That's what I thought. I was subconsciously biting my lip when the guy told me that I'd never get my money out of a bass that I had refinned. Well, not at THOSE prices. Maybe this guy tries to steer away from doing refins because of the time it takes.
For the refin, I'll go to my regular guy (Mark Kaiser in Franklin, OH. fretrepairbymark.com ). As a comparison, he did the complete restoration of the Magnatone for about $225. That involved some serious stripping, refin, and reassembly.
From this:
To this: