Banning the Berry

I bought a used Fender Squier guitar to convert to microtonal and talked myself into stopping for a while at *fretless*. Surprisingly some fingering was pretty easy - as you can hear some octaves and fifths as well as the smooth, smooth slides and inflections.

Since the fretboard was a dark rosewood and the plastic wood I used to fill the grooves a bit lighter I have the normal 12 equal fret placements marked out for me - familiar territory as a stepping off point for microtonalism.

Caution - this is just noodling and not too far from 12 equal. This baby is only a couple hours old....

http://notonlymusic.com/board/download/file.php?id=444

List on line and see a picture of the fretboard here

http://notonlymusic.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=356&start=0

How did you get the frets out without damaging the fret board? I've got an old squire too I haven't even seen for years and I love fret less bass. (Why don't you just keep it that way? Can't get more microtonal than that!)

Rick

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "christopherv" <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> I bought a used Fender Squier guitar to convert to microtonal and talked myself into stopping for a while at *fretless*. Surprisingly some fingering was pretty easy - as you can hear some octaves and fifths as well as the smooth, smooth slides and inflections.
>
> Since the fretboard was a dark rosewood and the plastic wood I used to fill the grooves a bit lighter I have the normal 12 equal fret placements marked out for me - familiar territory as a stepping off point for microtonalism.
>
> Caution - this is just noodling and not too far from 12 equal. This baby is only a couple hours old....
>
> http://notonlymusic.com/board/download/file.php?id=444
>
> List on line and see a picture of the fretboard here
>
> http://notonlymusic.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=356&start=0
>

The proper tool is a pair of fret-pulling pliars, which are really just end
nipping pliars with it ground down so the cutting edge is flush.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Pullers,_nippers,_sizing/Fret_Puller.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=79568

Heating the frets with a soldering iron first can help any glue release, as
well as oils from the fingerboard, allowing the frets to come up more
easily. Chips can be glued in with cyanoacrylate.

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 2:43 PM, rick <rick_ballan@...> wrote:

>
>
> How did you get the frets out without damaging the fret board? I've got an
> old squire too I haven't even seen for years and I love fret less bass. (Why
> don't you just keep it that way? Can't get more microtonal than that!)
>
> Rick
>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com <tuning%40yahoogroups.com>, "christopherv"
> <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
> >
> > I bought a used Fender Squier guitar to convert to microtonal and talked
> myself into stopping for a while at *fretless*. Surprisingly some fingering
> was pretty easy - as you can hear some octaves and fifths as well as the
> smooth, smooth slides and inflections.
> >
> > Since the fretboard was a dark rosewood and the plastic wood I used to
> fill the grooves a bit lighter I have the normal 12 equal fret placements
> marked out for me - familiar territory as a stepping off point for
> microtonalism.
> >
> > Caution - this is just noodling and not too far from 12 equal. This baby
> is only a couple hours old....
> >
> > http://notonlymusic.com/board/download/file.php?id=444
> >
> > List on line and see a picture of the fretboard here
> >
> > http://notonlymusic.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=356&start=0
> >
>
>
>

I simply pulled out the fret - no glue that I could see and very
minimal damage to the fretboard.

I wasn't too worried about damage because I was going to backfill with
plastic wood so it really didn't matter to me too much. Being a $60
guitar helped my attitude as well :-)

Rick - de-fret your bass and lets do a fretless collaboration!!

Chris

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 5:43 PM, rick <rick_ballan@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> How did you get the frets out without damaging the fret board? I've got an old squire too I haven't even seen for years and I love fret less bass. (Why don't you just keep it that way? Can't get more microtonal than that!)
>
> Rick
>

I'm a guitar player but I hire fretless bass whenever they're available.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> I simply pulled out the fret - no glue that I could see and very
> minimal damage to the fretboard.
>
> I wasn't too worried about damage because I was going to backfill with
> plastic wood so it really didn't matter to me too much. Being a $60
> guitar helped my attitude as well :-)
>
> Rick - de-fret your bass and lets do a fretless collaboration!!
>
> Chris
>
> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 5:43 PM, rick <rick_ballan@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > How did you get the frets out without damaging the fret board? I've got an old squire too I haven't even seen for years and I love fret less bass. (Why don't you just keep it that way? Can't get more microtonal than that!)
> >
> > Rick
> >
>