Doing Things Wrong

Fretless Basses

Projects with fretless necks.

Neck - Fretless


This one is almost identical in construction to the Danelectro-style - masonite over chambered plywood body, masonite pickguard. The neck is purpleheart over maple, with plastic fret lines. The soundhole merely serves as a pickup mount, and the pickup was just insurance against never getting the intended piezo system to work. Eventually, I did get it to work, the piezo is incorporated in a modified bridge, and sounds great. 30" scale.


This is the biggest of the Audiovoxes, weighing in at a full 12 pounds, with a 36" scale. The neck is a Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) floorboard over maple, with a straight cutout headstock. There are over 100 marker dots. The body is veneered masonite over solid plywood, with Danelectro-style Tolex binding. There are also strap buttons, this instrument can be played vertically or horizontally.


This fretless sounds really cool, and is super-easy to play, as you no longer have to stretch your hand unnaturally just to make ordinary patterns. It is set up with flats I found in the junk box. Can anyone tell me what kind of strings have blue thread leaders? The intonation fell right in, which is surprising considering the bridge was previously set up for 25.5" guitar strings. ( Actually, how important is intonation on a fretless anyway? )


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Zona 35-380, 8" Dovetail Saw

This is the saw I use for cutting fret slots - a Zona 35-380 dovetail saw. It has the correct kerf of 0.022" for a fret slot, and has an 8" long blade, is long enough to work with my slotting jig. ( StewMac's saw is 0.023". ) The spine on the back engages the jig to set the cutting depth. Well, actually, I got the saw first and built the jig around it.

Printed from luthierylabs.com