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Ok I have a mex fender jazz bass with frets and i wanted to know if i could just have someone strip of the frets and would that give the same effect as a fretless?

Probably. You might want to fill the empty slots with epoxy or something to keep the neck from bowing. I think maybe that's what Jaco did with his. Seems like I remember reading that he pulled the frets and then finished the fingerboard in some kind of product used to finish bowling alley lanes or something like that...something that put a finish on the fretboard and at the same time filled the empty slots.

You can remove the frets and fill the lines with putty as well... Jaco applied a really thick Poly finish to his necks IIRC.

Finishing the fretboard isn´t necessary, but rosewood and some maple will wear faster than you might like, ebony is no problem

I think it might be safer buying a replacement neck.


Originally Posted by LiquidOk I have a mex fender jazz bass with frets and i wanted to know if i could just have someone strip of the frets and would that give the same effect as a fretless?

Yup, its not much of a problem at all! I can do this kind of thing without much trouble in my shop! PM me if interested and for more details!

Yep, I have done this as well and it works fine. You just need to fill in the fret slots with something to maintain the neck integrity. A wood of opposing color works really well. If the neck is maple you might want to consider having it re-finished since the raw wood will be exposed where the frets were. Just be careful when removing the frets so you don't chip the fret board. It's often easier to push them out sideways than to pry them up.

Here's a reference from the net on how to do it:

Linky

i thought jaco used some kind of marine epoxy ...

EDIT: i found this on the web - from a guitar player magaizine interview - the words of the man, himself:

quot;When I got the bass, the cat who had it had taken the frets out himself,
and he did a really bad job of it - left all kinds of nicks and chunks taken
out of the fretboard. So I really had to fix it up. I filled in all the chunks
with Plastic Wood. Hell, when I was a kid, I used to make a living by fixing
and dealing old, beat-up instruments. I was the first cat to use epoxy on
the neck of a fretless bass so the strings wouldn't eat the neck away.
I used Petite's Poly-Poxy; it's boat epoxy. You can find it in any
boating supply store around Florida. It's the toughest epoxy they make.
You apply it with a brush, and it takes several coats. I used about six
coats on my fretless, and it took about a day for each coat to dry.quot;i miss jaco's music

t4d