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Has anybody converted a Tupelo/Mountain Tenor kit to Fretless?

Has anybody converted a Tupelo/Mountain Tenor kit to Fretless?
If so, do you have any tip or advice.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 7, 2021 at 2:42pm

Hi Andrew, the first thing is to decide what you are going to replace the original frets with. Plastic, [white cable tyes work well], white maple or other timber, or some might suggest wood filler. Yuck!
Second, you may have to widen the old fret slots, so make sure you have a suitable saw. You will also have to lower the action by lowering the bridge saddle and the nut and its slots.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Gordon on January 9, 2021 at 4:24pm

Not too keen on the wood filler method either!

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on January 8, 2021 at 1:50am

Hi Andrew.

Apologies if I'm drifting off topic and not answering the question you asked, but here's my question; Before putting yourself through all the effort to remove frets and correct the slot issue, why not just space up the nut so you can easily play slide with no danger of hitting the frets? That would allow you to see how you like slide play on this guitar before taking action.
Just a thought.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Gordon on January 9, 2021 at 4:10pm

Nice idea... may be the first step before trying any other ideas

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on January 8, 2021 at 10:27am

Yes Taff, wood filler would be a Yuck situation!! Cable ties are the easiest, but if you decide to use wood, make sure it’s equally dense as the fretboard material?

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Gordon on January 9, 2021 at 4:19pm

agreed!

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 8, 2021 at 12:33pm

Hi, Yes BrianQ is dead right. Frets add stability to the neck, resistance to bowing upwards.

I forgot to mention this, but, when pulling frets the barbs on the tang of the fret can leave the fingerboard, along the slot, in a mess as they can pull wood fibres out with them. When refretting that mess is covered up again by new frets, unless real bad. But that's another story.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Tim Ahlberg on January 9, 2021 at 6:05am

I have used resin apoxy with great success to make fret lines markers. You can mix in many different colors and materials...mica powders etc. Just mix, pour into the void, let it harden for a couple days and sand it flush with the neck. Check out Amazing Clear Cast on Alumilite's website.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Gordon on January 9, 2021 at 4:12pm

I did think of this solution, will check out the suggested site.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Rearick on January 9, 2021 at 7:49am

Why not just set aside the neck with fret board? You can then use it later, on another build. Then get another board and fret board, non fretted, and build what you want. The kit your talking about, will let you do that. Then you can make it for whatever length you wanted. The kit is for a 23 inch scale length. But by using other wood, you can make it longer.

Note: the strings with kit is for 23 inch scale, so you can't use them for a longer or shorter scale, unless using a different tuning.

For those who haven't built one of these kits. The board that goes inside the neck is lower, then the main neck is glued on top of it's protrusion out side of the box.