worm holes in fretboards

[sniper]

got a new slotted ebony fretboard for 25$ because it had one worm hole.

solution: got a small piece of (ebony in this case) stuck it in a pencil sharpener, glued the pointed end in the worm hole. after it dried, cut it off and sanded it. saved 12$ on the fret board and that was enough to buy an ebony headplate, an extra piece for a control cover and a small pen blank to make a thumb rest out of.

[drbassman]

Nice fix, I love it when ya save a few buck with some simple creativity!

[sniper]

this is what my first creative effort is turning into. i have a F-word cover to go over the BA bridge and a little dye with a "grain brush" and a copious amount of rubbing will hide the center mount hole.

a little weird looking but gonna be nicer than it started out:

[Barklessdog]

That is a great deal, but one must be careful around worm holes.

[Chris P.]

Worm holes could be a cheap way to install LEDs in your neck. Just let the worms do the routing.

[Barklessdog]

[Chris P.]

Maybe it's my PC but I only see an empty post, Barklessdog?

[drbassman]

this is what my first creative effort is turning into. i have a F-word cover to go over the BA bridge and a little dye with a "grain brush" and a copious amount of rubbing will hide the center mount hole.

a little weird looking but gonna be nicer than it started out:

Very nice job on that bass.  The DS looks right at home on an EB-0 body.

[Chris P.]

Now I see the vid.

Is it a DS? I couldn't see it right...

I'm trying to fit a DS in an EB0 and a Duesenberg bass pick up at the bridge position. I'll follow this topic with great interest!

[sniper]

actually that Hagstrom pup is off an SF2. the original bass rode out a flood then literally fell apart. the other pup went on a Peavey Fury (the Fury sounds awesome). almost all the hardware got salvaged but the pots were too corroded to salvage. the routing for the original Epi EB0 bucker was screwed by the second owner so it just got enlarged to take the Hag. i tried to get Chip (the luthier) to send pics of the Fury be he said it looks too bad.

Randy told me he usually saws the fret lines through worm holes if possible and that he dropped the ball on the Ebony board when he setup his machine.

the neck got changed to a 34 inch scale in Maple with a NOS garbage can escapee from the old Kalamazoo factory. i got it with an Epi headplate. i think it used to be a batwing head but had the bottom cut off for some reason. truss rod was installed and it was stamped "color" along with the date of 1981. it had small twist which leveled out in a sander. i had the thought that 27 year old wood was prolly not going to warp. it had a very small knot on the back but that disappeared with the final shaping.

the big chore was finding a neck plate that fit the hole plugs. i finally had to buy a Gibson neck plate from  a salvaged Gibby on e-bay. it got threaded inserts (an idea i got from Rodent). the head plate still needs rubbed out. it got shaped to a thin rounded back.

i thought about dressing the holes from the old three point mount, but have decided to cover them with a piece of pick guard material that matches the original Epi pick guard. kinda like Gibby did on some old LP's around the neck.

[drbassman]

Wow, a lot of work to revive this one!  A Hag pup, very nice.  I once had a 1966 SF with a Hag in it.  Sounded nice but I sold it to buy a Gibson LP Triumph bass.   A good swap in my mind!

[sniper]

a good swap for sure.

well i got the ebony fretboard in today as it was cut at Allen's guitars. it is supposed to be a 34 inch scale and it is, with a couple of extra cuts. i counted three times before it sank in. with the extra fret cuts i can have a 24 fret 32" (32.092 inch) scale.

PLUS

a zero fret if i want one. the question is do i want one? can anybody tell me the advantage and the disadvantage of having a zero fret? i already have plans for a bone or possibly an ivory nut.

PS:

the worm hole turned out to be very minor and not very deep at all. i'm not even going to plug it. just shoot a bit of superglue in it and sand. the wood is beautiful as is the extra pieces for the headplate, controlcover and pickguard with a nice long hunk of rosewood for a long thumb rest.

thanks randy allen

[Barklessdog]

We had someone here with a bullet hole in a fretboard once

[sniper]

yeah, i think that bass migrated to Germany along with an engraved 71 mudbucker, a black TB Plus from Johnny Crabs perogue and a new EB3 switch at a somewhat later date.

[Dave W]

Are you suggesting that fretboards are migratory?

Wait, I know: they're carried by European swallows.