Refretting a defretted neck

[el borracho]

I've acquired an early 80's Tokai neck - one piece maple - which has been badly defretted. There's a bit of lacquer damage on the fretboard but I could live with that. Most of the wood filler has been taken out of the slots. Has anyone ever done this or had it done? Trying to decide whether it's worth the effort.

Also, it has some lacquer cracks up and down the skunk stripe. The cracks look pretty old so not sure if there is still any issue with it.

What would you do if it was yours?

[Guest MoJo]

Leave it in my garage for months on end, promising to 'get round to it' rather like the neck on my BB300

[BassBod]

Stripping and re-finishing a neck isn't that much work - mask off the headstock face to keep the original logo, and its less work. I'd have it "professionally" re-fretted and then home-rattle-can (nitro) refinished, but only if it set up and played well.

[CHRISDABASS]

I recently refretted my old defretted Aria haha

it was a bit of a task simply because the guy who defretted it cut the fret slots a little wider to fit the wood veneer in! i managed to saw the veneer out quite well, trouble is the frets were way too narrow for the slots! so after filling and recutting the slots i managed to do a pretty dam good job considering its condition and the fact it was my first ever fret job! turn out to be quite playable so im very happy with it!

All i'll say is buy the right tools for the job (if you dont already have them of course) it makes things way, way easier