going to give us some sound clips! I'll be happy to post some sound clips as soon as I can do anything with it other than make horribly out of tune warbles. pretty darn cool im a huge fan of fretless guitars i would love to try to make one. So do you think a fretless gibson or fender is in your future or mayby an original? If we or I were to do this again, it would probably be an original. The conversion was fun and low risk because the guitar was basically worthless as it was, but with all the work we did to it it wouldn't have been much harder (and in some ways a lot easier) to just build it to start with. But I personally haven't built a guitar from scratch yet, I've just done some heavy modifications and such to existing guitars. With each of these little projects I do I get a little more confidence and experience, and I get the feeling I'll be building one from scratch before too long. |ooks rea||y, coo|. i had a|ways thought that fret|ess guitars were |ike the |och ness monster or bigfoot, but i guess there is a who|e guitar sub cu|ture that uses em'. PS. you are the first person i have met that had a johnson (we|| second, i so|d mine to some one). Oh man, Johnson is all over the place here (Northern California/Southern Oregon). All the mom and pop shops sell them to beginners. Even the Indonesian made Squiers I've come across have been light years better than the Johnsons in quality. cool fretless! did you put a new top on it? because im wondering how you covered up the middle pickup rout? We put some nice bookmatched alder veneer over both the top and the back. The body, although alder, was a really hideous multipiece. We wanted a natural look, so the veneer seemed a good option, and it really ended up pushing us toward the unique finish we ended up with. I detailed it all in the second thread I linked to, it really was an interesting and not always smooth build. There were a lot of problems, and opportunities for creative solutions. Nice work! I think i might make a fretless out of one of the cheap POS's i have lying around here. Also I've been planning on making pickup rings for my in progress guitar out of wood, and you just proved to me that it can look gorgeous, so I can't wait to make mine. So how does this 'new' fretless play? Quite well, actually, I'm surprised. My friend and I did this with the understanding that if it didn't work out we would just hang it on the wall and we wouldn't stress over it. This was a fun project, not a real serious build. But it actually turned out really nice. I looked up some setup specs on a fretless guitar website and cut the nut accordingly, and did the setup. It actually plays really easy and smooth, but it's certainly a whole different instrument with a different attack. It takes a much lighter touch than a regular guitar. Wow, what an amazing refinish! Great work, you and your friend did a great job! The finish was the most fun part, and the part we were both most pleased with. Even though it sprang out of trying to cover up some really ugly wood, we thought it turned out to be a pretty cool and unique look and I'll probably use it again on some other project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_ado Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 nice work how does the johnson play ive got one myself the paint job looks alot like my old bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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