Fender Jazz - De-fret job. (Pictures and Soundclip)

C

Casey

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My fretless mod is complete!

MIM Fender Jazz V - Deluxe.

Removing the frets:


Cleaning out the fret slots:


Fret slots being filled with polyurethane:


Dots removed and filled with epoxy:


Fretboard sanded smooth and 3rd coat of polyurethane applyed:



FINISHED! (After about 10 coats of polyurethane)






It took a few days of work, But was worth it! It sounds awesome, And really has that Jaco growl when playing at the bridge. Sadly the nut broke when I was removing it, So at the moment I'm using a ghetto nut (rolled up paper) until I carv a new nut tomorrow, I will most likely carv a nut out of some wenge I have laying around.

I will also post sound clips soon :)
 
wow thats sick man!!!!
im building a fretless bass from scratch, will be fun :D
 
Nice one, Casey... you are THE MAN!

Love the way those filled in fretlines look... just barely visible (from the angle of the photos anyway)... very cool!

Thought you might fancy a big lump of brass for the nut! Can't you fit in a JAN1 (or maybe a JAN3)?
 
Nice one, Casey... you are THE MAN!

Love the way those filled in fretlines look... just barely visible (from the angle of the photos anyway)... very cool!

Thought you might fancy a big lump of brass for the nut! Can't you fit in a JAN1 (or maybe a JAN3)?
 
Absolutely gorgeous work there, I might just have to attempt a proper coating on my bass if it means I can get anywhere near those results. Probably doesn't help that the wood filler I used is very much light in colour, not dark at all. So it sorta looks like maple in rosewood or something.
 
very sweet! oh please take out the pickguard to complete the look. ;)

i wonder how the wenge nut would sound like. alain caron uses an ebony bridge and it sounds really woody.
 
Very nice mate! I've been mega GASing for a fretless since we started playing jazz ballads in school...
 
That looks amazing. I'm seriously thinking fo doing that to my RB Vette. While I'd love an ebony board spending $600 to get one when the Vette is just sitting in its bag doesn't really appeal. I'd a love a detailed explanation of the process. I don't want to bugger the bass up.
 
casey - your post subject line kinda scared the s**t out of me....


you've done an amazin job mate... looks fantastic
 
Doog said:
That looks amazing. I'm seriously thinking fo doing that to my RB Vette. While I'd love an ebony board spending $600 to get one when the Vette is just sitting in its bag doesn't really appeal. I'd a love a detailed explanation of the process. I don't want to bugger the bass up.
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No problem :)

I'm always rushing stuff, So I didn't take too much care about the fretboard when pulling the frets out, I wish I would of because it did splinter a tad... But It was easily fixable.

So here's how I did it, With a few tips on doing it a bit better than I did!

I tape off around the frets to prevent too much splintering (Using a soldering gun will help keep splintering to a minimum) I used a thin knife to get under the edge of the fret and slowly pulled them all up.

I took some 150ish grit sandpaper and a sanding block and began to level the fretboard.

I took a knife and slotted out/cleaned out the fret slots

I took the same knife and dipped it in polyurethane and pushed the polyurethane down into the fret slots until level with the fretboard, I then waited about an hour for it to gel a bit. I wiped on more polyurethane around the fretslot area. I did about 5 coats of this ever 2 hours or so letting each one dry a bit.

I took 300 grit sandpaper and sanded the fretboard down smooth again. (The fret slots are now filled with polyurethane and level with the rest of the board)

I sanded the board all the way down to about 450 gritt I think... And then rubbed it down really good with some 000 steelwool until it was extremly smooth.

I then mixed up some special oil... Consisting of half tung oil/half polyurethane/ and enough acetone to thin it down enough that it can wipe it on easily with a rag. with the added acetone it drys very quickly... Withing problaby 2-3 minutes it was already getting tacky and within 15 minutes it was dry!

I did about 8 coats or so of this and wiping it down real good with 0000 steel weel after every 2 or so coats. The last coat I put on thick. I let each coat cure for about 2 hours or so just to make sure it didn't smear. The last coat I let cure over night.

I then polished it out one more time with olive oil and 0000 steel wool then just wiped it down with a rag, Slapped the neck on, adjusted the setup and started playing :)

I still have some more setting up to do, But it sounds pretty good to me :)

Once I finally have the time I'll post sound clips :)
 
Excellent job Casey. Any thoughts about doing this for a living?
 
John88 said:
Excellent job Casey. Any thoughts about doing this for a living?
Click to expand...

It has crossed my mind a few times... I'm not comfortable modding other peoples instruments though :P

Although it has passed my mind multiple times to start building basses...
 
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