Snork Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 anyone know how to build a fretless? is it much different than a regular? is it just a fingerboard radiused? any special treatments? action settings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 sweet that waws my 200th. nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basey Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 Yeah, I just got done building a fretless. Fretless fingerboards tend to be a little flatter, like 20" radius or so. The action also tends to be a little lower because you don't have to worry about frets rattling. I started by building a fretless bass so I wouldn't have to worry about scale as much. I worked out fine, and has cool sound to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 i meant a fretless guit. but i guess its about the same. do you need to put in like weird type of supa low frets or something? Or do you just not put in frets at all. cause it looks like they have frets in theirs when they make em Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basey Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 Alot of times, people put veneer in place of where the fret tang normally would go, just to help the player find the right position. I guess I just assumed you where talking about a bass. Making a fretless guitar sounds pretty unusual. I wonder what it would sound like. Oh yeah, On fretless basses you use flatwound strings instead of roundwound and the fretboard (rosewood, ebony, ...) stays in pretty good shape. Roundwounds will rip it up real quick unless you coat it with marine epoxy like Jaco Pastorius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 neat-o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DividedByJames Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 Alot of times, people put veneer in place of where the fret tang normally would go... (in a Beavis & Butthead voice) hehe you said tang... i think I saw a BC Rich fretless guitar. They had fretlines in the neck. Maybe that's what you are refering to Snork. Usually like thin maple strips in the fret slot on like a rosewood or ebony board. They used regular guitar strings but I recal there being a finish on the fingerboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 would a polyurethane work, i mean that **** is harder than diamonds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 Curious about what it'd be like to Play a fretless guitar, I converted a garage-sale Crestwood nylon string guitar into a fretless guitar in just a few minutes. A few notes on fret removal: I placed a small block of hardwood at the end of a fret and with a small hammer, carefully tapped out the fret - sliding it in it's groove. On this guitar, the frets were not glued in. If they had been, I'd have first heated up the fret carefully with a small soldering iron before tapping them out. The heat helps loosen the glue. The "proper" way to proceed would be to fill in each fret groove with either epoxy or a thin strip of hardwood & epoxy. I intended to do this, but after a bit of playing, decided that the fret grooves could be left as is - unfilled. They don't in the least affect the sliding or sound, nor do they buzz. They serve a couple of purposes -- they indicate proper finger position and can even be slightly felt under your finger, which further helps proper finger positioning. I'd suggest lightly sanding down the neck with a piece of sandpaper attached to a block of wood, to take off any irregularities around the fret grooves. I found that slight irregularities in the fingerboard itself posed no problem in my case. Even though my action is quite low, the bridge height raised each string amply above the fingerboard and thus easily compensated for these irregularities. There were no buzzes. However, if such irregularities do prove troublesome, the sandpaper/board method cures this easily. Just work slow and carefully and evenly. Nylon strings suit me fine. I have long preferred nylon for playing blues. Nylon strings on this fretless guitar are a "natural". Despite the lower three being wound, they slip and slide beautifully. The lack of frets does noticeably dampen the string's vibration, but not at all objectionably so. The thing is very much fun to play. One major recommendation about playing: DON'T THINK CHORDS. While chords can be played on a fretless guitar, it's often not pretty, nor is it easy. I find that two- note chords are not that hard however. Also a melody note played against an open string sounds very nice. Given the fretless guitar is not at all unwieldy and certainly opens up another whole ballgame in guitar playing, I am at a loss to understand just why they are not more popular! In a guitar "rut"? Give the fretless guitar a try. Dennis Havlena Mackinac Straits Click here to return to my homepage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 Interesting. I never thought about the "chord factor" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renablistic Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 chord factor. sounds like a trekkie show or soemthing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 the chord factor has been mentioned many times in the past and is the main reason why it is not as common on guitars as on bases Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 it would be a SWEET ass secondary guit. it would be really cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryeisnotcool2 Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 you could just take an old craper guitar and instead of removing the frets file them down and then sand the fret board, then you have silcer fret lines! my friend did it to an old sg style bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 make an electric violin with guitar strings and use another string for the bow.and make it ti hanglike a guitar but higher so youcould work the bow from underneath.or make it ti stand upright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 oh and use emgs on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 what bout' a cello guitar! that my friends would be POSITIVELY SICK! If you put tuners in a cello body and a custom cello bridge with even more radius! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! AN ELECTRIC CELLO GUITAR! WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 You would have to make it solid though. You'd get waaaaaaaaaaay too much feed back! WAY too much feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 You would have to make it solid though. You'd get waaaaaaaaaaay too much feed back! WAY too much feedback not with emg you wouldn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 it probably would weigh a ton but it would be the absolute coolest sound in the world. Especially through a wah. Bah, it would be kinda hard to get a decent raadius on it for both picking and bowing though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 are you kidding! ITS A CELLO! thats like putting an a hot micrphone inside eric johnsons Es 335! so much feedback you'd blow your amp! even with hum canceling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 guys can fill an entire stadium with a sound from a cello, if everyone is quiet enough and they play thorough a mike and a small amp. Zappa used a special kind of pick up. Barkus Berry or something like that, he put it on his wind and brass sections. I think it would work here, i dont know about an emg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 you should of course put your electronics in a sheilded cavity...but the rest could be hollow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snork Posted December 6, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 shouldn't the electronics be far away from the sound holes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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