How does someone do this?

[DaveLS]

What species of wood is the fretboard made from, pine?

 

[5string5fingers]

What species of wood is the fretboard made from, pine?

Oh you know Squier only uses the best.

 

[vinxbass]

The bass was possibly dropped and where the impact was is where an indention was left. I know, I've done the very same thing.

 

[savit260]

The bass was possibly dropped and where the impact was is where an indention was left. I know, I've done the very same thing.

Yup, something like that is probably what happened. That was my first thought. Fell over , got stepped on, squished between gear in a gig bag in "the van" etc.etc.

 

[ProfGumby]

I was going to say rotosounds, but the frets aren't chewed up. Maybe the bass was dropped against the string right there? It looks like a dent, not like it was worn in from pressure and string bends etc...

 

[line6man]

Um, is this a serious question?

That looks exactly like the bass fell off of a stand and hit something, pushing the string into the wood.

The same thing happened to my first bass, though not as severe as in your pic.

 

[lunarpollen]

I would guess that it was stored on its back for a while with something heavy on top of it and a part of that heavy thing (like a corner, edge, or foot) was resting with a lot of its weight right on that spot. Eventually that part of the wood was dented inward by the pressure of the string.

 

[line6man]

Yeah, I play in Drop C and that happened to my old bass a few times actually. Playing hard on a detuned string can definitely do that.

Wouldn't it resemble a fretless fingerboard if that was the case?
I see no side-to-side scratch marks that would indicate playing.
It looks like the string pushed down only one time.

 

[capnhank]

I've got a few of those on my 25 year-old p-bass. De-tuned for a few years back in the day, but I'd blame it on punk rock and bad technique more than anything.

Kinda cool battle scars, if you ask me....