OT: Fretless Guitar

["Dean, Hal" <HDean@wcupa.edu>]

Chiming in briefly: I’ve defretted a Casio MG500 and an Ibanez bass. In both cases I used wood filler for the slots; I like having the fret ghosts as a guide to position. I finished the necks with several applications of polyurethane.

 

The Casio is now a fretless MIDI guitar, quite fun. I have it tuned down a whole step from standard tuning as it seemed to me that the defretting somewhat compromises the stiffness of the neck (you’ll see others talk about this on Unfretted, as I recall). I have flatwound strings on it, which I like, but if you do the toothpicks and superglue job others have described here, it seems unlikely you would really HAVE to use them.

 

Kevin, your thought that defretting a guitar with a sustainer is a good project is spot on – I have a Vertigo with sustainer, from ebay, waiting for the same treatment when I have the time and money. The sustainer will address, at least in theory, the issue of defretted instruments being sustain-challenged. Let us know how it turns out!

 

Hal Dean

 

On 4 March 2011 09:28, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:34 AM, Kevin Cheli-Colando
<billowhead@gmail.com> wrote:
> Korean Kramer Strat copy if that matters.  I've found the unfretted
> site and it looks straightforward but I thought I might ask for any
> tips any of you might have before I go ahead with this (didn't you
> defret a guitar a while back Per?).

Yes, Kevin. I actually have defretted two. The Telecaster works kind
of ok but the other one had an old Schecter neck and I suffered from
the typical issue with doing fret job on old instruments; parts of
wood come off when you remove old frets. So this neck needs more work.
Lots of great hints have been given in this thread already, so I have
nothing to add. Just read up well on unfretted.com, that's where I
found guidance when took the leap.

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 4:21 AM, doody <ringdangdoodled@gmail.com> wrote:
> I got the plans to build a hurdy-gurdy...
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKQf-JIvRU

Wow! That instrument is a complicated machine inside. You're looking
at some seriously advanced project.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com
www.looproom.com internet music hub