RE: OT fretless

[Brian Kupferschmid <apparitionapparition@yahoo.com>]

Thank you all for your input, seems like going
fretless is about as optional as any other choices for
guitar, it's more about preference.  I've since done
some research as well, and have discovered there are
as many ways to be fretless as there are having frets,
for instance, some people use a glass fingerboard that
has replaced the traditional wood one, or even a
stainless steel fingerboard.  Some use polyurethane,
some use epoxy some don't do anything, so I guess it's
all a matter of preference.  I think what I might do,
if I ever get serious enough to play fretless, is
actually order myself a fretless neck from a parts
company and use a real good guitar instead of a cheap,
plywood bodied guitar.
--- "Goddard, Duncan" <goddard.duncan@mtvne.com>
wrote:

> >>I see no reason to use epoxy,it's not removeable
> and will change the
> resonant character of the wood,as it doesn't flex
> the same way If you
> think you need a hard finish,a standard finish from
> plyuerathane to
> nitro cullulose should work fine.<<
> 
> I can't speak for jaco, but many other bassists
> who've defretted their
> instruments, especially ones that they like, are
> concerned about the
> deleterious effects of roundwound strings on the
> unprotected wood. 
> I have a few fretless necks myself where a couple of
> years of using r/w
> strings has left it's mark on the fingerboard.
> eventually, this
> interferes with the playing action, causing buzzes &
> so forth. 
> 
> I think jaco realised this when he acquired his
> first fretless bass- the
> frets had been taken out by a previous owner ("it
> looked like someone
> had taken a hatchet to it!"). his response was to
> try to get a finish
> like glass, which with the roundwound strings he
> used resulted in the
> distinctive bright sound he wanted, actually much
> closer to the sound of
> a fretted instrument than some of the fretless
> basses that have come
> along since.
> 
> so if I want my fretless rickenbacker (a
> professionally defretted 4001)
> to sound like a regular 4001, with roundwound
> strings & no long-term
> fingerboard damage, then epoxy is probably the way
> to go. the trick is
> to stop the wood from soaking up too much of the
> liquid, & persuade the
> coating to stay on the surface..... 
> 
> d.
> 
> 



       
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