Has anyone ever successfully de-fretted a bass? I've read one or two online guides on how to, but they were by first-timers with a little bit of knowledge and a lot of guts. The procedures they showed weren't clean enough for me to jump right in and try it. I want to remove the frets from my acoustic 4-string (the one in the picture I'm using), but I'm still a little hesitant.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

my question is, why are you de-fretting it? i'm assuming you're going to put new ones on... but i would recommend having a professional do it or least for the first time, take it to a shop and have them walk you through it

I want to convert it to a fretless

Is this your main axe? Or a project?
If it is a project, I'd go for it. If it's your main player, I'd save $ up for a fretless bass.

To be honest, these 'guitars' don't have alot of sonic capabilities, or else they wouldn't put bronze strings and a preamp on them, and I've NEVER seen someone use one unplugged ( other than an impromptu serenade I did for a gal in an office one time ;^) . Try a set of flatwounds on it and decide if you really wanna go there. When you lower the action to play fretlessly, and you do actually play your 'acoustic' bass unplugged, you'll be amazed at how important higher action is to real acoustic output. Nowdays you can get a real acoustic upright made in china for $800 around here, so maybe it's time to step up anyway if that's the sound you're really looking for.

I own a Conklin custom 5 st Fretted, a custom 5 fretless, and an Engelhart U.S. made upright, and can honestly see a need for all three.

Good luck............

dont do it !

I ended up taking the advice you guys've offered (thanks, by the way) and went looking for a fretless bass. I found a cheaper 5 string that I will fix up a little, if need be. I'm pretty stoked, since this'll not only be an intro to fretless bass, but also to 5 string (although I've played 6-ers a little, so I imagine it will be easy to pick [back] up).

For any experienced fretless players out there, what strings do you use? I'm almost completely set on a pack of flatwounds made by Rotosound (unless some one can convince me otherwise). Which company makes the best? I don't want to spend too much (no more than, say, $50).

Thanks.

You know what kind of epoxy to fill the frets in with correct?