Defretting question

[Denis]

When I replaced the neck on my '63 RI Dano, I was left with a neck with poorly installed frets.
The new neck has developed a bow in it but I haven't messed with it yet. This has me thinking about removing the frets on the old neck, filling in the grooves and having a fretless Dano.

What's the best way to remove frets without messing up the rosewood? I'm thinking about slipping some lighter colored wood into the grooves so I simply have fret lines.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[dadagoboi]

Heating the frets with an iron sometimes helps.  Then careful use of a chisel to get under the fret to pry it up.

If you have a bow that can't be corrected on a fretted neck it may get worse when you go fretless.  There's a technique called 'compression fretting' that I used on this maple neck.  I increased the fret slot width and depth with a fine hacksaw blade, cranked up the trussrod to further open the slots and forced plastic strips in.  This backbows the neck and helps the trussrod take the load of the strings.  It's another Erlewine described technique.  Once again I'm pimping his book, so does Nash on the Nash Guitars site.





EDITED 09:30 EST

[drbassman]

Yep, it's not easy removing frets on a RW board and not have chipping.  Heat can help, but it's still tough to do.  Obviously, if you're going to refret, the small chips are hidden.  If not, you'll probably have to do some filling and sanding to achieve a smooth unfretted board.  Ditto on the book, it's a great resource.

If you remove the frets, it's true you could see an increase in a bow since the slots then can move.  If the bow gets worse without frets, you'll have to fix the neck if you want it to be unfretted.

[Denis]

Great points both about causing more bow by removing the frets! I didn't even think about it although it's perfectly logical. Heck, maybe I'll just file them on down, leaving them flat.

[drbassman]

Great points both about causing more bow by removing the frets! I didn't even think about it although it's perfectly logical. Heck, maybe I'll just file them on down, leaving them flat.

That would be one way to keep it from worsening.

[Highlander]

Peter Cook did that to my RD for me - not a perfect answer unless you top-coat the neck - eventually had them removed and infills done...

[dadagoboi]

Kenny, you asked about topcoating a fretless board...I used minwax polyurethane rattlecans on 2 maple boards.  Chromes on one, Labellas on the other.  It's worked very well.

[Denis]

That would be one way to keep it from worsening.

Hmm, wait. I might have been less than clear. I have two Dano necks.
Neck A. = original neck with poorly installed frets but otherwise okay. This is the one I was thinking about defretting.
Neck B. = bought to replace Neck A. has developed a bow (towards front of bass) and I can't imagine adjusting the truss rod would take make THAT much difference. Seriously, at the nut it's fine, but at the heel of the neck the strings are now almost .25" above the frets!

[Highlander]

... It's worked very well.

Ta...

[dadagoboi]

Oops, my mistake on the bowed neck mixup.  

You might be surprised how much bow you can take out.  Fret the neck at the 1st fret E string with one hand and the last fret with your other hand to see how much relief there is in the middlle.  It's difficult to tell how much bow there is just by looking at how high the strings are off the neck at the heel end.

[shadowcastaz]

I recall an article a guy from stew-mac did  using several applications of their thin ,med & thick super glues. Ill dig around or hell ,u can if you want!

[Pilgrim]

On my defret project I heated the frets with a big-ass Weller soldering iron, pulled them very carefully with nippers having 90-degree cutting faces, saved all the chips and glued them back in with super glue.

Yes, this took time!

I cleaned out the fret strips with a .022 craft saw, then filled the strips with .020 polystyrene plastic, trimmed the inserts down, sanded lightly and put one coat of Tung oil on the board.  I wanted visible fret lines, and I have them - the board is so smooth you can't even feel the lines.



I depended heavily on info from Dan Erlewine.  There are also some good threads on defretting at TB.