Re-fretting a de-fret....

[Woodwind]

I thought I'd benefit from bouncing this off the collective minds here.

 

I'm going to have to sell off some instruments. My main bass - a de-fretted Sterling Ray34 will be first to go.

 

Being fretless I can see it will have less appeal and potentially not command as much money, so I wondered whether it would be worth having it refretted?

I understand that the money it will cost to do this will basically be the same as the increase in money I could potentially charge for the instrument, but would it become easier to sell as a result?

 

Your thoughts would be most welcome.

Cheers,

Thomas 

[ezbass]

Fretless ‘Rays aren’t that common, you might be surprised at the interest it might generate. Try selling it as a fretless and see if gets any traction, if it doesn’t, you can refret it then.

[Downunderwonder]

Refretting could be not so simple depending on what was used as filler. I think I would leave well enough alone. 

[NancyJohnson]

Diminishing returns.  It might actually be cheaper to source a new neck rather than to cover the cost of a refret.

 

No idea of the model you're considering selling, the market value or what you reckon you could sell it for, but assume a refret will cost you £250-300.  That's a sizeable unrecoverable percentage of the current instrument value.

[GuyR]

If you re fret it, the bass is still not fully original as built.
Absolutely not worth the bother/expense to make a net loss.

[Woodwind]

Thank you all for the replies

 

 

Lots to ponder 

[Hellzero]

May I add that being mainly a fretless player, most of the basses I sell are fretless and they sell very easily and always fast as fretless basses are rarer, but I'm a bit late to the party. 😊😉

[Woodwind]

3 hours ago, Hellzero said:

May I add that being mainly a fretless player, most of the basses I sell are fretless and they sell very easily and always fast as fretless basses are rarer, but I'm a bit late to the party. 😊😉

 

This is good to know! 

Thank you. I was worried they would move quite slowly

[Beedster]

Just to chime in here, it only takes a single person to buy a bass, so you should at the very least try selling it for a while before you do anything with it to enhance (or not) it's sellability. You might be surprised how many folks here play fretless, even some like me who only play fretless. 

 

Also worth noting that you will almost certainly not regain the costs of a refret in a sale. It's going to take the luthier longer to refret a fretless neck than a fretted neck (i.e. higher cost), even if it were once fretted as is the case with yours. 

[HMX]

I’d definitely try and sell your fretless bass. There aren’t many fretless ‘Rays out there so I think there would be some interest! I’m even considering getting my Ray 34 de-fretted.

[Downunderwonder]

Plenty of players want to give it a bit of a go. Some keep going with it and keep it, some trade it away or trade up and some start a FL collection, either way there is a steady market for used fretless basses with buyers and sellers.

 

The perception of FL being rare beasts in a rarefied market is only down to relatively few sucessful uptakes, most giving up completely so the price is depressed. Good for the collectors and inspiring for the wannahavapropergoers as cost of entry is easier.