Wow, what a sad tale. I can understand the feeling of wanting to move on, and I'm glad that the current owner isn't suffering from bad feelings anymore, that's actually the nice part of the story.
But that poor bass... The holes look like they are for the original Elan electronics, so good there's no extra holes. The black-toning concerns me, that might be a stain, and it might not come off. The finish looks very thin (that makes refinishing a bit easier actually).
The interior of the lower horn looks like the finish stripping was a bit aggressive, maybe some recarving is needed there.
There's probably a good $1500-2K of work to fully restore this bass, depending on what the condition of the wood is and how much of the original electronics are available.
If there is a black stain on it, and it can be evened out, would look great with an overlaid color like deep violet and some black hardware. I mean, that's what i would dream for this bass, to transform after being in a cocoon and emerge as a beautiful butterfly. Maybe a small butterfly inlay on the first fret or engraving on the truss rod cover.
