- 1). Remove the strings from your bass and plug in the soldering iron.
- 2). Heat a fret evenly along its surface using the hot tip of the soldering iron. Heating the frets allows them to be removed with ease.
- 3). Pull the fret outward, away from the fretboard using the pliers. Be careful not to damage the wood of the fretboard with the pliers. Repeat this step for all the frets.
- 4). Insert a rectangular piece of ash veneer into the now-open fret slot. If it does not slide in easily, sand the fret slot with some 1000-grit sandpaper. Select an appropriate thickness of ash veneer that corresponds to the width of your fret slots. Repeat this step for all the fret slots along the fretboard.
- 5). Sand the ash veneer down to the fretboard with some 1000-grit sandpaper so that all the ash veneer inserts are flush with the fretboard, then go over it once again with some 1200-grit paper. The ash veneer will act as a visual indicator of where the frets were to allow for easier finger placement along the fretboard.
- 6). File down the string slots in the nut at the headstock to lower the action, depending on how high you like the strings to be. Many musicians prefer a slightly lower string action when playing a fretless bass.
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