Fretless Bass Conversion

Everyone who has anything to do with music, specifically us guitar players, ends up with quite a collection at some point in their lives. One such example would be an old Yamaha P Bass copy, which incidentally was the very first bass I ever owned.

Yamaha makes some good instruments for the price, and this P Bass had served me well. I used it extensively to record songs and play in bands throughout my high school and college years, before I could afford a "real" bass guitar. Since then, it had collected dust; the sentimental factor prevented me from selling or getting rid of it.

At the same time, I had always wanted a fretless bass. We all have listened to Jaco at some point in our lives, and something about that sound speaks to our inner soul. Never mind that I had never played a fretless bass, or a fretless instrument, since I took up violin at age five for that matter. I had yet to do any serious modifications to instruments as well at this point in my life, but I thought I might as well try.

So I ripped all the frets off and filled them in with veneer. I also stripped the body down to bare wood and restained it a darker color. I then finished the fretboard with a heavy coat of polyurethane to protect against round-wounds and flats alike.

I also swapped out the Yamaha pickups with some real Fender P's as well, along with upgrading all the hardware.

Yeah, the fretboard may not be 100% true (I had invested in some radius blocks, but to be honest, I really didn't know what I was doing at the time), but I had a fretless bass for a little more than $100 plus whatever paltry sum I paid to get the original instrument.

Several years later, feeling adventurous, I also added a J bridge pickup and a three-way switch to the instrument as well.