***** Guitar Project Jigs, Tools & Techniques Online Resources Archives OLF Video Page Library of plans MP3 Library Inlay Class
Offical Luthiers Forum





And our community proudly sponsored by:

RC Tonewoods | Stewart MacDonald | LuthiersForum
TasmanianTonewoods | OLF | OLF MERCH
Luthier Suppliers | Pacific Coast Woods | ELEVATE
OLF X | Tasmanian Acoustic Tonewood | Luthiers Forum Store!
Luthiers Forum | OLF Facebook | AVAIL SPACE
OLF | Alaska Specialty Woods | A.Hix Tonewood
Duke of Pearl | Birkonium CNC | Space




Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Sat Nov 23, 2024 10:25 pm


Board index » Electric Guitar & Bass Construction

All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 1
  [ 13 posts ] 
  Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
Wednesday
 Post subject: Fretless Electric Guitar
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 3:07 pm 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany
User avatar

Joined: Sun May 08, 2011 10:24 am
Posts: 57
Location: Israel
First name: Hillel
Last Name: Levy
City: Rehovot
Country: Israel
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Hi again,
I have an old squier strat. Very low grade. Plywood body and very cheap electronics.
I wanted to do something experimental with it and decided to make a fretless guitar out of it.
Anyone know what I need to do with it (exept taking out the frets and filling them up)?
Setting it up for .10 strings is probably a good idea.

_________________
Image
Top
 Profile  
 
Chris Pile
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 3:47 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5821
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
My opinion? Leave it alone.

What is the latest fascination with fretless guitars? I see them on eBay and in pawn shops all the time. Is there some rockstar playing fretless these days? Zappa had a fretless Ampeg years ago, but I don't think he ever did much with it.

(On the other hand, it is just an old Squier. Grind the frets down to the tangs and play the bejeezus out of it)

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince
Top
 Profile  
 
helldunkel
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:00 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:49 am
Posts: 164
Location: switzerland
First name: Patrick
Last Name: Hufschmid
City: Montreux
Country: Swizterland
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
Chris Pile wrote:
Leave it alone.


I agree totally, all the guys I know of who have made a fretless guitar end up leaving it aside and never play it anymore because they all realise (when its already to late) how difficult it is to play and master...

Chris Pile wrote:
What is the latest fascination with fretless guitars?


Sadly - Forum Hype

Chris Pile wrote:
I see them on eBay and in pawn shops all the time. Is there some rockstar playing fretless these days? Zappa had a fretless Ampeg years ago, but I don't think he ever did much with it.


They mostly get the idea of the fretless guitar because of the incredible talent of virtuoso Shawn Lane...


_________________
http://hufschmidguitars.com
Top
 Profile  
 
Chris Pile
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:04 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5821
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
I learn something new everyday.
Danke.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince
Top
 Profile  
 
alan stassforth
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:34 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Sat May 22, 2010 10:32 am
Posts: 2616
First name: alan
Last Name: stassforth
City: Santa Rosa
State: ca
Zip/Postal Code: 95404
Country: usa
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I tried that once.
I didn't like it at all.
I would pull the frets,
try it out,
then go from there.
Here's a pic of a lap steel fb I made that I like.


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Top
 Profile  
 
JimO
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:17 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:54 pm
Posts: 235
First name: Jim
Last Name: Outman
City: LaGrange
State: GA
Zip/Postal Code: 30240
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Fretless works for bass. Took me a while to get used to it on my bass. If you got lots of time to practice and figure it out, and it's a spare guitar that you don't play much, go for it. I wouldn't do it if it was my only guitar.

Pull the frets, cut some maple to fill in the slots, super glue them in, sand it down and have fun with it.
Top
 Profile  
 
Wednesday
PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2011 10:23 pm 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany
User avatar

Joined: Sun May 08, 2011 10:24 am
Posts: 57
Location: Israel
First name: Hillel
Last Name: Levy
City: Rehovot
Country: Israel
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Thanks for all the responses.
To all the opposers: I have no doubt thats is useless but so is the plywood squire the I got for 100 Shekel (around 30$).
I'm just doing it for shits and giggles.
I understand that aside from the ermoval and refilling of the frets there's no other diferance in the guitars setup so it should be simple enough.
I'll upload some pics and reviews once it's done !

_________________
Image
Top
 Profile  
 
mdubs712
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 5:55 am 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:26 pm
Posts: 51
First name: Mike
Last Name: D
State: CT
Country: US
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Wednesday wrote:
Thanks for all the responses.
To all the opposers: I have no doubt thats is useless but so is the plywood squire the I got for 100 Shekel (around 30$).
I'm just doing it for shits and giggles.
I understand that aside from the ermoval and refilling of the frets there's no other diferance in the guitars setup so it should be simple enough.
I'll upload some pics and reviews once it's done !


I believe you would have a shorter nut on there also
Top
 Profile  
 
JimO
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 7:38 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:54 pm
Posts: 235
First name: Jim
Last Name: Outman
City: LaGrange
State: GA
Zip/Postal Code: 30240
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
There you go Lad! Keep as cool as you can. Sounds like fun. Like playing slide without a slide.
Top
 Profile  
 
HaMMerHeD
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 7:40 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:22 pm
Posts: 116
First name: Mark
Last Name: Warner
City: Norman
State: OK
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
mdubs712 wrote:
Wednesday wrote:
Thanks for all the responses.
To all the opposers: I have no doubt thats is useless but so is the plywood squire the I got for 100 Shekel (around 30$).
I'm just doing it for shits and giggles.
I understand that aside from the ermoval and refilling of the frets there's no other diferance in the guitars setup so it should be simple enough.
I'll upload some pics and reviews once it's done !


I believe you would have a shorter nut on there also



Yes, you will need to either file the nut slots down a little or sand the bottom of the nut so it sits lower.
Top
 Profile  
 
alan stassforth
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 10:04 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Sat May 22, 2010 10:32 am
Posts: 2616
First name: alan
Last Name: stassforth
City: Santa Rosa
State: ca
Zip/Postal Code: 95404
Country: usa
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Give it a try.
Maybe you'll lke it!
Top
 Profile  
 
Wednesday
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 12:12 pm 
Offline
Mahogany
Mahogany
User avatar

Joined: Sun May 08, 2011 10:24 am
Posts: 57
Location: Israel
First name: Hillel
Last Name: Levy
City: Rehovot
Country: Israel
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
HaMMerHeD wrote:
mdubs712 wrote:
Wednesday wrote:
Thanks for all the responses.
To all the opposers: I have no doubt thats is useless but so is the plywood squire the I got for 100 Shekel (around 30$).
I'm just doing it for shits and giggles.
I understand that aside from the ermoval and refilling of the frets there's no other diferance in the guitars setup so it should be simple enough.
I'll upload some pics and reviews once it's done !


I believe you would have a shorter nut on there also



Yes, you will need to either file the nut slots down a little or sand the bottom of the nut so it sits lower.


I thought I might need to change the action a bit.
First I fretless it and the I'll see what adjustments I need to do

_________________
Image
Top
 Profile  
 
Brett L Faust
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2011 10:01 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:03 am
Posts: 198
Location: USA
First name: Brett
Last Name: Faust
City: Puyallup
State: WA
Zip/Postal Code: 98373
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
Go for it, if you don't like it you can use it to practice cutting slots and refret.
Good luck, enjoy.
You might also check out the music of Ed Degenaro, great player.

_________________
How long is that in luthyears?
Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 1
  [ 13 posts ] 

Board index » Electric Guitar & Bass Construction

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com