Refretting a lined fretless

[Waldo]

Is this hard to do yourself?

I've got a p-bass copy which has had a pretty crappy de-fret done to to it, looks like the frets have just been pulled out and replaced with plastic strips. I can't get to grips with it being fretless at all and it's just gathering dust at the moment. It's not worth enough to justify selling on, so I'm toying with the possibility of refreting it myself.

I can get fretwire here

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Jazz-P-Bass-Standard-Fret-Wire-24-units_W0QQitemZ200110230652QQihZ010QQcategoryZ42455QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZiewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Jazz-P-Bass-S...VQQcmdZViewItem[/url]

Is it just a case of pulling out the plastic fretmarkers and gluing in the fretwire?

[Waldo]

Oops, I meant to post this in the repair forum, don't quite know how it ended up here

[Dood]

there ya are...

[Waldo]

ta very muchly!

[mhuk]

Pulling the frets out should be easy if they're not glued (use a soldering iron to heat the fret up otherwise)- a pair of nail clippers will do it. Cutting and ftting the fretwire- not sure how hard that is. And you may not need glue either.

Edited August 2, 2007 by mhuk

[BOD2]

Have you considered replacing the neck ?

Necks without "Fender" stamped on the headstock can be found at quite reasonable prices and would save a lot of work if you can spare the cash.

To convert the fretless neck back to fretted you'd have to re-make the fret grooves. Until you try there's no way of knowing how easy it'll be to get the plastic stuff out of the existing grooves - it depends what it actually is (might just be a wood filler). It might be easier to create new grooves using a saw but then again that could be a little tricky.

What I'd do is price a new neck (or second hand one) then have a go refretting the old neck. If you make a mess of it then get the replacement neck.

[Waldo]

[quote name='BOD2' post='41232' date='Aug 4 2007, 11:52 AM']Have you considered replacing the neck ?

Necks without "Fender" stamped on the headstock can be found at quite reasonable prices and would save a lot of work if you can spare the cash.

To convert the fretless neck back to fretted you'd have to re-make the fret grooves. Until you try there's no way of knowing how easy it'll be to get the plastic stuff out of the existing grooves - it depends what it actually is (might just be a wood filler). It might be easier to create new grooves using a saw but then again that could be a little tricky.

What I'd do is price a new neck (or second hand one) then have a go refretting the old neck. If you make a mess of it then get the replacement neck.[/quote]

The thing is, the bass cost £45 so it's really not worth forking out on a new neck or a refret, as that would end up costing more than the bass did.

The fret markers are just strips of plastic that have been glued into the fret grooves and they look like they'd just pop out really. I think i'll go and try now actually....

*runs off*

[Mr. Foxen]

I did a defret on my first bass, when I got a Wishbass, I decided to refret it, rosewood board, and only glue and rosewood dust in the slots.

I bought some fretwire on ebay, came cut in 2 fret strips, and already curved, which is the hard part. Cleaned out the slots, which was the worst part, involved lots of masking tape to protect everything. Once the strips were clear, I cut a piece of wire with some overhang, enough to poke over the edge, but minimal to save filing later, made sure I supported as much of the neck as possible, put some wood glue in the slot and tapped the new fret in with a block of wood and a rubber mallet, many small taps rather than one big one, figured les chance of bending anyhting or dinging the fret that way.

Basically took my time over it and thought every bit through, covered everything in lots of masking tape, once they were all in, keep the tape on, filed the ends roughly, pulled one out and redid it because I hadn't cleaned the slot and it was proud. Got a very straight piece of hard wood and fine wet and dry paper and flattened the tops of all the frets, any that were obviously proud got a tapping with wood and mallet. didn't take much to get them all even, since there was only a small flat on the top dressing them to round didn't matter, not it plays just fine, although polishing the fret ends took ages, and keep the tape on for this.

That was pretty stream of conciousness, but you should get the gist of it.

[rapscallion]

At the risk of bumping an old thread, what's the best size saw to use to clean out the (in my case) wood putty for the old frets? Would a junior hacksaw blade and some tape be sufficient?

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='rapscallion' post='768527' date='Mar 8 2010, 09:11 PM']At the risk of bumping an old thread, what's the best size saw to use to clean out the (in my case) wood putty for the old frets? Would a junior hacksaw blade and some tape be sufficient?[/quote]

Might well be, try it on a piece of scrap & see.

If it's too wide, try [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dowel-Dove-tail-detail-saw-Pull-saw-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ120539694018QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Hand_Tools_Equipment?hash=item1c10b9c3c2"]one of these[/url]