Frets have been grinded... how to remove what's left?

[Bruce Johnson]

Before everyone piles on with the insults and ridicule:

This method of "defretting" a bass by filing the frets down flush was a fad for a while. I think it was in the '80's. Some famous bassist did it to their Fender and then a bunch of people rushed to their tech and had it done to one of their Fenders. It was usually done with a big flat file, not by grinding. It was a quick, inexpensive way to convert a bass to fretless. It allowed you to try playing fretless, and it was reversible. It wasn't too expensive to convert back to fretted if you didn't like it.

These basses with the filed off frets weren't bad to play. You wouldn't get a pure fretless sound, because there was a slight clicking as you slid over the metal strips. But you could learn to play fretless on it while you saved up to buy a real fretless bass.

The problem was that, after a while, the tangs would start lifting up out of the slots. Then they were sharp as little razor blades. Particularly if the ends lifted up. You could cut yourself on them.

Un-de-fretting one of these necks wasn't really a problem....Once you figured out the trick of prying the tangs up with a little wedge from the end. Then it was about like a normal refretting job. Fix a few chips, resurface the fingerboard, put the new frets in. No permanent damage to the bass.

Remember that, 40 years ago, there wasn't this big flood of cheap import aftermarket necks or used necks that we have today. Getting a replacement neck for your Fender was pretty expensive. Like, nearly half the cost of a new bass.

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

God save us All from hack "fretless" conversions. Here's a video of a Luthier trying to address that exact scenario on a Rickenbacker bass. Do-able, but not for the faint of heart, and expect some chip-out at best. He uses a ruler to try to limit the chip-out but a set of the Stewmac chip stoppers might work better. If you aren't comfortable with what he has to do here, take it to a Pro. Hopefully one of our resident Pros will weigh-in if there is a better way to do this. This one was worse because the neck was bound, which I assume yours is not.



Chip Stoppers, Set of 2 - StewMac

The Stew Mac Chip Stopper is a nice little tool for removing normal frets but it's very thin and flimsy. Without the crown of the fret to push the Chip Stopper downwards against the fretboard I don't think it will work at all.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Now take that and add dog-with-bone determination. My candid first mental reaction to this thread: What kind of #@$%ing moron would...

We may yet see what kind of spectacle this combo can create sometime around June. What interesting times...

i see this routine on the chin up bar & all I can see is broken teeth , jaw or worse. I guess I’ve never been a huge risk taker. I have survived to almost 63 so there is that.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I saw the caption for this thread and immediately under it the next thread was titled: "Oh you can just 'Buff that right out'"

My impulse would be to get rid of the fretboard altogether and glue on a nice ebony or pau ferro board for a sexy fretless bass.

 

[FullumMusic]

Now take that and add dog-with-bone determination. My candid first mental reaction to this thread: What kind of #@$%ing moron would...

We may yet see what kind of spectacle this combo can create sometime around June. What interesting times...

WUT? What am i even looking at???

 

[SulzerType2]

WUT? What am i even looking at???

The sheer idiocy that is CrossFit.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

WUT? What am i even looking at???

Self administered spinal decompression: SASD. Aka KIP.

 

[Flint222]

I know it would be easier to buy a new neck and be done with it. I did consider it. As someone said, it is not a vintage instrument after all. But I like to tinker with things and never walk away from a good challenge. That's just how I learn.

And if it does not end well, I could still buy a new neck

 

[Fynn]

I'm sorry, I can't help you, but i wanted to say my condolences.
I feel like grinding the frets off would be way more difficult, than just pulling them and filling it back in with something....

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I know it would be easier to buy a new neck and be done with it. I did consider it. As someone said, it is not a vintage instrument after all. But I like to tinker with things and never walk away from a good challenge. That's just how I learn.

And if it does not end well, I could still buy a new neck

For someone who has done refrets, this shouldn't be a difficult repair at all. If you want to learn how to do fretwork, here's your opportunity.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I'm sorry, I can't help you, but i wanted to say my condolences.
I feel like grinding the frets off would be way more difficult, than just pulling them and filling it back in with something....

Not really. The frets are filed down, not ground. A few minutes with a big flat file.

 

[Grinderman]

WUT? What am i even looking at???

Apparently, it's called "kipping", a cross-fit training type of chin-up, and that's a woman named Marjorie, who was recently interviewed on 60 Minutes, doing it with extremely bad form. It's amazing to me that she does this routinely and hasn't seriously injured herself yet, as far as I know.

 

[Fynn]

Not really. The frets are filed down, not ground. A few minutes with a big flat file.

Well, still feels like not the smartest thing to do though...

 

[FullumMusic]

Apparently, it's called "kipping", a cross-fit training type of chin-up, and that's a woman named Marjorie, who was recently interviewed on 60 Minutes, doing it with extremely bad form. It's amazing to me that she does this routinely and hasn't seriously injured herself yet, as far as I know.

Well, now i know. (I think. I mean, close enough to knowing as one can get.) {blank stare} I'm gonna go play my bass.

 

[Element Zero]

I forget which comedian said it, maybe George Carlin, maybe Bill Hicks, maybe someone else, but it basically went: "Think of how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of all people are dumber than that."
I had a teacher in middle-school once say, "One of the most difficult things for an intelligent person to understand is why a stupid person does the things they do."

I personally have low expectations for humans using their little grey cells, and they still undershoot my low expectations.

I feel the Fret-ripper-outer of this bass exemplifies all these statements. (Hopefully they're not on TB.)

Not that i'm not also guilty of doing bonehead things too.

It stuns me how some of my coworkers… exist. The extreme lack of critical thinking… even common sense, is mindblowing.

 

[SulzerType2]

Apparently, it's called "kipping", a cross-fit training type of chin-up, and that's a woman named Marjorie, who was recently interviewed on 60 Minutes, doing it with extremely bad form. It's amazing to me that she does this routinely and hasn't seriously injured herself yet, as far as I know.

A friend of mine injured herself doing CrossFit. Basically pressured into doing too many reps at too high a weight with zero form, to be part of the gang. You don't want to disappoint your peers!

She was in the shower and did some small, innocuous move only to crumple up on the floor. She needed to phone another friend to come and rescue her as she was broken.

I lost a bit of respect for her when she said "I can't wait to finish these chiropractor sessions so that I can get back to CrossFit!"

 

[FullumMusic]

It stuns me how some of my coworkers… exist. The extreme lack of critical thinking… even common sense, is mindblowing.

Being dumb should hurt... them, not me. Because right now it hurts me.

 

[Ostie]

I forget which comedian said it, maybe George Carlin, maybe Bill Hicks, maybe someone else, but it basically went: "Think of how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of all people are dumber than that."
I had a teacher in middle-school once say, "One of the most difficult things for an intelligent person to understand is why a stupid person does the things they do."

I personally have low expectations for humans using their little grey cells, and they still undershoot my low expectations.

I feel the Fret-ripper-outer of this bass exemplifies all these statements. (Hopefully they're not on TB.)

Not that i'm not also guilty of doing bonehead things too.

It was George Carlin. And he was right.

 

[Big B.]

I'm thinking that even if all goes well you'll still probably get some chip out on the board. Maybe you can pull them from the side of the neck but I wouldn't count on it. Fender board are usually around 1/4" which is pretty thick for a 4 string bass. If you manage to get the slots clean without any damage then great, discard all this but if it does happen you have options. As long as the chipping isnt too deep you can probably sand the face of the board down between 1/32" and 1/16" of an inch until the fingerboard is smooth again. You can then use a fret saw with a depth stop and make the slots deep enough for your new frets. You'll have to lower the bridge a bit and file the nut slots to make up for the material you've removed but otherwise it's a pretty invisible repair.

 

[J Posega]

It's not vintage, rare, or high value. It was made in this millennium. Buy a new neck.