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Post by stevie2sticks on Dec 11, 2020 22:12:36 GMT
I have an old ‘spare’ 6 string steel acoustic. It’s a bit of a wonky donkey. And I’m hankering to convert it to fretless and using it for either some open D or DADGAD stuff. CAN I just have the frets removed? And string it with normal 13s phos/bronze or nylon. just wondering if anyone else has done this. Regards Steve Attachments:
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Dec 11, 2020 22:48:54 GMT
Steve, am I right to assume from your post that you aren't thinking of slide playing (in which case use a nut raiser and leave the frets as they are)?
... you might find that the neck bows forward without the frets, and I'd guess that the guitar doesn't have an adjustable truss rod....? maybe if the slots left by the frets were filled with something suitable (eg wood shims) and smoothed over it might stop (some of) the neck movement. Using contrasting wood could then give you some nice lines as guides.
Keith
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Post by bellyshere on Dec 12, 2020 10:38:05 GMT
I did that once on an old guitar and Keith is correct when he says the neck will move. Mine did and the poor thing ended up at the Knacker's yard.
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Post by PistolPete on Dec 12, 2020 15:57:14 GMT
I've known people do it on bass guitars. Assuming it works in much the same way you need to fill the empty fret slots with wood and then polish the whole fingerboard smooth again.
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Post by stevie2sticks on Dec 12, 2020 16:31:02 GMT
I was looking at non slide playing. The wonky donkey has a sister guitar just the same which I use Diamond Bottleneck on.
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thniels
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Post by thniels on Dec 14, 2020 9:29:06 GMT
I did that with a Takamine classical guitar. Originally, I removed the frets because I wanted to replace them. As it happens, playing it fretless turned out to be a world of fun, so instead of putting in new frets, I cut thin pieces of teak and glued them in. I think the time from taking out the frets and putting in the shims was half a year or so. In that time the neck had developed a very slight but measurable arc. This is a nylon string without [adjustable] truss rod and probably a slightly oversize neck; it certainly isn't thin. The bow is not catastrophic, and certainly less of an issue than my own intonation, and it is still huge fun. Someday I might replace the fretboard and straighten the neck.
So, to make it short. I carefully heated up the frets one at a time with a soldering iron, using a distributor platinum gauge to protect the fretboard. You can buy thin steel templates specifically for fret dressing, I just happened to have these ready. Be very careful not to sear the wood. Then I wiggled the frets out with a nail puller I had ground down for sharpness. They have a very good grip when sharpened, to avoid using too much force. Once out, I removed the residue from the notch, careful not to bevel the notch, and sanded down the fretboard. This is where I would have put in new frets, but didn't :-).
The Takamine has a rosewood fretboard. With ebony you have to be extra careful when taking out the frets. It chips very easily. Rosewood is slightly more pliable.
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thniels
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Post by thniels on Dec 14, 2020 9:30:25 GMT
Oh, incidentally, don't remove the zero-fret unless you replace the nut.
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