Can't afford a double bass

[d-basser]

I acquired a Harley Benton bass in a trade recently, took a bit of setting up but it is not a bad instrument. An acoustic bass is of some use to me as I play in an acoustic riot/folk punk style band but I tried it out fretted and whilst fun it didn't quite give me the sound I wanted. I really want a double bass but I have neither the funds or the time to learn so my cunning plan was to defret the acoustic and string it with a set of flats I had lying around. Have to say I am pleased with the results.

here's the bass

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I started out with pliers and a soldering iron to heat them but the frets where so badly fitted they popped out just using a knife

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The grooves weren't cut to the edge of the neck and were uneven, to make the edges visible as a playing guide and to make gluing in the filling veneer easier I extended each slot

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I used black walnut veneer (a whole £1 from ebay) to fill these slots. For anyone else trying this make sure the grain is parallel no perpendicular to the neck, makes trimming much easier (learn from my mistake)

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I trimmed these back with a scalpel and then sanded them flush with the fretboard careful not to affect the radius

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To finish it I applied three coats of Danish oil using an old t-shirt, letting it cure for at least 4hrs between coats and finishing it with 000 wire wool

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Applied a couple of coats to the bridge too to keep it matching the fretboard

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Strung with d'addario chromes and setup tweaked I am happy with the result, sounds not to disimilar to a double bass and is easy enough to play.

Next step is to find out what the hell is rattling around the machine heads and fix that then file down the saddle height a little.

[BassBus]

Nice looking job. Any chance of some sound clips? Always wondered what a fretless acoustic bass sounded like.

[d-basser]

Thanks. Will get used to playing it (first fretless) and then post a few clips

Edited June 9, 2010 by d-basser

[henry norton]

Nice job - the walnut works well too, it's more of a contrast than you'd think but still presumably dark enough to make it look unlined from a distance

[d-basser]

Thanks, yeah slight contrast was the plan, kind of a semi-lined fretless.