The Instrument & Resources
What is a fretless guitar?
Remove the frets from a guitar and everything changes. Notes are no longer locked to a grid — pitch becomes continuous, like a violin or the human voice. Slides glide, vibrato deepens, and microtones open up whole musical worlds between the notes. It’s harder to play and impossible to fake, which is exactly the point.
The fretless glass guitar
Ned Evett’s glass-bodied fretless — the instrument that started the Society — proves the idea has no ceiling. Glass gives the guitar a sustain and clarity all its own, and a stage presence nobody mistakes for anything else.
Learning the instrument
- Intonation first: without frets, your ear is the fretboard. Slow scales against a drone are the foundation.
- Setup matters: low action, the right strings, and a true neck make all the difference.
- Listen widely: fretless playing lives in many traditions — follow your ear across genres.
For builders
The Society is compiling a directory of luthiers building and converting fretless guitars. Builders: introduce yourself via the Contact page.
