Hello, I have a Precision with a maple neck that I took the frets out of years ago. Now I have a nicer fretless bass, so I'd like to put frets back into this neck. I'm wondering if I should put some finish on the neck before refret, and then do a final, or refret it raw, and then finish. I have removed the old finish already so I am down to raw wood. What do you guys think?

Any thoughts on this? I seem to remember that there was nothing under the original frets when I removed them to make this a fretless bass. I would love to hear from you experienced Luthiers out there. When you build a maple neck, do you put a finish, or some finish on the raw wood before you fret it, or do you fret it like you would a tone wood finger board and then apply a finish? I appreciate your replies.

Most manufacturers fret before finishing... the frets either shed the finish, or you can buff it off easily...

I would think that finishing BEFORE fretting would just risk damaging the finish