This beautiful violin-style fretless bass guitar was given to me by my Uncle. It has been kept relatively well, as it was mostly used as a wall decoration for the past 20 years, as part of a tribute to Paul McCartney. However, this also means it was not in a very playable state. The strings were extremely dull, there was dust, rust. and grime all over the place, the neck was bowed back, and the action was very high. Before I embarked on the long process of tearing it down or invested in any new strings or replacement parts, I wanted to see if I could get it into a playable state. I plugged it in, and both pickups were working. Good start. Next, I removed the neck to adjust the truss rod. Not only was it overly curved backwards, it didn't seem to have an even bend along its length, but rather seemed to be mostly straight with all of the curve in the last 1/3 by the neck. I was concerned that there may be a more serious issue going on, such as a broken truss rod. Thankfully, my suspicions were incorrect, and I was able to dial in a pretty straight neck under tension. With the neck and electronics behaving well, I got some new strings and began dismantling the bass. To get the best clean possible, I think it's important to remove all the hardware, especially on a neglected guitar like this one. Taking it apart allows you to use more aggressive methods like steel wool on the metal parts while keeping the more delicate clearcoat safe. I made sure to clean the backs of the control and pickup mounting plates, pickguard, and bridge. Steel wool did a great job of shining up the pickups and tuners and getting most of the rust off of the saddle adjustment screws. Dismantling the guitar also revealed some prior modifications and repairs. The tone pot is definitely not the original, and the neck was shimmed with some cardstock. I think the neck shim was necessary to get a low action, so I kept it. After I got it back together, the last order of business was setting the action and intonation, which was a breeze thanks to its telecaster-style bridge. Intonation on a fretless bass is also a bit less important, as most advanced players simply intonate by ear, as the fret lines are merely suggestions. All in all, I think it's a real looker now, and it's playing well enough for now. For it to be ideal, it needs a bit more serious repair work, including a new nut and zero fret and the fretboard needs to be leveled, as there are a few buzzy spots. This is currently my oldest guitar and my first and only Japanese made guitar, and I'm very happy to have it in my arsenal!