Changing My Fretless Hardware, or How to NOT Destroy Your Bass

[@kevgamble]

Looks and sounds fantastic! Black is definitely tops for that bass! Personally, I recommend the body rout - I did it on my 2013 MIJ Jazz bass and it's so incredibly nice to just be able to grab a tool and adjust in seconds. I just took the plunge with a hand-held Dremel, and (luckily) it turned out fine. Of course, mine has a pickguard, and I figured if I messed up badly enough, I'd just buy another pickguard, but it worked out the first try. StewMac makes a nice flathead right-angle truss rod adjustment tool, but I also got a cheaper "Phillips" style tool on Amazon (Hosco brand) that fits the Fender-style truss rod slots snugly. Cheers!

[@lundsweden]

Thankfully Paul chucked the gold tuners in the bin. The black ones match the look of the guitar perfectly, classy!

[@LowEndLobster]

Great vid man! The painters tape trick is where it's at! One trick to conserve tape (if you're using inch wide), put two sets of ferrules butt-to-butt and you'll be able to wrap two at once. Great time saver!

[@L4sleeko]

I like the black, and that bird’s eye maple neck is gorgeous! ♥️

[@michaelsteelepix]

That WAS fun. ALL your videos are amazing.

[@davidjohnsonsr.7146]

I've fiddled with a couple of the bass guitars that I have. This video by a professional bass player such as yourself has boosted my confidence. I'm no luthier but this definitely helped out. Much thanks. 😊

[@andrewjeffries8721]

Great job, sir! I dig the gear talk and I dig that you Jaco'd the neck! I've been thinking about Jacoing a neck like that since I read his interview years ago. She does sound sweet! God bless!

[@howardgilbert5008]

I replaced the hardware on my POS beater Rogue and it sounds awesome. It's literally amazing how much difference there is. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

[@christophergibbs2671]

Excellent work.

[@gordonbrackett7220]

I got my American Standard plywood 3/4 bass in 1971. The fingerboard was broken, the neck was loose, the lower bout on the player side was de-laminated, plus lots of nicks and scratches. For $100. It came with a beautiful piece of maple that had been a gym baseboard in an old school that had been torn down. I copied the old fingerboard in the maple, drilled holes around the neck and injected epoxy, and held it all together with a big screw. I finished the fingerboard clear to show off the beautiful quilted maple. I fixed the de-lamination and stripped off the brown paint to expose the maple and spruce plys, and finished it clear. I used the old bridge for many years, but got a new one recently. It has been strung up the whole time and plays great! I play Old Time, Bluegrass and some Country but I love jazz and listen a lot.

[@martinheath5947]

Nice job! I can recommend the Dunlop "Straplok" which uses a fitting on the strap which plugs and locks into the *end* of the upper strap button. This will effectively shift the top horn suspension point about 3/4 inch towards the headstock giving a better balance overall. Works a treat

[@bassocanario]

Nice work, sir! Always love hearing you play your fretless bass🤗👍🏽Being able to do one's own basic repairs and upgrades is a valuable skill; thanks for the demo!

[@mifflinfinity]

You’ve just given me the courage to replace the tuning pegs and bridge on my backup fender pj bass. 🙏🏼 great content :)

[@Gubgubgoober]

this video is amazing! thank you!

[@AncientApparatus]

Wow great job, look great, much much better with the black hardware, & yes Black is very beautiful! :) ;)

[@ry_guy_]

Looks great! I've got a couple Fender MIJ '62 reissues that I've been interested in routing out for the truss rod as well.

[@buccaneerpenguin]

Nice Paul! One day in college my secondhand ibanez bass stopped making sound through my amp. I switched cables with no luck. I opened it up and found that the soldering had come undone on the back of the pickups. Me and my pals did a great job the first because we had to resolder it again a few months later. Shoulda gotten to know my local guitar tech 😂

[@RUMBLEGO1]

Man, that sounds like the Bass of Doom to me! Great job and great playing!

[@pdbass]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@weaklyreader6782]

Pit a few small black woodscrew in the headstock original holes.

[@weaklyreader6782]

*put

[@OlandoMcCall]

Great job!

[@room34]

Kind of makes me wish I had documented my fretless "Frankenbass" project! But I definitely did some "don't try this at home" stuff that I don't think I'd want anyone else to see. (Pickguards can cover a multitude of sins!) The toothpick trick is great. One thing I'm wondering about that's fairly mundane - I didn't notice you cutting off any excess end of the string before restringing it. I have a habit of always comparing the length of new strings to the previous set (going back to the stock strings my basses shipped with) and cutting the new strings to match. Am I weird/wrong to do that? OK, here's a confession I'll make about my project: I installed a new neck that didn't have the nut properly filed, and I didn't want to spend $80 on a set of files, so I discovered that in a pinch you can use roundwound strings as files!

[@pdbass]

I actually had a hardly used set of DRs that I had lying around that were already cut! Good eye. I definitely always cut, after crimping, about 4 inches above the slot.

[@VinceWhitacre]

Man, I need a Mexican or Squier fretless Jazz Bass. I'm a guitarist (and not a very good one at that, but I'll play 6 live - not 4 lol), I only play bass for recording. And usually I prefer that P-Bass spank, but a fretless J just feels so great to play.

[@glenwhatley4125]

Wondering if i heard some buzz when your fingers weren't touching the strings or hardware. If so there should have been a grounding wire that came thru a small hole under the tail piece to ground the tail piece and hence the strings.

[@crimfan]

I hate gold hardware... you're totally right. Ultralight tuners can really help reduce neck dive. Others have mentioned moving the strap button as well. Neck dive is really awful, I've sold otherwise fine instruments because I couldn't deal with it.

[@monz7951]

Great job man. I agree about gold hardware, just looks corny to me 😂 For the stripped screw hole in the neck, if you want to do a little better job but still easy, next time you change strings you can take the neck off, glue in 1-2 toothpicks with regular wood glue, cut it flush with a utility knife and once it's dry drill a pilot hole slightly smaller than the screw, you can align the hole properly with the other screws in. Don't worry about the body, it's normal for the screw to be free in the body cavity and just grab on the neck. As I said great upgrades, bass looks and sounds sweet

[@NeurodivergentBassist]

Fun fact, gold hardware was only introduced because of nickel metal allergies amongst musicians. Being as how the vast majority of hardware was nickel plated or made from nickel , the gold hardware was introduced. Later a more cost efficient means called Chroming was introduced and replaced both nickel and gold finished hardware until the gold was brought back for custom builds and special runs. This isn’t a rule of thumb for all manufacturers ( ie Gibson.) but is some historical reference as to the origin of gold hardware/strings. Also gold won’t tarnish near as fast or bad as chrome/nickel .

[@grimoirworkshop6623]

Will tell anyway what I think of gold hardware. I find it acceptable on jazz archtop guitars IF it matches the looks of the box itself. Might be good looking on some cellos and basses too. In every other situation there always are better looking options.

[@rhodesjazz]

Keep the content coming. I really enjoy your channel.

[@pdbass]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@jackdavies8616]

Excellent stuff as usual!

[@TheMilford]

You don’t want the neck screws to bind on the body, the screw should pass smoothly thru the body hole, then gain purchase in the neck only. If the threads/hole in the neck itself you need to repair that separately… toothpicks and glue are sufficient, but drilling and plugging is preferable.

[@WALTERTLHB]

Good evening my dear brother. Well that's what it is here in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I watched your videos before on KZbin. And I was always awestruck with the way you present your inner beauty. You have a beautiful gift that you share. Checking out hejira by Joni Mitchell and those wonderful Master artist on bass. I am a big fan of all these bass players I didn't even know their names at the time . I tell you one thing when I listen to Phoebe snows poetry man I know what you're saying because Chuck dominicano, I had never knew his name but I had been listening to him through the airwaves oh my gosh. Max Bennett, I had no idea who it was oozing that tone off the vinyl had and songs like thick fog hovering over the radio. Oh oh my gosh Jaco Pastorius. He inspired me so deeply this time around I want out and I purchased a base. This time I purchased a left-handed Marcua Miller sire P 10 J P Bass. And of course watching your fingers Fred Astaire like on the fretboard recreating these wonderful masterful tones is all inspiring to me. I'm still learning how to play the bass. Originally a guitar player for over 30 years but you know how it goes I want more. So it's back to basics . I have a question for you when you change the hardware on your fretless Bass I want to know is that all Warmoth fretless Bass kit? Sorry for the short book. Look forward to your response my dear brother. Sincerely Walter the left-handed bloke

[@pdbass]

Thank you so much! The bass body and neck are Warmoth. The parts (old and new) are Schaller. Everything was bought separately and then assembled.

[@WALTERTLHB]

@@pdbass wow I really appreciate your response. I checked out warmouth yesterday and I was unsuccessful trying to find a left-handed bass jazz type body. I'm going to look around cuz I'm thinking about building a fretless. Or buying a left-handed Mexican jazz bass especially active because I love the choice between passive and active. I look forward to checking out more of your videos soon. Sincerely Walter the left-handed bloke.

[@v8046]

something about your room makes me strangely confortable and at ease

[@wren23_bass-synths]

As a fretless player, the most mods I do to my fretless basses is adding a Badass bridge and Hipshot tuners. Yeah, no to gold hardware.

[@markanthony5897]

To fix the stripped neck bolt or any stripped bolt into wood; drill the hole with any oversized drill bit. Fill the hole with a drop of wood glue and then plunge a dowel into the hole. The important part! The wooden dowel need be the same size as the drill bit. Here is a formula. If the stripped screw is an 1/8 inch wide, drill a 1/4", have a 1/4" dowel ready. Then follow the steps. One drop wood glue in hole, smear wood glue along the length of the dowel push the dowel into hole, use a hammer or hard object to tap the dowel til it bottoms out,carefully. Then cut off the excess wood dowel with a surface cut saw. These tools are valuable so buy them . Chances are you will do this again for yourself or a friend. Be that guy or gal.

[@Benjybass]

Hey Paul, if you are into Fretless basses, may I suggest you looking into any of the Gary Willis Ibanez signature models? I have 3 of them, including the 20th anniversary model. A friend of mine, Bireli Lagrene, has the same one. So much progress has been made in the past 50 years, that Jaco would have saved himself loads to time in removing the frets had he played on one of these, or any of today's models on the market. I also use Ernie Ball Cobalt flatwounds; they are excellent for any fretless and prevent string noise when you hand slides up and down the neck.

[@pdbass]

I’ve heard they’re GREAT. Hope to check one out at some point….or hit me up, IBANEZ!

[@timkbt]

Back in the late 70’s I was taking lessons and hanging out with Charlie Chadwick when I was living in San Diego. He had a 63 Jazz bass with a fretless p bass neck. It had that Joco sound. He swapped out the standard bridge with a badass bridge. It had loads of sustain but all the lows and highs were now gone. What a mistake that was. I ended up with a ‘62 Jazz. I took it up to Valley Arts and had the frets pulled. The bass had a swamp ash body that only weighed 6.5 pounds. I didn’t touch it. The Ibanez to my ear sounds thin. For a vintage sound I’d go with EMG EX that have the battery. Just as a side note while I was living in SD the agent that was managing our band was telling me her 15 year old son plays bass and said I should come here him play, he’s really good. Her son turned out to be Jason Scheff who ended up taking Nathan East’s place in a band called the People Movers playing at the Hilton at Mission Bay in SD. Pretty amazing time back then, the birthplace of smooth jazz.

[@JacqueRamon]

The gold suited that particular bass IMO 🤷‍♂

[@pdbass]

It definitely lost a little bit of sustain and bottom, but I'll sacrifice to be able to be comfortable on a 4-hour gig.

[@glenwhatley4125]

Would have made more sense to put the tooth pick in the neck screw hole before screwing the neck on as the tightness you were feeling could have only been where the screw went thru the body but not necessarily thru the neck. As always, great video.

[@mdturnerinoz]

Lee Sklar has a session bass he also calls his Frankenbass.

[@hubedoo2]

Black. Absolutely.

[@radmin2]

You can fill in the holes with a crayon that is maple colored.

[@luccas_bracco]

Are you going to change the tuning machines of your double bass? Sometimes the brass looks to "goldish". There're some interesting alternatives...

[@pdbass]

I would love to, but that's going to be a luthier's gig. Mine are 'plated' and I think I can reduce some overall weight if I go single on the fiddle.

[@luccas_bracco]

Nice. Eager to see it done. About the weight issue, I know it's important, however I do believe that the aesthetics are also meaningful. When the musician feels happy with his/hers gear, it does become apparent in the sound!

[@tomjackson5815]

Toothpicks to fill the machine head extra holes

[@LucilleBrawl17]

There's nothing like a fretless bass.

[@adviceman5211]

AN INTERESTING HACK FOR "NECK DIVING": MOVE THE STRAP BUTTON ON THE BACK END OF THE BASS UPWARDS APX. 2- 3 INCHES !!! THE NECK WILL STILL WEIGH THE SAME BUT THE BALANCE POINT WILL BE SLIGHTLY ALTERED !!! YMMV !!!

[@pdbass]

Good one! Never heard this. Will check it out. Thanks!

[@norteracing7890]

Still have all the gold hardware? I’ll take them off of you if you do

[@ericward8010]

Save your neck! Add a little Elmer's glue to the unused holes on the back of the headstock to prevent damage from moisture. Open wood holes attract moisture, just like the screws on a pick guard.

[@NicHasegawa]

Eyy I don’t hate gold hardware but there is no doubt in the world that the black hardware suits that bass! It looks beautiful!! I guess it use to be a PJ at first? Did it ever have a pick guard before? I can imagine the white pearloid pick guard with that wood ☺️

[@pdbass]

It was. At 19 years old, I was trying to make my own version of Vic Wooten's Fodera. That went by the wayside a loooong time ago. LOL.

[@NicHasegawa]

@@pdbass ohh his first Fodera! Before his yingyang bass! That justifies the gold hardware too huh? 😂 The story of that bass just gets better and better!! Haha

[@jazzpunk]

That bass has mwah for days...

[@cuneytsonmez]

Good job. But the background music was a real torture.

[@MG-vo7is]

I agree. Black hardware looks much better.

[@twentyeighthunnid]

420th like 😎

[@JoelBass68]

NOOOO. Not toothpick. Drill it out, dowel it, and redrill the hole. Much better repair. Same thing for the tuners. Glue in dowel, trim, them drill new holes. Toothpicks and plumbers tape don't make for a solid, long term repair.

[@pdbass]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Brad5161]

The dry toothpick was fine. I have one repair that hasn't budged in 30 years. No drilling, no dowel, no glue involved.

[@DokterRekt]

Professor! You can't go through an entire build and not tell us what strings you're using!

[@pdbass]

Ha! Right now, she's wearing Dunlop Super Bright SS

[@DokterRekt]

@@pdbass Very nice :)

[@ASTOUNDEDatSTUPID]

Thank you neighbor.