Hi from New Jersey, United States. Building a fretless IB-6S

Hi everyone,

This is my second kit, and my first bass. I'm really excited to get started. I'm building a fretless IB-6S and I'm trying to measure the scale length to determine the bridge placement. I have a couple questions for the group.

First, since there are no frets, do I measure from the inside of the nut to the second dot of the two dots at what would be the 12th fret?

Second, since the neck tapers from the body to the bridge, do I follow the taper of the neck, or do I measure a straight line from the neck to the body?

Finally, the hole for the ground wire to the bridge is about 34.5 inches from the inside of the nut. Does the ground wire get soldered to the bottom of the bridge, or somewhere else?

I've attached some photos for reference.

Thanks!

Rob

Attachment 44071
Attachment 44072
Attachment 44073

Hi from Philly!

I am not too sure about the fretless questions, but for the ground wire on my IB-4, I had put a bit of copper tape right around the hole on the body and then sanded part of the bridge where it would be touching the tape and let the wire sit between the two. When you screw down the bridge, it'll create enough contact to where it'll be grounded and wont move.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Thank you!

Hi and welcome robmyre.

It is probably best if you start a build diary and ask the questions again. You will hopefully get more responses.

Re the scale length. I do not think the side neck markers are different from the normal (fretted) neck markers. So, the half scale length will be slightly further out than the second dot. Someone on the forum has recently completed a fretless bass and I am sure they removed the side markers and put in their own (raised pin head) markers at the positions the frets would normally be.

For the taper of the neck, I normally follow the taper when I measure the scale length to the bridge saddle (but I do not think there is much difference).

For the ground wire connecting to the bridge, as DrJackalope said, the pressure from screwing down the bridge creates a good contact (so no soldering needed).

+ More about the Scale length:
@FaustB has a fretless build diary, where virtual fret markers and scale lengths are discussed. Check it out at
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post223078.

Thank Trevor! I appreciate it!