Defretted... What to fill the gaps with?

[theosd]

Any ideas on a product I can get fairly cheaply to fill the gaps where I defretted my Harley Benton 5 string thing?

[throwoff]

play dough?

[Buzz]

Go have a look in the Repairs forum, lots of threads on that topic. Also check build diaries, quite a few defretting attempts in there showing you how it's done.

[ezbass]

Any of the Plastic Wood type products, put it on (in) with a scraper and then just lightly sand it back, worked a treat for me.

[MartyBRebelMC]

I used Colron wood filler on my defret project. It seems to work fine and is a pale brown colour so provides a nice lined fretless look.

[josh3184]

I've heard of PVA / sawdust mix though I've no idea how that would stand up to time on a fretless

Edited March 19, 2010 by josh3184

[YouMa]

duratec plastic wood putty.

[jimbaby]

Hi
I bought an AXL player deluxe fretless from a chap, who, when he picked it up from a music and instruments fair, had the frets missing and just the gaps left, (apparently they just omitted the frets to make a fretless).
He had a luthier fit maple inserts into the gaps (rosewood board)and a lovely job he made of it, feels great.
Regards
Jim

[Marvin]

My dad used to use Plastic Padding for everything. Unfortunately it does leave that fibre glass smell for some time.

[theosd]

[quote name='ezbass' post='780024' date='Mar 19 2010, 05:16 PM']Any of the Plastic Wood type products, put it on (in) with a scraper and then just lightly sand it back, worked a treat for me.[/quote]

Sounds good thanks for the advice!

[xgsjx]

Good shout for this thread.
I'm planning on defretting my old Vox (unless someone offers me money for it, which is very unlikely).

[skankdelvar]

[xilddx]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='780205' date='Mar 19 2010, 08:47 PM'][/quote]
WTF?!!

[xgsjx]

Mr Delvar gives us another classic?

[guybrush threepwood]

Hehe, I bet someone would buy it though.

[Dom in Dorset]

I've done two de-frets, the first one I used super glue and african blackwood dust (it's the stuff they make clarinets from).
The second one I used scraps of veneer plundered from a scrap piano. The results are far neater and it didn't take much longer ,I glued the veneer in with wood glue and left it overnigh, the finishing took far less time than the wood dust.
There are pictures in build diaries (twin neck project)

[4-string-thing]

I did one years ago and used Araldite, seemed to work ok and left a nice dark line. Can't remember if it was easy to sand or not, but I suspect not!

[theosd]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='780725' date='Mar 20 2010, 12:56 PM']I did one years ago and used Araldite, seemed to work ok and left a nice dark line. Can't remember if it was easy to sand or not, but I suspect not![/quote]

Hehe, nice budget option for a budget instrument!

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='theosd' post='780834' date='Mar 20 2010, 03:08 PM']Hehe, nice budget option for a budget instrument![/quote]

Ha, it was about as low budget as you can get! My first ever bass, a top twenty! Wonder how many others started on one of those?

[Spike Vincent]

I used plastic wood when I defretted my Columbus P bass,though if you leave the gaps empty for long enough I'm sure they'll fill up with dirt.