Fretless neck

[JuliusGroove]

Going to out a fretless neck on my Mexican jazz, any recommendations on where to get/what woods etc? My first time doing anything like this so any advice is greatly appreciated!

[dlloyd]

[quote name='JuliusGroove' timestamp='1493065074' post='3285381']
Going to out a fretless neck on my Mexican jazz, any recommendations on where to get/what woods etc? My first time doing anything like this so any advice is greatly appreciated!
[/quote]

A DIY job is surprisingly easy to do. Get any old second hand neck (or the one that's on it) and pull the frets out.

A rosewood finger board with dots and without binding is easiest to deal with. Make sure the fingerboard is in reasonably good shape... treat it with a little oil if it's dry and wait a day or two to soak in properly. Dry wood will chip easier. Have some wood glue on hand to put back any chipped wood and prise the frets out gently. They come out easier than you'd expect... the butter knife story about Jaco's bass probably is true. You can replace the frets with veneer strips if you want to do a proper job. I used wood filler and it's still fine more than ten years later.

To harden the surface to prevent string damage, cyanoacrylate works a charm. Yep, superglue. Clean/sand the fingerboard first. Spread the glue on thinly with a piece of cardboard, let it dry and sand flat with fine wet and dry paper.

You may need to cut the nut slots a little deeper.

[GarethFlatlands]

I've seen a YT video of a fret puller being used (I assume this is available from anywhere that sells luthier tools) after heating the frets with a soldering iron to soften the glue holding them in. Probably worth putting some masking tape on the board first to try an avoid damage.