I am a fretless bass player first, fretted second, and that's been the case for many years now. As Ric basses go, I have two fretless examples -- a 1976 4001FL and a 2008 4003FL. The '76 was mangled before I got it, but plays like a dream; the '08 is a good example of a Ric bass, bought new, with a slightly wider and thicker neck profile than more recent examples. (Yet, I would not say it has a super strong neck, just an adequately strong one that can handle most types of strings.)
I also have a 2015 4003S, bought new. This is probably my favorite Ric bass ever in terms of overall build quality out of any that I have played. The icing on the cake is that the neck profile is exactly to my liking, and the neck itself is quite sturdy but also responsive to the truss rods. In other words, I think RIC hit the ball out of the park when they built this one... Which is why I want to convert it to a fretless bass!
To be clear, I am not really sure I want to go through with it, but I can't avoid the feeling that my dream fretless Ric is already in my possession, with frets. With RIC not showing any signs of a "4003S-FL" emerging in the near future, I am not sure what to do. As we all know, you can't just go find the next closest thing available, like someone looking for an oddball Fender-type bass could. If we want to do something quirky (as I often have), modifications are often called for.
To those who have done it or had it done, I'd love to get your comments. And to those who don't think this is a good idea, I'm happy to hear why you think so. Thanks!
recently the 4001 was stolen and I’m now fretless-less 
). Then refinish the neck from the edge of the fingerboard and a nice coat on the top surface if using Chechen. Given my experiences with lots of fretless basses, if I were replacing the board I'd use ziricote or macassar ebony, these days.