Fretless Neck for Guitar

8/4/2019 Fretless Neck for Guitar

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Fretless Neck for Guitar

Refretting a standard guitaris not all that difficult if youare patient, careful and have

the right tools. Although afunctioning microtonal guitarcan be made with fewerspecialized tools, and with lessattention to detail, thefollowing is in my opinion theminimum necessary to do aprofessional job, one youcould charge money for and

have a satisfied customer.

Making a fretless guitar is



easy: just follow the first partof the directions, before we

mark and cut the new fretslots. You will need only items1,3,4,5,6,9,10,11,14,17,19 and20.

You will need some (seeabove), or all, of these toolsand supplies:

1. A 40 watt soldering pencil2. A fret saw3. A fret puller4. A long sanding block

available from an auto bodysupply shop, and sandpapaerto go with it, in 120, 220 and



320 grit5. A small (6" by 3") sanding

block6. At least one sheet each of 40, 80, 120, 220, 320, 400 and600 grit sandpaper

7. A weighted plastic or brassfaced hammer, or,alternatively, a ball peenhammer with a piece of leather glued to the flat face8. A ruler marked off inhundredths of an inch (at agood art supply store or themechanical drawing section of

a university book store)9. Several tubes of super glue10. Single edge razor blades



11. X-acto knife with narrow(scalpel blades are the best)

and wide blades12. Jewelers files and/or nutcutting files13. A flat smooth file about

10" long and and 1" wide.Sight down a number of files if you can to find the flattest.14. Paste wax15. Fret wire (available fromLuthier's Mercantile, Stewart-MacDonald, GHS strings, orother sources)16. A mechanical pencil with .

5 mm lead17. A set of new strings18. An X-acto razor saw



19. Phillips and flat bladescrewdrivers

20. Small socket set or smallcrescent wrench21. Artist's masking tape

There is a list at the end of this article of suppliers forthese tools and supplies, andsome suggestions for makeingsome of the tools yourself.

Removing the old frets:

Remove the neck from theguitar if possible, and removethe tuners and nut. Do not



loosen the truss rod unless theneck is significantly back

bowed (back bow is when thecenter of the neck is higherthan the ends). You want theneck to be flat or have the

slightest back bow when youdo this work. If the neck doesnot come off, remove thetuning pegs (except on aclassical guitar) and coverevery part of the face of thebody with paper affixed byartist's masking tape. Irecommend artist's tape since

it is not as sticky as painter'stape and is less likely to leavegum on the finish, or even pull



some of it off. This paper willprotect the finish of the top as

you work on the guitar.

Wax the fingerboard and backof the neck thoroughly with

paste wax (Johnson's or other)and let it dry. Do not buff. Thiswax coating will help repel thesuper glue that will inevitablydrip where you don't want itwhen you are gluing in frets orrepairing fingerboard chips.

Heat the frets with the

soldering pencil to remove oldglue. I have found that about 8seconds at three evenly



spaced positions on the fret issufficient. Hold the soldering

pen against the fret with theflat part contacting as muchfret area as possible. Start atone end of the fret and move

in as the fret is being pulled.Immediately after heating,place the end of the endnipper at the end of the fretand squeeze until the fret haslifted up enough for the nipperto move in a little. Move in alittle and squeeze until the fretraises up a little more. Keep

this up until you have movedthe nipper all the way acrossand the fret is out of the slot.



All this time, the soldering penis moving ahead of the nipper.

Little chips of wood willinevitable come out as thetang of the fret lifts out of the

slot. If you should remove alarge chip by accident,immediately replace it andglue in place with super glue.Should you lose a chip, thehole can be filled with superglue and wood dust. Mosthardwood dust is slightly basicand will cause super glue to

harden almost immediately(much as will saliva, blood,sweat and tears). Place a little



super glue in the hole andcover with sawdust from the

same kind or lighter coloredwood than in the fingerboardyou are working on. You canget a little dust by running the

saw blade through an emptyfret slot. You are just going tofill it with wood dust anyway. The glue will wick into the dustand harden very quickly. Ittakes a little practice to get just the right amount of glueand dust. I recommend gluingchips back in right away, and

filling holes when the frets areall out.



Filling the old slots

Now that the frets are all out,it is time to fill the fret slots. If you are refretting to an octaveequivalent tuning, it is not

necessary to fill the octavefret. First, run the fret sawthrough the slots to removeany remaining glue orobstructions. If you have abound fingerboard, run the tipof the saw through frombinding to binding and blowthe dust out. If you have a

fingerboard made from darkwood, there are several goodways to fill the fret slots. If you



have a maple or other lightwood fingerboard, there are

no really good good ways Iknow of to fill the slots, asfilled fret slots are alwaysdarker than maple even if you

fill them with maple veneer(although see ****** below fora method I have recently hadsome success with). The gluelines at the edges of the fretslot almost always show updark. I will list the four bestways I know of filling darkwood fret slots.

Method 1:Find a strip or page of veneer



of a wood that is the samecolor or a little lighter in hue

than the wood from whichyour fingerboard is made. Getveneer as close in thickness asyou can to the thickness of

your fret slots. Cut strips of veneer a little wider than thedepth of the fret slots and asclose as you can to the exactwidth of the guitar neck at thefret slot you are filling. It isdifficult to cut off protrudingends without marring thefinish on the side of the

fingerboard. Do the fretclosest to the bridge first forpractice. If you mess it up, it



won't be noticed as much asthe first fret, for instance.

Place the veneer in the fretslot and carefully wick a smallamount of glue into the woodbetween the veneer and the

fret slot. Make sure that all thesurfaces are bound, but don'tput glue into the side of theslot yet. With luck, the gluewill wick into the end of theslot by itself.When the glue is dry (to speedthis up, you can us Hot Shot orother commercial super glue

accellerators available athobby shops or throughLuthier's Mercantile), carefully



slice off the protruding veneerwith the razor blade by pulling

the blade at a 45 degree angleto the fret slot with the bladeas flat as you can against theneck. A series of short strokes

is best, and be careful not tocut into the fingerboard. Youwill not remove all of theveneer on the first pass.Repeat the cutting processuntil there is barely anyveneer protruding. Place paperunder the neck to catch thesawdust for later use. Sand

the stub with the grain of theneck using the small sandingblock and 120 grit paper.



When the fingerboard issmooth here, brush off the

dust with an old toothbrushand inspect your work. If youthink you can improve yourtechnique, do the next fret slot

down.

When you are confident thatyou have the knack, fill all theremaining slots with veneer,glue, cut and sand. Brush off and inspect your work. Thereare probably a number of littleholes you missed. Fill these

with wood dust and superglue. Remove the old positionmarkers by drilling them out,



being careful to go no deeperthan necessary (you need that

truss rod!). Place a little gluein the bottom of the hole andcover it with wood dust. Fillthe hole to the top with wood

dust and tamp in, leaving onlythe slightest crown. Wicksuper glue into the dust andlet set. This will take a fewminutes, and the fillet mayeven smoke a little as the gluesets up.

When everything has

hardened, sand the wholeneck with the long sandingblock with 120 grit sandpaper.



Sand straight along the neckwith even pressure, with the

grain of the fingerboard,taking care to follow the radiusof the neck. You will want tosand all the way across the

width of the neck, angling thesanding block to conform tothe curvature of the neck. Take care to stay away fromthe edges. The are certain toget sanded as a result of sanding near the edges.Inspect the fingerboard againand make any necessary

repairs.

Method 2:



Fill the fret slots with wooddust by tamping it in with a

business card or single edgerazor blade until full. Slowlywick in super glue until thedust is secured.

Method 3:Put super glue in the slot andsprinkle on wood dust to setthe glue.

Method 4:Make a mixture of 5 minuteepoxy and wood dust and

push into the fret slots with abusiness card or razor blade.



Each of these methodsrequires wood dust lighter

than the wood you are using. The mixture of dust and glueis always much darker thanthe wood the dust came from.

If you are a perfectionist, andyou should be if you want tobe satisfied with your guitar,you should make some testson wood dust to glue ratio inorder to match the color of your fingerboard. Comparecolor of a sanded patch of fingerboard, as some

manufacturers dye their wood,and your fingerboard isprobably darker as the result



of use.

****** If you have a lightwood fingerboard, Irecommend the veneermethod, although recently I

was able to do a pretty goodmatch on a maple fingerboardwith acetone-diluted PlasticWood. It took a lot of testing,but it worked pretty well. Itdoes need a top coat of superglue or urethane, as PlasticWood is not that flexible.

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#####FRETLESS INSTRUCTIONS

If you are making a fretlessguitar, you are almost done.Once you have the fret slots

filled and level sanded, youmust sand with increasinglyfine grits. Sand with 220, 320,400 and 600 grit, then brushoff with an old toothbrush.Inspect the side of the neckand carefully trim anyprotruding veneer or glue witha single edge razor bleade or

x-acto knife. If you have beenextremely careful, you won'tneed any touch-up. Wax the



fingerboard, remove the tapeand polish the entire guitar

with a soft cloth.

You will need to sand the nutdown since the distance

between the strings and theneck is now less by the heightof the frets. Mark off a littleless than the height of a fretalong the bottom of the nutwith a sharp pencil. Glue apiece of 80 grit sandpaper to aflat piece of wood and sandthe nut by rubbing the bottom

of the nut over the sandingblock, sanding almost to theline. Put the strings on and try



the guitar. Play it for a whileand adjust the height of the

nut until it is just right.

Calculating the fret positions

Now you have a smooth, filledfingerboard and are ready tomark the positions for fretslots. To calculate the lengthof your fret scale, measure thedistance from the nut to theoctave fret and multiply bytwo. Measuring from the nut tothe bridge is not reliable. The

general formula for thedistance from the nut to thekth fret is



f(k)=length(1-1/r)

where f(k) is the distance tothe kth fret from the nut,length is the total scale lengthand r is the ratio you want

from the fret. Let's say, forexample, you measured a 12"from the nut to the 12th fretand that you want frets placedso as to give a scale of

1/1, 9/8, 5/4, 4/3, 3/2, 5/3,15/8, 2/1. This is an example of a just

major scale. The nut is at 1/1,the first fret is calculated by



f(1)=24(1-1/(9/8))=24(1-8/9)=24(1/9)=2.67",

the second fret is calculatedby

f(2)=24(1-1/(5/4))=24(1-

4/5)=24(1/5)=4.8". The remaining calculations aresimilar. The octave is 2/1, sothe fret calculation is

f(8)=24(1-1/(2/1))=24(1-1/2)=24(1/2)=12", just as it should be.

The formula for equaltempered fret spacing is thesame, but now instead of



ratios, we use powers of two(unless you are using a non-

octave scale).

The formula

f(k)=length(1-1/r)is better written as

f(k)=length(1-2^(-k/n))where the carat is the powersign and n is the number of equal tempered steps to theoctave. As an example, let'scalculate a few fret

measurements for 19tet with a35" bass guitar scale. The 0thfret is the nut, and the



distance to the first fret isgiven by

f(1)=35(1-2^(-1/19))=35(1-.9642)=35(.0358)=1.25".

The distance to the 8th fret is

f(8)=35(1-2^(-8/19))=35(1-.7469)=35(.2531)=8.86".Keep your figures accurate tofour places and your finalmeasurement should beaccurate to 1/100". Notice that

.2531 is very close to 1/4. Thisis as it should be, since the8th fret in 19 approximates



the perfect fourth (4/3) verywell, but is a little sharp. Plug

4/3 into the equation for justfrets and you will get

length(1-

3/4)=length(1/4)=length(.25).It is a good idea to test thealgorithm a couple of times inthis way before you cut tomake sure you are using itcorrectly.

The general procedure formeasuring for fret slots is the

same whether you are using just intonation or equaltemperament. Draw a pencil



line down the centerline of theneck. Tape your ruler against

this line with two sided tapewith the end exactly againstthe end of the fretboard, andmake a mark where the first

fret will be. Be sure you dothis very precisely. Use a verysharp pencil or a mechanicalpencil with .5mm lead. Markeach fret position until youreach the octave. The lastmark should line up exactlywith the former 12th fret.Retape the ruler at the octave,

and mark at 1/2 the distancecalculated for the first octave.Now, depending on the type of



ruler you have, either flip itover and tape it on the other

side of the center mark, orslide it over and tape itparallel to the center mark. Ineither case you want a new

set of marks parallel to thefirst and on the other side of the neck. Repeat the processuntil you have two sets of parallel marks. Connect themarks and you have a set of lines marking where all thefrets will be placed. It is veryimportant to do the measuring

and cutting precisely. Checkyour work and redo theprocess if you have any doubt



about the accuracy.

Cutting the new fret slots

It is time to cut the fret slots. If you are cutting the slots by

hand, you will need a guide toclamp or tape on the neck toassure that the saw cuts theslots accurately. I use astraight piece of wood that hasa little cup cut out so as to fitsnug against the face of thefingerboard. It is possible tocut fret slots by hand without

a guide, but you increase thepossibility that the saw will slipand mar the fingerboard. Tape



or clamp the guide to the neckusing a leather or cork jawed

clamp, being careful to line itup about 1/2 the width of thefret saw behind the pencilledin fret mark. Making sure the

saw is parallel to the neck,take one light swipe over theneck from side to side to makesure the block is properlyplaced. If the saw has cut outthe line you are OK. Realignthe guide if necessary. Cutinto the fingerboard to a depthof about 1/40th of an inch

deeper than the fret tang. Youdon't have to be anal aboutthis--you just don't want to cut



the slot too deep or tooshallow. The same depth as

the old slots is usually aboutright. Continue up the neckuntil you have all the slots cut. You may want to cut the top

fret slots first so that yourtechnique improves as you getcloser to the lower frets,which, in general, will be themost used. If you nick thefingerboard during thisprocess, wait until after theposition markers are laid in tofix the nicks.

Laying in the position markers



We will now lay in the positionmarkers. Decide where you

want the position dots (if any)and mark them by connectingwith pencil the left and rightends of the fret slots between

which the markers will beplaced. You now have an "X"whose center marks the dot'sposition. Punch the center anddrill the hole to the depth of the marker. Place the positiondot in the hole and wick insuper glue. When the dots areset, sand the fingerboard with

the long sanding block using120, 220, 320 and 400 gritpaper until the neck is smooth



and blemish free. If there isany touch up you need to do,

now is the time to do it, asonce the frets are laid in thischore will be extremelydifficult.

Placing the frets

Re-wax the fingerboard, beingcareful not to get any in theslots. If you do, drag the fretsaw lightly through the slot acouple times to remove it. Thewax will help keep the super

glue leaks from sticking to thefingerboard. To lay in thefrets, cut off a piece of fret



wire with the end nippers (orfret puller or toenail clipper),

making sure there is enoughstraight tang to span theentire slot. The fret should bea little longer than the slot so

that the deformed end whereis was cut does not have to bepounded into the slot. Theprotruding ends will be cut off later with the end nipper. Laythe neck in a padded cradlemade from a 4"x4"x4" piece of wood with a cup cut out aboutthe same radius as the back of

the neck. I use a piece of sheepskin to line the cradle. This cradle insures that the



back of the neck is protectedwhile the fret is being

hammered in and also thatthere is a good coupling fromthe table to the neck totransfer the energy of the

hammer into the fret. For aclassical guitar, the cradlemay have to be taller. Plasethe fret over the slot and tapthe fret in lightly on one sideof the fingerboard using thefret hammer. Once the fret isseated on one side, tap acrossthe fret to seat it all the way

across. Check to make sure itis seated against thefingerboard by eye and by



trying to run you fingernailunder it. If it needs to be

tapped in harder, tap from thecenter to the outside in bothdirections. Be especiallycareful when doing this on a

classical guitar. I prefer not tofret a classical above the 12thfret using a hammer since therisk of cracking the top orloosening braces is so greatwith this method. If you wantto get fancy, there are anumber of products availableto press in frets. Again, you

might want to practice on thehigher frets first until you geta hang of the method.



Take the end nipper and start

from the lower frets, nippingoff the protruding frets flushwith the edge of thefingerboard. With care, you

will not mar the surface.Carefully apply a coat of waxwith a Q-tip to the edge of thefingerboard, avoiding the fretslots. Apply one drop of superglue at a time to the fret ends,allowing it to wick in. About 3drops is enough for each sideis enough. Make sure glue is

not oozing out the other sideof the fret slot. If there are anyfrets whose ends just wouldn't



stay down when you tappedthem in, clamp them down

before you apply the glue. Alittle baking soda on the gluewill help it set up faster(though super glue accelerator

is better). When the frets areall glued in, you may find thata little glue has seeped outbetween the fret and thefingerboard. Carefully cut theglue off with a single edgerazor blade. You can score theglue next to the fret so it willcome off easily. Here is where

the fingerboard waxing is soimportant. With enough wax,the glue actually just peels off.



Dressing the frets:

Your frets are laid and it istime to dress them. Polish thewax on the fingerboard until it

shines, then lay masking tapebetween all the frets toprotect the fingerboard. Thistime, you may need to usepainter's masking tape so itwill stick better to the waxedsurface. Run a magic markeracross the top of each fret soyou can tell what has been

cut. Run the flat file lightlyover the surface of the fretsalong the length of the neck,



taking care to avoid makingthe same stroke twice. You

should make a sort of criss-cross pattern along the lengthof the neck, trying to cover thelength of the neck from

several different angles. Thisway the file will tend toaverage the height of the fretsover the whole surface.

As you file, the marker is cutfrom the highest portion of thefrets. You are finished whenthere is at least a thin line cut

through the magic marker allthe way across every fret.Some of the lines of visible



fret material will be wider thanothers, and that is all right.

Brush off the filings and re-inkthe frets. If you have a fretcrowning file, run it across thetop of each fret until there is a

thin continuous line of fretmaterial showing.

If you don't have a fretcrowning file, run the longsanding block lightly over thefret surfaces using 320 gritsandpaper until a thin line of fret material shows through

every inked fret. Now is agood time to lay in sideposition dots if you want them.



The procedure for removal of the old and laying in the new

is the same as that for dots onthe surface of the fingerboard.Use the flat file to smooth thesides of the fingerboard where

the frets end and the dotshave been laid in. With care,you can do this withoutmarring the finish much.

You may want to refinish thefingerboard edges, or you maywant to wax them after a lighttouchup sanding. Never use

silicone wax, as it will makerefinishing impossible shouldyou decide to do so in the



future. With a jeweler's file ora file with a flat, noncutting

edge (place the non cuttingedge in contact with thefingerboard), using one or twolight strokes only, file the tips

of the fret at the edge of thefingerboard where the fretmeets the fingerboard surface. The file should start at 45degree angles to both theplane of the fingerboad and aparallel to the length of thefret. The file remains at a 45degree angle with the plane of

the fingerboard, but during thestroke its angle relative to thelength of the fret changes



from 45 degrees to 90degrees. This action takes a

little practice, but the endresult is a fret with a smoothedge where the hand is likelyto contact it.

To finish the frets, start with220 paper (or 320 if you useda crowning file) and vigorouslyhand sand (no block, fingersgripping a small piece of sandpaper) each fret along itslength to smooth the crownand remove nicks. When you

are done with one grit, moveup to the next finer, takingcare to brush the fingerboard



free of grit from the previouscoarser sandpaper. This

insures that a finer sandpaperwill not drag a piece of detached coarse grit acrossthe fret and mar the surface.

Following the 600 grit paper,use 00 or 000 steel wool forthe final finish. Brush off theneck, remove the tape andadmire your handiwork.

Final steps

Apply a fresh coat of wax or

polish, re-attach the neck andreplace the nut. Since youhave new frets you may have



to adjust the height of the nut. You can remove material from

the bottom of the nut or fromthe slots, or if you need toraise the height of the nut(more likely) you can shim it

with slips of brass strip (to befound at hobby stores), or withdrops of super glue on thebottom of the nut hardenedand filled by dropping bakingsoda on it. File the baking-soda-super-glue filler with a jeweler's file of an X-acto sawto get the right string height

at the nut. You will probablyhave to adjust the bridgeheight too. Open a new set of



strings, string it up and play!!

Where to get Supplies:

A fret saw, fret puller,weighted plastic or brass

faced hammer, ruler markedoff in hundredths of an inch,and fretwire can be obtainedfrom Luthier's Mercantile,Stewart McDonald, GHS, orany number of luthiers'ssupply companies. A hand fretsaw may be made bypurchasing a good quality

miter saw of approximately0.023" blade width andflattening the kerf (the



waviness of the set of theteeth) carefully with a light

hammer on an anvil or otherflat surface.

The ruler in hundredths of an

inch can usually be obtainedat an art supply store orsometimes at a college bookstore (drafting classes!).

Jewelers files can be obtainedfrom jewelry supply stores orgood hardware stores.

Instead of a fret puller, youcan grind the face of an endnipper (availableat a good



hardware store) until the bevelof the cutting edges is ground

away and the face is smoothand rounded. I have alsoheard of people using toenailclippers. The main thing is to

have a flat or convex clippingface.

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Fretless Neck for Guitar