Skol303 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Firstly, happy new year to y'all! (2011... can't be long now till we get jetpacks, surely?). Anyhow, just wanted to share my recent experience of defretting a bass, DIY-style. My one and only guitar is currently in for repairs, so over the Xmas holiday I decided to dust off and tinker with an old budget bass that my brother was throwing out: a Hohner Rockwood LX90B (a cheap P-Bass copy). I've always wanted to try a 'DIY defretting' project, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go. In fact, it was a lot easier than I'd expected and I'm surprisingly pleased with the result! I'm sure most of you have done this before, but here's a few lessons learned that might be useful for any other first-timers like myself: 1. Use a soldering iron to heat the frets before pulling them - I read about this online and found it makes the process much easier. For the more stubborn frets, I used a screwdriver and hammer to carefully tap them loose (half a dozen taps on each side of the fret). While this works great, I'd be especially careful if you're wanting a more professional finish, as this did leave me with a few shallow scars on the fretboard. 2. Standard wood filler does a fine job of filling in the empty fret slots. Some tutorials recommend using carefully cut strips of veneer, as this would undoubtedly give a neater finish - but I found wood paste to be very quick and convenient, and to be honest, the finish ain't too bad either. I used a standard filler bought from my local B&Q: [url="http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/multi-purpose-wood-filler"]http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/multi-purpose-wood-filler[/url] 3. Remove the neck and sand until perfectly smooth (I used a range of sandpaper grades, something like 60-80-120-180-320) - being careful not to strip the curvature off the neck! 4. Clean thoroughly and apply lacquer/varnish/epoxy as you wish. I opted for approximately 6 coats of a polyurethane-based varnish (clear gloss finish) - this one: [url="http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/diamond-hard-varnish"]http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/diamond-hard-varnish[/url] The resulting finish is super-smooth; quite literally not a bump on it, despite my earlier slip-ups with the screwdriver At first I strung the bass with roundwounds, but soon found that these were starting to eat into the varnish (after just a few hours of playing), so I can see why people recommend using a hard epoxy, rather than a lacquer or varnish, if you want to recreate the 'Jaco' roundwound sound. Instead, I re-strung it with flatwounds and it sounds pretty damn good for a cheap Hohner bass! Nice, upright tone and the neck is very smooth to play. What's more is I'm really enjoying playing fretless! It's much easier than I'd expected, though that's probably because I still have the wood-filled fretlines on the neck (i.e. cheat lines!) which obviously help a lot. The whole project took about 2-3 days (including drying time for the varnish) and like I said, was a very easy and satisfying job - even for a klutz like me! If you're toying with the idea of doing the same and converting an old bass, then I say go for it - just take your time and be patient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I was doing ok until you said the bit about the soldering iron and a hammer and screwdriver. What you read on the net was all well and good in the bad old days before you could get real fret pullers over here without importing them but they are readily available on the bay these days, and not too dear either - they will remove the stubbornest of frets without leaving a mark and in a fraction of the time. 60 grit seems a tad harsh for a neck but I guess it helped speed up the process. I use between 120 (for stripping) up to about 800 (for spray prep) then 1000-1500 (at the buffing/polishing stage). You should expect the wood filler you used to shrink over the next wee while as it continues to go off fully. Using filler need to be done in long repeated stages to get it right. That's another advantage with using veneers - once they're in, they're in. As you said, a great project for a first timer though. Now let's have some "Doom" pics then mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1077298' date='Jan 4 2011, 01:45 PM']I was doing ok until you said the bit about the soldering iron and a hammer and screwdriver. [/quote] ^ Ha ha! Yeah, you're not wrong there... I certainly took the more 'brutal' approach defretting - mainly because I'm an impatient so-and-so! - and there were a few times when I dinted the fretboard with the screwdriver, but these were fixed ok with a bit of filler and/or sanding. The end result ain't too shabby, but I'll definitely know better for next time! Cheers for advice re: the wood filler - I wasn't sure if it would shrink or expand over time, so I'll keep an eye out for shrinkage over the next couple of weeks. Veneer would definitely a give a better finish, but I needed the filler to help patch over a few chips from my efforts with the hammer and screwdriver - ! - yeah, I know, less haste next time. I'll post a few pics later today or tomorrow so you can marvel (or chuckle) at my efforts... when you see the bass itself, you'll also realise why I wasn't too precious about it in the first place! Let's just say it's got a certain 'distressed' look about it - I hear people pay good money for that, don't they?! Next stop is to rip out the original pickups and replace with some second-hand ones from a Fender P or similar. I just need to learn how to solder first...! Ah, the joys of tinkering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) pictures please. You know the rules PS [quote name='Skol303' post='1077227' date='Jan 4 2011, 12:55 PM']Firstly, happy new year to y'all! (2011... can't be long now till we get jetpacks, surely?).[/quote] Never mind the jet packs. What about the jet powered rocket pants. ? What about the cities on the moon? Edited January 4, 2011 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) [quote name='daz' post='1077397' date='Jan 4 2011, 03:11 PM']pictures please. You know the rules [/quote] ^ No probs, I'll upload some pics later today or tomorrow (I'm at work at the mo...). PS: Rocket pants! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twkn9cR5Mjk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twkn9cR5Mjk[/url] Edited January 4, 2011 by Skol303 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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