Ive got one of these!
I sold it and then bought it back cos I missed it. I also made £25 out of buying it back, amazingly...! Ive done hundreds of gigs with mine, still sounds the business. The comment about the neck dive is right tho, its ridiculous - keep a hand on the headstock at all times! I use it now alomst exclusively for gigs where an odd tuning is required (most recently its been my "QOTSA" bass).
Mine is the flame quilted top finish tho. Although I have to see I really like it in black... but the finish on mine is so nice I wouldnt get it refin'd... no matter how many pick scratches are down the front of it... and there are a lot considering this was my first "real" bass :-)
A lovely job by your luthier, thanks for the little trip down memory lane as well...!