Fretless fingerboard

[littleal]

Was just wondering what the best filler would be to fill the slots after defretting a rosewood fingerboard?

[88msDelay]

[quote name='littleal' post='390653' date='Jan 24 2009, 12:47 PM']Was just wondering what the best filler would be to fill the slots after defretting a rosewood fingerboard?[/quote]

I heard that the late Jaco Pastorius filled in the board of his J-Bass with everyday construction epoxy - something you should be able to get at any hardware store. Good luck!

[YouMa]

[quote name='88msDelay' post='390665' date='Jan 24 2009, 09:12 PM']I heard that the late Jaco Pastorius filled in the board of his J-Bass with everyday construction epoxy - something you should be able to get at any hardware store. Good luck![/quote]
It was pettits plastic wood filler,he used marine epoxy on the board.

[henry norton]

Any decent DIY wood filler will work fine - the harder the better. Alternatively you could try filling the slots with a hardwood veneer (maple would work well). Also, you don't need to use epoxy, Jaco Pastorius used it to get the board dead smooth but most rosewood board fretless basses do without it.

[BassBod]

Any light coloured wood veneer, but I have heard of people using plastic strips (ice cream carton to be exact!). A hard coating (epoxy, poly or superglue) will give more of a "jaco" tone and prevent damage from roundwound strings, but you lose some of the woodiness.

If you use wood veneer the only thing that can go wrong is splitting the veneer along the grain, so it ends up below the fingerboard surface - use a really sharp knife when you trim it downbefore sanding flat.