LeftyBassist.com

Hi all,

I picked up an Ibanez lefty 5-string (SR305DXLH) for a pittance, from a friend who defretted it and lost interest. He did a pretty rough job of pulling out the frets, but he did fill the slots with veneer. Then he put on some roundwounds, played it a while, and decided that fretless wasn't his thing.

I ordered a radius block from Stewart-MacDonald in the relevant radius. I also ordered some Timber Mate water based wood filler in Rosewood (this stuff).

I've read a bit about defretting, but I could use some advice on how to proceed. My original plan was to fill all the chips with the wood filler, and then sand it all super-smooth and finish it. But I'm not sure the stuff I got is the right stuff for that job, given size and depth of some of them. I originally thought I would finish it with tung oil, but in reading more I get the sense that that would require a lot of time to "cure." So now I'm leaning toward epoxy or CA glue. Would epoxy or CA fill the chips better (or well enough) on their own, without using the Timber Mate stuff?

Cosmetics aren't a big priority; i don't feel like I need to hide the damage. But I wonder how an alcohol-based stain like ColorTone would work to darken the whole fingerboard a little. Or maybe a dye/stain mixed into the epoxy?

Here are some shots of the neck:




Thanks in advance!

Wow! That board has been "rode hard, and put up wet"! The roundwounds sure left some marks behind.... I'll leave it to others here with the experience to advise you on how to proceed, and looking forward to reading what they have to say. Ibanez's are such great, inexpensive basses, that you don't mind "frankenstein-ing" them. Look forward to the final result and finish. Time to learn some new skills... good luck!

wow - that one of the more 'less skilled' defretting jobs I've seen (but not the worst), and the previous owner also suffers from some serious clamp hand (and resulting bad tone from choking all the resonance out of the neck when playing) ... but it's still fixable

my first step would be to determine if you want the easiest method, or if you want to do it semi-pro

- easiest method: utilize several applications of System3 Mirror Coat to fill all the wagon tracks and chip out from the fret removal. Follow the directions for application of multiple layers. Allow to fully cure. Level, detail, polish, play

- semi-pro: you're going to need to remove all of that wood putty from the fret slots (NEVER use wood putty to fill fret slots ... ever!) then measure how much backbow was imparted to the neck when those loose veneers were glued into place (odds are you have some back bow from the glue drying and shrinking up the gaps) Next you're going to want to set the neck up in a jig to provide back support (to keep from imparting a hump in the middle when the neck flexes) and then level the fingerboard with long even strokes so that you sand evenly without spending more time in one area than another. Use a long machined edge to verify you're keeping the fingerboard level and not taking more wood in some areas. Once you have the fingerboard leveled, fill all the pores and fret slot chipouts with superglue, then re-level to eliminate any unevenness (repeat as necessary) ... now you're ready to follow the directions on the System3 Mirror Coat to apply a couple layers of epoxy. Let this fully cure (I prefer to let it cure for a couple weeks), level, detail, polish, play

to do it right you're looking at many hours of work spread out over several weeks. the end result has all the potential to be stellar if you take your time and practice before working your actual neck. I have a thread in the RGW or BP&B forum on epoxying a fingerboard. Take a peek there for images of several of the sptes I mention above

Good luck on your project!

all the best,

R

Awesome--thanks for the advice and encouragement! I'll post some updates with photos as I go.