Fretless PJ Bass Project

Another first for me, this be. It all started when a young bass player named Fikri approached me with the idea of building a fretless PJ bass from kit parts. He'd already ordered a fretted Jazz Bass kit from Pit Bull Guitars (Australia): unfinished ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, white pickguard, electronics, chrome hardware.

As it turned out, all he intended to use were the body and neck. He specified a thin semi-transparent matt black finish that would allow him to "see and feel the wood grain," black hardware, PJ pickups, reliable electronics, and a minimal pickguard that "would not hide the wood grain." I eventually understood where he was coming from, and we got down to work. I'll outline what was done in the paragraphs that follow.

Body
The neck pickup rout was enlarged to fit a P Bass pickup. The required holes were drilled for the bridge, strap buttons, pickguard and control plate. The prepped body was then stained with indian ink diluted with ethanol. I could have used water as a solvent, but it would have raised the grain after every application. The final finish coats were clear matte, as that was what Fikri had specified.

Headstock/Neck
The paddle-shaped headstock was reshaped into a Fender 75-style with the help of a downloaded template, coping saw, files, rasps, and lots of wet/dry sandpaper. Holes for the neck screws were drilled into the neck heel using a drill press.

The nut and frets were removed carefully, and the fret slots filled with teak veneer strips.  Fretboard dots were removed and the holes filled with a rosewood dust-superglue mixture. Side dot markers were left alone. After the veneer strips were carefully pared down, the entire fretboard was leveled using a radius block and sealed with about 20 coats of superglue. After every 5 coats, the fretboard was wet-sanded. The final coat was wet-sanded up to 2K, and then polished to semi-gloss (as per Fikri's instructions).

The headstock face and back of the neck were finished in Tru-Oil.

Hardware
Hipshot A Style Fender® Mount Bridge
Hipshot HB6 - 1/2" Ultralite® Bass Tuning Machines
Hipshot O Ring Knobs
Hipshot Bass String Retainer
Hipshot Solid Brass Bass Thumb Rest
Allparts AP-0640-003 Black Control Plate for Jazz Bass®
Allparts AP-0670-003 Black Strap Buttons
Custom black plastic pickguard
Black neck plate and screws
Flatwound strings

Electronics
DiMarzio DP126 BK PJ Pickups
Alpha A250K volume and tone pots
K40Y-9 PIO 0.033uF tone cap
Switchcraft #4652 mono output jack
22AWG silicone-jacket hookup wire
Back of pickguard shielded with aluminium foil
Pickup and control cavities shielded with carbon paint