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Just buy a fretless bass and avoid causing damage to the fingerboard by pulling off the frets. However, if you are set on de-fretting a bass, it makes no difference what the fingerboard is made from
I've not done it, and won't, but it is my understanding that pulling fret nearly always results in damaging the fret board. If I were after a fretless bass, I would follow Marko's advice and buy one, or at least buy a fretless neck, rather than defret one.
If you do try this, Leiria, best of luck!
There is a specific tool for this that doesn't cause damage. I've seen a luthier used because he he fixed one of my basses and he had to replace all the frets and showed me, though I am planning on having him doing it. 2nd hand top quality basses for sale have very reduced prices here because not many people in Portugal buy 2nd hand basses so they have to have really low prices in order to sell and sometimes they still don't. Unfortunately there are no fretless basses but there are a lot of fretted ones and I was thinking of just getting one and having it de-fretted. Currently got my eye on a Aerodyne Jazz (mostly because its the only one I'm sure will sound good after the frets are removed. And MIJ basses are good quality)
Its also the only way I can get a PJ fretless here
If it's a bolt on neck just buy a fret less neck and swap them out.
It's another thing if you are having a luthier do the work, and you've seen him do it well already. A fretless Aerodyne might be pretty cool. I like frets though; pretty sure I would make a poor fretless bass player!
Look on ebay for fretless necks, there's a lot of companies who sell guitar parts, I've dealt with a few and found them quite cheap. A couple on ebay are, C H Guitars and Papa Ds Music Store
Marko, I'm going to be replacing the bridge on my daughter's Ibanez Mikro. Please explain how to correctly position it on the body. It should be (distance from nut to 12th fret) x 2 to bridge from nut I believe. Do I measure from nut to 12th metal fret or to middle of 12th fret where the blocking is? Should the full distance be from nut to saddle? If to saddle, which string to use as saddles will be positioned differently to get proper intonation?
Thanks
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