Jamming with Josh

A few years ago my brother Josh (on bass) and I did a jam session at the Maui TV studio. Fortunately this was not a live performance.

If you live in a major metropolitan area, odds are you have access to a similar studio. The cable companies give the community 3% of their profits to build and maintain such studios in return for being able to rent the land to run their cables. Look for public access TV in the phone book and talk to them about becoming a producer. The fee to do so is usually about $100. Once you have a producers license you will be able to produce shows for broadcast. Imagine the possibilities.

Guitar Lessons


If you happen to be on the island of Maui and want to learn how to play the guitar, I'm your man. My rate is $80 an hour and you can reach me at 808-205-JOEL. If not, you can always pick-up some great tips on the Internet. Check-out these sites and let me know what you think in the comments section below.


Punked-up

De-Fretting An Electric Guitar

First of all, what does de-fretting mean? Well simply put, it's the act of taking the steel frets out of the neck of your guitar leaving only a smooth wooden board. The reason some people choose to de-fret their guitar is to change the sound from the traditional note based transition to a much smoother noteless one when you change positions on the neck. A good example of this sound can be heard when playing a cello or double-bass. Now, on to the de-fretting!

Steps 1-9

1. It's very easy to chip or dent your guitar neck with the tools you will be using, because of this I recommend placing masking tape around each fret to prevent any neck or body damage to your guitar.

2. First, heat each fret with an iron or soldering iron. Then, carefully work the fret out of the fingerboard. A small screwdriver or pair of nail clippers will work just fine but there are special tools you can purchase online for doing just this.

3. If the frets have been pressure fitted, you're certainly going to have to be patient. It took me a few hours to carefully remove the frets on my stratocaster and I'm here to tell you heating them up makes it a MUCH faster process! Remember to be careful, this step is by far the most dangerous for causing accidental damage to your guitar.

4. When the frets have been removed the neck will feel rough. Now lightly sand the fretboard enough to remove the original spaces from the frets. There may be small woodchips from when you removed the frets earlier so be very careful not to sand them the wrong way, divots in your fret board are not good for looks or sound!

5. Use a small pocket knife or safety knife to clear the residue from each fret slot. Once again, be careful not to chip off extra pieces of the neck while doing so.

6. I used hardwood birch to till the slots. Maple is also commonly recommended. phenolic (a hard plastic till), would also probably work quite well. Liquid filler can also be used, but I've heard that it tends to leave marks around the fret slots sloppy looking. It's much easier to use a liquid so if you aren't concerned with your guitar's looks this is probably the fastest solution.

7. Now lightly tap each of the fillers into the slots . Use an ample amount of glue or you'll notice the wood slipping out with constant use. The glue will sand off during your final sanding so don't worry if you make a bit of a mess, the glue will sand off easily.

8. Use a knife, chisel and rasp to carve the excess wood off, be sure to take your time with this step as it is incredibly easy to chip the fillers below the neck line.

9. Now you just need to do a final sanding to smooth out the neck. Once you're happy with the texture of your neck you can finish off by wiping natural oil onto the wood such as lemon or rose oil. This will restore the look of the of wood used on your fretboard. This process took me nearly three hours from start to finish, so you definitely want to come prepared with patience. Now have fun with your new fretless guitar and show it off to your friends!