Re: OT: Fretless Guitar

[Pawel Janowski <pjanowski@gmail.com>]

I don't know much about defretting, but I played a fretless guitar for a while and I know that choice of strings is quite a big factor in playability and sound and it's probably a good idea to think of that before you start the project. Roundwounds can eat into the fretboard (and your fingers if you slide around!), so you might want to either make sure that your fretboard can cope with them or use really light strings (8s/9s). Heavy flatwounds should be easier on your fretboard, but they will sound different and might need a different setup or detuning. 

 

 

I personally tried heavy flatwounds (13s) tuned to D or C# (I don't remember anymore) and light rounds in standard and in the end went with the roundwounds, which I thought were more versatile in terms of sound. I guess a consideration for you will also be the Sustainer and the string type and gauge that will work best with it.    

 

On 4 March 2011 09:28, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:34 AM, Kevin Cheli-Colando
<billowhead@gmail.com> wrote:
> Korean Kramer Strat copy if that matters.  I've found the unfretted
> site and it looks straightforward but I thought I might ask for any
> tips any of you might have before I go ahead with this (didn't you
> defret a guitar a while back Per?).

Yes, Kevin. I actually have defretted two. The Telecaster works kind
of ok but the other one had an old Schecter neck and I suffered from
the typical issue with doing fret job on old instruments; parts of
wood come off when you remove old frets. So this neck needs more work.
Lots of great hints have been given in this thread already, so I have
nothing to add. Just read up well on unfretted.com, that's where I
found guidance when took the leap.

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 4:21 AM, doody <ringdangdoodled@gmail.com> wrote:
> I got the plans to build a hurdy-gurdy...
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKQf-JIvRU

Wow! That instrument is a complicated machine inside. You're looking
at some seriously advanced project.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com
www.looproom.com internet music hub