Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by t-belly johnson on August 10, 2022 at 9:38am

I`m trying to decipher your question but I gather you want to take the frets of a guitar to make it into a fretless guitar? Well, if you do have an old guitar you don`t care for then stripping the frets off it will do exactly what you want. You just need to raise the strings a little of the board as a fretless is usually slightly higher action.

You can either leave the grooves left from the frets or you can use a good filler to give your fretboard a nice smooth finish. Also if you do that with a different colour filler you will have fret guides to make playing easier! 

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Permalink Reply by Korrigan on August 10, 2022 at 4:05pm

Higher action if you are playing with a slide... but extremely low action if you are playing fingered fretless.  ;-)

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on August 10, 2022 at 10:16am

When you say “metal sound” does that mean distortion or the sound of a metal cone resonator? 

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 10, 2022 at 11:38am

Hi, yes these questions baffled me too, so could not respond, 

Taff.

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Permalink Reply by Ozz989 on August 11, 2022 at 1:44am

So basically, I wanna take a guitar, or bass depending on what we think an appropriate scale length would be for the correct ish sound, but bassically just go listen to back to the primitive by soul fly and try and pick out the rhythm section with your ears.

Then come back and read the following.

It’s my belief that I can recreate a heavier version of this tone, with a fretless guitar with a glass like fretboard.

The origional is played on a four string guitar apparently just powerchording in ascension, but by being able to “waver the notes up and down I believe I can crate a continuous drone sound that can then be used as a backing for a kind of re imagined tribal drone style of metal I’m trying to create.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on August 11, 2022 at 4:59am

I have seen them live quite a few times , so I’ll tell you what I think. Firstly, they all play in drop tuning(drop B) B,f#,b,e,g#c#, which gives them that ominous sound? 3 big strings are tuned same as open tuning, so drone sliding around is a breeze, especially with a slide. As for the metal part, that depends on your aptitude for playing the said style & a truck load of volume & distortion? Once you have those in place, you’ll more or less get what you’re looking for? Here’s a little video lesson on metal droning from a friend of mine, hope this helps :) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kPu-7GBp_1s&list=PLEpiTBdaAD-UDbX...

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Permalink Reply by A.D.EKER on August 11, 2022 at 5:57am

There are several way's to go about that, build a four string lap slide ,whit your bridge base a tin or something metal preverably a cigartin ,a monster pickup , string tuners,  tone control , volume,  truckload of FUZZ Distortion, sustain pedals, maybee  reverb and echo, that helps getting loads of sound and doing only a little(Playing wize) and like BrianQ proposed  dropped tuning, i recomend Drop D  grunts real nice and Low. Use some easy to work on wood , use not to thin strings NO 008 - 009 use minimum 10 or 12 for your thinnest 4 string and go up to your wound string accourding the used set, and i recomend a lapsteel metal slide no glass slide!! metal or ceramic ,will give you the best sustain ! good luck on your build Let us know what you came up whit and if it all worked out for you !! Greeeeeettsszz A.D. From Holland!

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Permalink Reply by Ozz989 on August 11, 2022 at 6:10am

I’m just gonna do it without any help cos I can only explain it so many ways and if you don’t get it then you just don’t, I can’t be more clear because what I’m trying to do doesn't exist yet

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on August 11, 2022 at 10:55am

Ok then, I’ll give you some parting advice for your future neck deconstruction

Only use Pliers like these to pull frets-they will allow a clean job & won’t cause irreparable damage? You can find the smaller ones in the pic at hardware stores for a cheaper price if pro luthier style one’s aren’t in the budget?

And, before  Applying Epoxy over a fretboard, clean it thoroughly with alcohol & use quality masking tape to protect the sides-or you’ll get bleed over, especially if the neck is not clean? 2-part Epoxy resin gets pretty hard & glassy depending on the ratio of the hardening catalyst, just a thought? 

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 11, 2022 at 12:14pm

Hi, I think going it alone on a project that's a sort of experiment that only you know what the final outcome should be is the way to go. A number of your descriptions or terminology used were a bit misleading.

1 - Metal Sound - Use a tin box of a suitable size for a body. If its metal music refer to Brian and A D Ekers suggestions
2 - Scale length - would have a minimal effect on the sound. Of course, body size would. EG: guitar or bass.
3 - When you say the Rythme section, do you mean the bass line only, or the other backing instruments also?
4 - Creating a heavier tone - I assume that means deeper bass tones? Again, body size would help more with achieving that.

Having said all that and rereading your post, I think you are referring to a band when you say primitive and soul fly. If I get time I'll have a look if that is the case.

Anyway you have some info to work with now, post back when you get it all sorted, sounds interesting
Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 11, 2022 at 3:26pm

Hi Ozz989, I was right your comments did refer to a band and as promised I had a listen to it. 30 seconds was enough for me haha, but forced it to a minute.

On the track I listened to the rhythm section you mentioned to my ears was mainly drums, and the bass lines did not cut through very well. So can not help you any further on that one.
Just a thought though to answer another of your questions, if you are slide playing it should not matter what the fingerboard is made of I'm thinking.
Good luck Taff

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