How To: Defretting a Bass Guitar

Eight years or so ago I decided I'd matured as a bassist past the point of needing frets. Not only that, but I was looking for a new challenge, and the new tones that would come with it. I was also completely in love with the way Les Claypool's bass sounded in the song "Over The Falls" (Primus - The Brown Album). However, I was too poor to go out and buy a fretless bass. Was it worth it to take a risk and possibly ruin my precious baby? After much debating with myself over it, the hunger finally won out, and I started defacing my prized possession. In the end, I've been pretty happy with it. The only downside is that you can't use roundwound strings on a fretless, so you better love the sound of a tapewound. You're committed to them now...

Step 1: Apologize to your four stringed friend in advance, and pray to God that you don't screw it up!

Step 2: Remove the strings (Duh!).

Step 3: Find a set of end nippers (it's a type of wire cutter, google it) and needle nose pliers. You'll need both. Some write-ups on this process say to use a soldering gun to heat up the frets. This is useful if you have frets that are glued to the fretboard. However, most aren't, so the soldering gun is optional. If it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to use one, go ahead, but you probably won't need it.

Step 4: Start with the highest fret ( the one closest to the body) that way if you screw your first one up or change your mind, it's probably a fret that you rarely, if ever, use. Use the end nippers to grab the very edge of the fret. It might take a little force, but the key words here are CAREFULLY and SLOWLY. Gently lift the end of the fret about 1/8" from the fretboard. By this point, you should know whether or not you'll need a soldering gun! If you do need one, you'll basically just be using it to heat up each fret before you pull it, softening the glue.

Step 5: Pick up your needle nose pliers. You should have enough room (provided you followed Step 4) to get a decent grip on the fret, grabbing it from on top and underneath. Slowly pull up on it, being careful not to rip wood from your fretboard. You need to pull as uniformly and straight as possible to accomplish this. If the fret is curling too much, it could be trouble!

Step 6: Wash, rinse, repeat until you have all of the frets removed.

Step 7 (optional): Some who have defretted their bass have chosen to fill in the lines left behind with wood filler. I didn't do this (I wanted the option of refretting it later if I chose to) and I've had no problems arise from not filling the fretlines.

Step 8: Forget everything you know about roundwound strings, or playing the bass for that matter. It's a different instrument now. It'll take as much practice to learn how to play it as did your bass when you first bought it.

Step 9: Restring your bass with tapewound strings or flatwound strings. I've been using the same set of Fender Nylon Tapewound bass strings since I first defretted mine. They're great sounding, last forever, and on top of that they look really cool (black strings!!!).

Step 10: Enjoy your fretless bass!!!