I'm a beginning luthier, although I have done woodworking and DIY forever, and just finished my first neck thru fretless bass. This is my second build. The first was my stratexplorer guitar, built from an old chunk of Ash for the body and a StewMac neck. It plays like a dream. The bass has a Walnut and Ipe 5 piece neck, and Walnut wings with a thin layer of Maple in the middle. I made an Ipe fingerboard, sanded to 400 grit with a 12" radius. That Ipe is hard as a rock but not as bad as I thought it would be to work with. That neck is not going to bend! I finished it with Tung Oil for a supersmooth natural finish. Since the bass came out so well, I'm planning several more guitars and basses, electric of course, and test the market around here.
First, My stratexplorer

My new fretless bass

The only experts are dead and retired. The rest of us are still trying to figure it out.