Oh my God! I de-fretted my Wick! (Sound clips ADDED!)

[catworm]

Woah, also hats off. Daring, I wouldn't even want to put a d-tuner on my wick, let alone de-fret the thing. Hope it all turns out alright man

 

[Casey]

Yep, I'm putting a couple of thin coats of epoxy on the neck., I already have 2 on there and will be sanding it down today to make sure everything is nice and even, I'll apply a couple of more and then finish up.

The fretboard didn't splinter too bad at all, Nothing a little super glue and wenge dust couldn't cover up. Nothing is noticeable now and everything looks pretty good.

I figure If Jaco could pull it off with a butter knife, I could with a few tools that are a bit more "high-tech"

I used an angled wood carving tool to allow me to get under the frets easily, And Gorilla tape to keep all the wood intact and to keep the tool from denting the fretboard. It all worked pretty good.

Pictures up soon

 

[Casey]

Heres 1 pic...

 

[Casey]

And the next...

 

[Casey]

I still have some more work to do... But it's coming along

It'll be like glass when I'm finished, I'm actually taking my time on this job

 

[Mr Praline]

Now THAT is a wide fretboard!

 

[Casey]

Yeah, I'm thinking it may use up 2 tubes of epoxy.

 

[Hoggles]

Good on ya for defretting your Thumb

Before I got my fretless Thumb NT, I always thought that fretless basses were for someone else, more of a classical player, if you will. Now that I have played it (a whole bunch), I can't ever see myself wanting to jam with a fretted bass again....I fell in love with it that much!

The sound of fretless is so very silky smooth, and from what I've noticed and my friends have told me.....it's a perfect match for my style, which is completely self taught.

To me fretless just sounds classy, rich and warm. You don't have the buzz of the frets....just wonderful metal on wood sound, not metal on metal. I'm not getting rid of my Peavey NT fretted anytime soon, but I'm pretty sure that fretless, from now on, will be my #1 choice.

Good job Casey, way to make that big decision to do something that drastic to your already gorgeous baby. IMHO I think you will absolutely love it.

Cheers

 

[Casey]

I just ordered some Fodera light gauge strings for it... I believe theyre 29-120? Or something of that sort... I sat down and put the bass in my lap mocking playing it and I definantly now want the edges of the fretboard rounded... So I'm heading out to the hardware store to get a bit of sandpaper and some more epoxy and I'm going to round the edges, sand down the board a bit to apply the next coat of epoxy... And then sit back and watch it dry

I figure I'll be done with all this within a week or so, Which is a problem! Because someone just contacted me about being a bass sub for theyre band on the 25th... So I'll be cutting it pretty close and very little time to get use to a fretless again while learning theyre material!

Off to the hardware store I go! More pics up later

 

[Andrew O]

how many coats of epoxy does it take? i'm gonna be ordering a cheap 6 string fretless and the fingerboard is rosewood, so i'm gonna epoxy it.

 

[+JohnnyBoy-]

1) the horizontal grain on that thumb is KILLER. Gorgeous.
2) the defretting wasn't hard, eh? I've got a P-bass that's in need of some TLC anyway....
3) Which is a bigger jump: Fretless, or 6-string? I'm interested in both (and eventually, 6-string fretless), and I was wondering which was a more daunting task.

 

[Casey]

For this project, Because I want to retain the tone of the wenge without deadening it with the epoxy, I will only got with problaby 4-5 really thin coats.

-----

Personally it's a bigger jump for me to go to a fretless than it was for me to goto a 6 string. Mainly because of my style of playing. I do ALOT of slapping and tapping, But I really love playing on a fretless... I feel more free on a fretless and feel I can better express myself through one. But, slapping and tapping doesn't come out sounding as... Most people say about my tapping, sterile sounding. It's alot more of a thud... But I'm willing to take the time with the learning curve to attempt to find a way to clean up my sound and hone my techniques on a fretless.

-----

I think 6 string bass playing is a bit "out there" still in the world of music, you see very few people playing them, espically around here... And a 6 string fretless is even wackier - Now I'm wondering what all this will do for me to join a band. I remember when I first started looking for a band, People were either blown away by my 6 string(ness) in a good way or a bad way... They either loved my playing, or the guitards felt like I would be too much of a competition and never gave a call back after tryouts. Now that I've gone fretless + a 6er... This should really blow some minds Espically if I can manage to pull of what I use to do before on it.

I'm filling in a few messed up fret slots, sanding it down with 320 gritt paper, finishing up the edges and applying some quick set epoxy now while the bass sits out in the sun. I just adjusted the truss rod a bit as well to make the neck a bit flatter. I'm going to have to also file down the saddles on the bridge a bit to get insanely low action.

I can't wait to hear what it sounds like, espically with these Fodera light guage strings I just ordered

---

And to top all of this off, My wife finally saw my point of view on the whole thing that was mention in my depression thread, She cut the ties with those guys, apologized to me and everything is back to normal. Through all this and my extreme stress I've been through it really gave me a whole new outlook on life. I no longer look at objects as happyness anymore, And this really (without going to religious here) brought me closer to God as well as my wife...

So once again, Thanks to all you groovy cats for the support through all of this. And let the moddings continue!

And ya know what, I'm sorry for that post awhile back Greg... I love ya man!

 

[Martin Such]

really good to know that Casey!

 

[golem]

Re: Oh my God! I de-fretted my Wick!

And it's turning out awesome

Maybe I went crazy, But I did it... And with very littlechipping

So I taped everything off, gently pulled the frets up, sanded it all down
threw the strings on to test it and it sounds great

I'm using a mixture of wenge and epoxy to fill the fret lines. The frets
are now black, And from 5 feet away or so theyre invisible. I'm
applying a couple coats of slow set epoxy and I figure I should be done
with it in a couple of days.

I'm sure a few of you are going to freak out But I'm really happy
with the results so far. I can still slap and tap on it, Although the
slapping isn't as bright and the tapping isn't as clean. Although I figure
after I setup the action and all that good stuff It will sound just how I
want.

Pictures to come along with a sound clip a little later.

And yes, I have lost my mind!

`

Good to see you've turned your depression scene into a cool project.

A mind is not such a terrible thing to lose. 90% of our brain just goes to
waste anywayz, atrophed from disuse and crumbling from neglect.

`

 

[Mr Praline]

Nice to hear you are getting back on track. And to bands that doesn't want you because you play a 6-string fretless, fuck them. If they're so prejudiced that they can't handle something a bit different, then they aren't worth playing with.

I don't think I've ever heard any kind of music where a fretless wouldn't fit, but OTOH, I can think of songs/music where a fretted wouldn't fit as well.

 

[golem]

Nice to hear you are getting back on track. And to bands that doesn't want you because you play a 6-string fretless, f*** them. If they're so prejudiced that they can't handle something a bit different, then they aren't worth playing with.

I don't think I've ever heard any kind of music where a fretless wouldn't fit, but OTOH, I can think of songs/music where a fretted wouldn't fit as well.

`

+1.

The larger question, about whether a FL will fit, isn't about the
music itself, but about stage volume, mix, and monitors. If you
can't reasonably well hear both your own intonation and some
reference instrument, like a KB, then it's just not possible to be
in tune with the rest of the band.

`

 

[Casey]

I'm getting really anxious to play this beast!

I had a little trouble in a couple of areas where after sanding the fretboard epoxy dust got into a few small holes I didn't see in the fretboard and turned them white, So I'm carefully picking out the holes and filling then with a black dye then putting a few drops of super glue over it to fill it in and match everything up, then the 3rd coat of epoxy will be going on.

I've heard of people using super glue instead of epoxy to do the whole fretboard with. It sounds like it would be a good and quick idea. The problem is this fretboard is so big I would have to work insanely fast to get it all on and even.

But so far, the epoxy is working out great. Every now and then I'll wet the fretboard down with some rubbing alcohol to keep the dust off... And when I do it really brings out the grain of the wood. I was originally going to use white fretmarkers, but the black fretlines really blends in and lets the wood grain keep flowing.

I also think I may be allergic to wenge... I was sanding, and then went upstairs for a big to take a break and out of nowhere my right arm started swelling up, got really right and went numb. I took a bit of benadryl and everything is calming down a bit... Really freaked me out for awhile there

 

[Grgzilla]

And ya know what, I'm sorry for that post awhile back Greg... I love ya man!

Not as much as I love you Casey.
This de-fret,man,I NEVER saw this coming,& I never in a million years thought such a neo classical funky thumper like youself,would ever even consider pulling the frets!!!!!!!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
As for depression,I knew you werent THAT depressed.If you were,you wouldnt have had the motivavtion to tell us about it.Which I'm bloody glad you did.The first step is always admitting,after that,it's all about recovering & getting on with it.
re.GOTD.You can do ALOT better.ALOT BETTER!!!!!!!!

 

[Casey]

Yeah, I really loved playing my old fretless... But I love slapping and tapping... So I'm going to have to force myself to do it on a fretless now... If Les Claypool can pull it off... I'll figure it out

I'm happy I'm done with that band now, At the time the pleased me. But after a year of playing small bar shows... It got very tiring, Espically watching middle aged drunk rednecks dance around... And the last show was the one that finally did it in for me. When it went to my bass solo section someone yelled out from the audience "that's a bunch of ****!" Right there I knew, For my playing style and what I do... I need to find a better band/audience.

Plus the egos were getting wait too high. It's good to think your a skilled musician... But when it comes to the point where all you do is gloat gloat gloat and put down other bands, it's where I can't stand it

I don't know, Maybe I just have a very low self esteem

 

[naetog]

what about the side dots on the neck? going to do away with those since they don't line up with anything anymore?