Dulcet banjo?

[graham brierley]

I have a dulcet banjo which I believe was a fretless in the past and the MOP floral design was originally ''German silver'.'but some one had prised it out for whatever reason   It  has a pot diameter of  12 3/4 '' and a neck scale of 18''.Because it has been fretted you can see from the pics that the 5th string pip is in the wrong position [1 fret out]  and I am wondering if I should remove the frets and return it to its original state  by replacing the fret slots with thin wood strips to simulate the frets?? I would be interested in any comments you may have.   also is it unusual to have a scale length of this size.  Thank you