Harley Benton B30FL No 2

[bea]

Well, as You might guess, this is about modding a harley benton HB30 bass. My 2nd.
This time i am going to put frets on an originally fretless bass.

Unfortunately the bass i could get my hands on was a longscale one. They are advertized as medium scales, and my 1st HB30 is indeed a medium scale one? You see, both basses are actually quite different. The medium scale even sounds better - louder and deeper.

And why in hell did i by a fretless bass in order to put frets on it? If You can buy a new one with frets for 150 bucks?

 

[iblive]

Well, as You might guess, this is about modding a harley benton HB30 bass. My 2nd.
This time i am going to put frets on an originally fretless bass.

Unfortunately the bass i could get my hands on was a longscale one. They are advertized as medium scales, and my 1st HB30 is indeed a medium scale one? You see, both basses are actually quite different. The medium scale even sounds better - louder and deeper.

View attachment 99470


And why in hell did i by a fretless bass in order to put frets on it? If You can buy a new one with frets for 150 bucks?

You like a challenge?

 

[bea]

Sometimes, i do, indeed.

But before i started i looked out for a bass with short scale, ideally 76 cm. Which is not available on the market. And then i had the crayzy idea of wanting another one with fanned frets. The same 76-78 cm i am using on my Sharkfin bass.

1st test with just a bridge and two old strings:



The braces are crossed between the old bridge and the sound hole. They run exactly below the feet of the test bridge, and the sound of the bass is good. Which means i can proceed with the full job.

 

[bea]

Cutting the fret slots using an improvised jig:

I have to fill and redo 3 slots, which is a better succes rate as i had with Sharkfin and Primavera. Removing the end of the fingerboard:

 

[bea]

Correcting wrong fret slots:

 

[bea]

 

[JohnnyGoo]

Hummm,your very brave or know what your doin Bea. I was thinkin you was going to make a scarf joint on that neck and headstock to change your scale length but i see what you did with it and its pretty darn brilliant.

 

[bea]

A few steps further. I think i'll need new binding.

 

[bea]

The Bindings. Unfortunately very uneven - my jigsaw was really hard to control with this wood. So a lot of work during cleanup. After rough cleanup i'm going to remove the bindings during fretting. And then, of course re-glue when the frets are done.

This is the 1st time i am doing bindings on the fingerboard.

Recently i found a set of strings: Daddario Black Nylon Tapewound. Bought some time ago when they were affordable - they have doubled in price. Unsually not my favourite strings (anymore) - way too bassy. And definitely not worth their current price. But on this Instrument the sound is reasonably balanced; my 1st tests had be done with some old Daddario tapes. And they are sufficiently bright for playing chords and flageolet stuff. Necessary for some of our older repertoire which i cannot play on the fretless.

 

[bea]

Playable. But still a lot of work: Correct mistakes i made into the binding. Improving the bridge - i thinkt it'll sound better if i make 2 "feet" like with the prototype bridge. And then, also this bass will profit a lot from my distance plate below the bottom which will allow the bottom to move freely.

 

[bea]

Finish still requiring touchup, but ready for gigging - hard to see: the distance plate on the back douples the back from my belly and makes this bass louder and opens up the sound a bit. As mentioned above i gave the bridge to feet, and it does indeed improve the sound more than i hoped.