Defretting

[Ajrt]

I'm thinking of a getting a Fender in the summer and thought since I'll only get about £100 for the old bass is it worth defretting it. Considering I'm not really very experienced in this sort of thing is it a good idea? Suggestions please. It's an Aria IGB-40 btw, bought for £180.

[xgsjx]

I'm gonna do it to my Vox. It's a maple board, which is easier to defret apparantly as rosewood is easy to damage.

[LukeFRC]

I did it a while back. I filled the slots with wood laminates and varnished it with ronseal diamondhard floor varnish. Only problem was that ronseal does what it says on the tin and i had no way to sand the radius back in, it was too hard!

I actually think maple would be harder as it is varnished you then will have to revarnish it.

anyway use the search facility, there were a number of threads where ppl had good advice.

[Colledge]

i did a defret on my old stagg crappy bass and it went pretty well, just pulled the frets, filled the holes with polyester resin (from halfords) and sanded smooth. i wouldn't suggest doing this to a maple board unless you're going to epoxy or ca coat it as rounds will rip up the maple pretty quick.

[Musicman69]

Should be ok with flats though.. go for it.

[MoonBassAlpha]

I'd give it a go.
I did a maple neck Vox standard and it came out fine, and rounds DIDNT chew it up in a hurry either. I just used Plastic Wood for the fret slots - worked fine.
With rosewood- you WILL get some splinters as the frets come out - superglue them back down straight away as the fret comes out so you don't lose them. This will save time and extra filling later.
Good luck, it's not that hard, just takes a bit of time, and DEFFO worth practicing on a cheap bass first.

[Dom in Dorset]

I've done a couple of de-frets , the first I filled with super glue and wood dust , the second I glued in strips of veneer.
the second one is far neater , i've also put a super glue coating on it , four layers, cut it back and polished it with T cut.
I haven't played on it yet.

[ezbass]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='821515' date='Apr 28 2010, 09:00 AM']I'd give it a go.
I did a maple neck Vox standard and it came out fine, and rounds DIDNT chew it up in a hurry either. [b]I just used Plastic Wood for the fret slots - worked fine.
With rosewood- you WILL get some splinters as the frets come out - superglue them back down straight away as the fret comes out so you don't lose them. This will save time and extra filling later.[/b]
Good luck, it's not that hard, just takes a bit of time, and DEFFO worth practicing on a cheap bass first.[/quote]


I did this many years ago to a Westone Thunder III and it came out great, I even got a good price from a shop when I off loaded it.

[7string]

Definitely worth de-fretting your other bass.

Fretless is good fun to play and it has a distinctive sound. I used to play fretless exclusively as the rock band I was fronting loved the sound.

By the way, if you're going to take frets out heat them with a soldering iron before trying to pries them out. This softens any glue that's in there and can help reduce chips. Rub a soldering iron over the length of the fret for about 15 seconds or so (30w iron). If you've got a more powerful iron then it makes things a little quicker.

There are specialist fret pullers, but if you can find something like this at your local £ shop they'll do the job.








These have been ground down to put barbs in fretwire, but it gives you an idea of what to look for.


Start priesing the fret at one end and when you've got that first little bit work your way across.


[color="#FF0000"][size=4]Do this work in a well ventilated area and wear appropriate safety gear. Sometimes frets are held in by glues which gives off nasty fumes when heated.[/size][/color]

Edited April 28, 2010 by 7string

[xgsjx]

There's a good video tutorial on YouTube for defretting a bass. I'll try get the link when I get up.

MoonBassAlpha, could I ask what you did with the neck after defret, did you laquer it or oil it or anything?
I have a Vox Standard that's in pieces just now.

[Dom in Dorset]

I did it using ordinary pliers, I warmed the frets up first with a hot bit of metal (some say use a soldering iron) they popped out quite easily, no significan damage to the board.
If you do the suger glue coating , do it out side wear a mask. The fumes are noxious X 10.