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Wormwood

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This is not my bass, posting for a friend. There is something living in this instrument. Anybody ever see anything like it?
 
Anybody ever see anything like it?

Oh yes. Sometimes you'll see it in rosewood sapwood, and the insect trail stops when it hits the heartwood. Rosewood is a very effective insecticide.

Seeing it in my father-in-law's floor, he got bamboo flooring and turns out there's a critter that just loves to eat it. There were only a few holes for a while but he's gonna need to replace it soon as the holes are now coming up everywhere.

You're buddy's bass...wow, that sucks. No treatment I know of, or can think of, and it will just get worse over time. Plus TBH if someone called me to fix it I would not want that thing within a thousand feet of my shop. Those critters are still in there!
 
Sure looks like woodboring beetle to me. It's not the beetle but the larvae. There are not too many so all may not be lost. What is a worry is they would not normally enter finished/sealed wood, which suggests that eggs were present in the wood before it was finished. How old is the instrument?
Agree.

To clean the infestation, the bass will have to be disassembled, and the wood treated with a borate solution/sealer. There are several commercially available products.

EDIT: I'm assuming this is a new bass? Is it still under warranty, or is this a far east special?
 
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Sure looks like woodboring beetle to me. It's not the beetle but the larvae. There are not too many so all may not be lost. What is a worry is they would not normally enter finished/sealed wood, which suggests that eggs were present in the wood before it was finished. How old is the instrument?

Agree.

To clean the infestation, the bass will have to be disassembled, and the wood treated with a borate solution/sealer. There are several commercially available products.

This, and this.
But, you probably don't need to worry about it. As stated above, they were probably in there already and have left. They shouldn't be coming back. They don't like finished wood.
The borax solution will only kill the larvae on their way out. So, not really much help there. You could possibly strip it down to just the body and use heat, like a kiln, which may kill what are left, but again, most likely they won't come back.
 
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View attachment 3518333 View attachment 3518334 View attachment 3518335 View attachment 3518332 This is not my bass, posting for a friend. There is something living in this instrument. Anybody ever see anything like it?
Yes I've seen it before and it can eventually destroy the instrument, but if you can catch it its not a big deal. I've seen them come out of new instruments too.

The easiest thing is to leave the body in the freezer for a while to kill the things. Can plug up the holes with superglue afterwards. I'd give it a week in there if you can, 2-3 days minimum to be sure it freezes all the way through. Watch for continued hole formation when you're done to be certain it was effective - but keep it away from anything like wood flooring or antiques, etc. at least for now.

If there are any signs in the neck buttt, pop that in the freezer too
 
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