With the frets gone the neck will feel rough. I did a very light sanding at this point with medium grit paper. Enough sanding to take off the indentations from the original frets is plenty.

Again. BE CAREFUL!! It is still pretty easy to knock loose chips that may have started from the fret tangs.

Notice that I taped up the body of the bass. Most of those tools could make a nasty mark in the paint fairly easily.