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Fretless guitars

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:56 pm
by Ugly Nora
Who's playing 'em? I was thinking of having the frets removed from my strat. I know full well I won't be able to play it correctly, but that doesn't concern me. I am looking for different tones and have been wanting to make it some sort of weird extended/table top guitar thing for awhile.

Unrelated, what other stranger mods would be fun to do it?

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Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2015 10:24 pm
by gnomethrone
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Analog-Dela ... _p_95.html
One of these could be fun. I've never tried em and it's not a very long delay but I love the idea of having a delays time control on a knob on a guitar.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:43 pm
by Ugly Nora
Thanks, I'll check it out!

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:55 pm
by foot
Super fun to play. I converted a cheap guitar once. General consensus is to use flat wounds (I didn't), and any un-wound/thin string has next to no sustain. There are builders that are making them with fretboards made out of metal or fiberglass to resolve the sustain issue. I plan to do another, keep the first five frets (for chording), and maybe add a sustainer type circuit.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 6:01 pm
by Ugly Nora
Yeah, I actually was thinking it might be good to keep the first 5 frets as well. But I don't think I will. We will see.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:40 pm
by K2000
I love the idea, but I like weird stuff. I wouldn't do it to a Wayne Kramer signature Strat though!

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 8:14 pm
by John
Shawn Lane was a guitar angel who died far too soon. He played fretless guitar though I don't know if exclusively so.

https://www.google.com/search?q=shawn+l ... ne&tbm=vid

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:14 pm
by skullservant
A kid I went to highschool with was really, really into jazz guitar. Ended up taking all of the frets out of a strat and filling them in, he really dug that guitar. You'd be able to hit a bunch of harmonics that you wouldn't on a fretted guitar

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:17 pm
by Mudfuzz
My first guitar was a classical that had had the frets removed at some point… it was fun but it was/is too good of a guitar to not have put right.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:39 pm
by MEC
K2000 wrote:I love the idea, but I like weird stuff. I wouldn't do it to a Wayne Kramer signature Strat though!
This.

Maybe just get a cheap squire neck to defret and throw it on that body.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:32 pm
by Ugly Nora
Team, thanks for your concern but it is not an expensive guitar or anything. Plus I am not a big strat fan, and I bought it with the intention to modify it someday. Plus it matched my shoes.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:27 am
by Mudfuzz
Ugly Nora wrote:Team, thanks for your concern but it is not an expensive guitar or anything. Plus I am not a big strat fan, and I bought it with the intention to modify it someday. Plus it matched my shoes.
:thumb: not worried, I once stuck a fretless bass neck on a jackson stealth and added two tuners… fretless bass VI w' floyd...

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Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:48 pm
by coldbrightsunlight
lol

I've wanted to get a cheap neck and do this for aaaages but never get round to it. I love fretless basses and a fretless guitar would be so much fun.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:00 am
by rfurtkamp
I had one with a superstrat I ripped the frets out of in the stone age.

Glorious for "not a guitar" with filters and weird.

Functionally worthless as a guitar.

But as a noisemaker, was fun. I gave it to a friend who used it far more than I did at our shows when I left Chicago.

I want a fretless VI if I go down that route again.

Re: Fretless guitars

Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 7:57 pm
by Ugly Nora
Ok this sounds fun. Ima have to look into more. The one shop quoted me $175 which sounds reasonable. That includes removing the frets,placing maple slivers in the holes, sanding, and sealing with acrylic.There is another place I want to check out also.