Half fretless rules :-)

Ok guys!
What did I do yesterday!? I tried not to think 'bout university aaaaaaaaand finished my half-fretless plan on my test bass :-)
By the way: A big big 'Thank you!!!' to my good friend and helping hand Alex, who is carpenter and one of the best guys in history!^^


And I can tell you: It really is fun: (don't be rude 2 me! I'm not yet a fretless king and it is just a little messing around to get an idea of what it sounds like^^)
As you can see slapping and fretless play is possible without any problem... Nice!!!

How was it done?

Maple into the gaps!

glue the ebony onto the fingerboard

abrade it to the right height...

Next Concept for movable Pickups

So, here is the next idea how to build movable PUs.

!!! NEXT BIG CHALLENGE !!!

So like I already told you there is a reason I also removed the pickups of my old Ibanez.
I did this because there is something sleeping in my mind for quite a long time now.
Since I was thinking about building a bass guitar I have been wondering where to put the pickups.
Where is the right position!?
After that I asked myself another more important question: Why isn't the position everywhere??
Therefore I am planning to try out a system for movable and turnable pickups. If it works and is fun my selfmade bass will get it.
So, here is my idea of the system: I hope you get it ;-)

maybe it looks a little bit complicated but I want to be able to move and to turn it.

If you push the pickup down a little it will be able to move

Start modification.........

First fret is out! :-)

...Yes, I removed the pickups, but that is to test another quite crazy idea that is in my mind for quite a long time now. I will tell you soon about it.

...is half fretless really useful!?

Some people I talked to were wondering if it really makes sense to build a half-fretted bass. A good intonation in the high areas where there would be no frets is quite hard and maybe not so much fun...
So what about just trying it out!?
The plan is to take my old beginners Ibanez bass, knock out the high frets, glue some hardwood on that area start playing :-)
I hope i will find osme time for this soon! I will upload some pics then :-)

Fretless to Slapfret :-)

I think it should work if fret and fretless have the same height?

Half Fretted/-less

I hope that will be working... have to think about the exact realisation.
12 normal frets, then a fretless part and finally a last fret for fast and wild slapping sessions.

let's call it 'slapping-fret'