Hippo

Take a look at some of the electronics bundles that GuitarFetish has, as well as the insides of any guitars you may have. That should give you a decent idea of what you might need (or at least it worked for me). Definitely read up on potentiometers, capacitors, etc though - just having some basic knowledge of what the parts are (and do) will make everything clearer.

Are there any popular manufacturers that use ash for (some of) their bodies? I see it for sale at most luthier-oriented wood sellers, but I don't hear of it being used too often; any reason for this?

yes;

i find it being used more than any other wood;

especially basses

the problem is the pores and the differences in consistency thrughout the wood;

finshing one is a pain if your not willing to grain fill

great sound

Ah, that explains it.. I often look over basses

Are there any popular manufacturers that use ash for (some of) their bodies? I see it for sale at most luthier-oriented wood sellers, but I don't hear of it being used too often; any reason for this?

Veneer for the "frets" sounds like a great plan; I'll definitely spend many, many hours with scrap wood before messing with the good stuff.

My gut feeling is that guitar strings will be a lot harsher on the fretboard than bass strings, so go for a wood that is hellaciously hard and polish it up a storm! Perhaps some acrylised wood or an epoxy sealer?

Yeah, from what I've read, typical guitar strings (roundwound) really eat away at the fretboard. Unfretted.com recommends using flatwounds to minimize fretboard damage, so I think I'll go with that. As for the wood, I'm planning on ebony with an epoxy sealer. Hopefully that would be enough to deter the wear for some time.

Hmm, I definitely see the disadvantages of having no markers with your point on it being a chordal instrument. Fret markers of any sort sound like a really good idea now Do you think painted lines for each fret would hold up well?

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll set it up more or less like a fretted guitar now

I'm finally starting to get my parts list and the like all together for my fretless design (based largely on my LP Studio). As such, I've been reading about neck angles, bridge angles (difference in scale length on strings 1/6), etc. I realize that these are done for intonation purposes, but I'm not planning on having any fret markers at all. So I was wondering if you guys think that I should intonate the my fretless (via all of those fun angles and adjustments) as one would a normal fretted guitar? Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? Would I likely adapt? Is Santa real?

cheers...

Alright, after being ripped a new one () more than once, I decided to redo the body of the guitar, and then redid a bunch of the other parts. Headstock is taken from a Fender Squier; I think I'll design my own a bit later. I might change all of the hardware to black, but maybe make some/all of it chrome; undecided about that. I might alter the body somewhat (it looks a bit thin to me), but for the most part I'm pretty happy with it.

Oh yeah, I forgot a pickup selector. Anyway, any comments on design/colors/etc are definitely welcome... after looking at my previous design, I can't help but wonder what I was thinking Hopefully things will be a bit better with this one.

Yeah, now that I look at it the waist is pretty small. I think I'll put a top on it, just using some generic wood texture I found with Google for now; sorry about that. I see what you mean about the horns; I should probably either thicken them or get rid of that drastic a curve.. they definitely look brittle now that I think about it. X_X Thanks for the suggestions

Been working on this off and on throughout today:

I'd like to build a fretless using this body (or a similar one) as soon as I've planned everything out. Still not sure if I like it - going to do a cardboard cutout or something similar to give me a better idea of how well it would work. Please ignore the neck/headstock for now; they're just placeholders.

Any comments on the design would be great (the spacing between the neck and the bottom "thumb" are kinda worrying me..). Also, if anyone has tips specific to building a fretless, I'm all ears