Fenderbaum
Senior Stratmaster
So. There is more inside doing free-of-charge weight relief i wonder?
Suggest you contact Stratosphere and present your case
Suggest you contact Stratosphere and present your case
Pin holes randomly appear on 4 month old Fender Stratocaster American Vintage 2 Body
- Thread starter robertsoft
- Start date
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FuncleManson
Senior Stratmaster
Yep, probably ash borers.
A couple of years ago I noticed about a half-dozen pin holes in this northern ash body I was planning a partscaster project around. Through a previous Strat-Talk thread I realized what they were. I photographed and documented all of damage and quarantined the body in three layers of garbage bags for about four months. When I opened it back up, there was no further damage and no signs of larva or adults, so I filled the holes using toothpicks & wood glue and went ahead with the build.
It turned out pretty good. I call it, fittingly, my Ash Borer Strat.
A couple of years ago I noticed about a half-dozen pin holes in this northern ash body I was planning a partscaster project around. Through a previous Strat-Talk thread I realized what they were. I photographed and documented all of damage and quarantined the body in three layers of garbage bags for about four months. When I opened it back up, there was no further damage and no signs of larva or adults, so I filled the holes using toothpicks & wood glue and went ahead with the build.
It turned out pretty good. I call it, fittingly, my Ash Borer Strat.
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Mervynskidmore
Strat-Talker
Those are tone bugs.
StratUp
Dr. Stratster
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I turned out pretty good. I call it, fittingly, my Ash Borer Strat.
View attachment 694711 View attachment 694712
That’s not a bad idea: quarantine it. When you’re confident they’re all dead, take it out and repaint it in blended shades of emerald green. Leave the holes as part of the “Ash Borer Strat“ theme.
Horrific as it is, the Emerald Ash Borer is actually quite an attractively colored insect. It would make for an awesome guitar color scheme:
Intune
Dr. Stratster
Good luck contacting stratosphere. When a real person finally answers your question with a riddle there will be nothing left to that body
FuncleManson
Senior Stratmaster
Looks like a sleestak.
StratUp
Dr. Stratster
i’ve had mixed luck with contacting them. Both times were pre-sales questions. The first time they got back to me promptly with a detailed answer. The second time it was a black hole and repeat inquiries produced nothing.
Scott Baxendale
Dr. Stratster
This is a warranty issue. The holes are caused by worms that were in the wood from the factory. I have a 5 string jazz bass body that I did a warranty replacement on for this same problem. Even two years after the warranty replacement the old body was still sprouting new worm holes. If you cut the body in half on a band saw you can see the pathways the worms have hollowed out inside the body.
Intune
Dr. Stratster
I think they were great at first but slowly went down hill. Their website closed for a reason and anyone you talk to about a pre sale is not even remotely close to the actual item. It’s more likely a call center you’re questions go to and the warehouse of parts is in another country.
If you don’t think an Ash Borer can make circular holes in wood I recommend pulling up some YT vid of a Bot Fly extraction from humans or animals.
Most insects (larvae) in fact, do leave nearly perfect circles in just about anything they emerge from.
Most insects (larvae) in fact, do leave nearly perfect circles in just about anything they emerge from.
JohnMac
Senior Stratmaster
Ash borer holes are much larger than the ones in the OPs guitar.
Google woodworms in guitars. Advanced damage is pretty disgusting.
Google woodworms in guitars. Advanced damage is pretty disgusting.
NickDG
Strat-O-Master
Great, now I'm sitting here looking at all my guitars sort of suspiciously.
It's like that movie where the police tell the babysitter, "The calls are coming from inside the house."
It's like that movie where the police tell the babysitter, "The calls are coming from inside the house."
Nick L Plate
Strat-O-Master
So it's a bug, not a feature. I would press for a refund from Stratosphere. Even though there are alternative possibilities and your claim could seem suspicious, that does not change the truth. And it's not your job to deduce the cause of something you did not do. I would fight for a decent refund or replacement, which is totally deserved. You have to hope that this is the extent of the bug population, and that you won't see others emerging in the days to come.
GuitArchaeologist
Open-minded Traditionalist
I recall reading a thread about just such a build. I'll see if I can find it.
EDIT: Found it. @vid1900 posted about a beautiful build for his niece ...
Emerald Strat - Ode to the Emerald Ash Borer
Being a luthier generally sucks. You dream of being commissioned to do custom work, but 99% of the time you are building guitars that were designed 75 years ago. My niece wanted a custom guitar. She wanted something unique, no "old man colors", a strat, high output pickups, quack, and a...
strat-talk.com
Neil.C
Dr. Stratster
I'd get that guitar/body well away from my other guitars and the house if I were you OP.
JohnMac
Senior Stratmaster
Here's another thread with the same issue on a new guitar.
www.strat-talk.com
help / advice needed, woodworms in my new ultra luxe strat
hello. today i was cleaning my guitar for the first time since i bought it and i noticed quiet a few holes in it on the back side. i remembered that i have seen 1 hole like that first day when i bought it so i flipped it and it was indeed same type of hole. so i inspected guitar more and found...
www.strat-talk.com
=KARMA=
Senior Stratmaster
Well you can see how the little ******* got their name.
crankmeister
Most Honored Senior Member
Those holes are from woodpeckers, no? They hammer into the wood to eat the bugs under the bark?
crankmeister
Most Honored Senior Member
If Stratosphere doesn’t play nicely, I like the quarantine idea.
Along with spraying, there is a natural insecticide called diatomaceous earth. It’s made of pulverized aquatic fossils and is harmless to mammals but is razor sharp to insects and larvae, slices up the exoskeleton and they die shortly after. I use it around the house and dog run from time to time.
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I don’t think I’ll ever buy another ash guitar. Most of mine are alder, pine, basswood, mahogany, maple thank goodness. I’ve seen a lot of decimated ash groves throughout the Midwest. My uncle had to cut down several ancient ash trees at the farm and start anew with some young plantings — not ash! This borer is a real pestilence.
Along with spraying, there is a natural insecticide called diatomaceous earth. It’s made of pulverized aquatic fossils and is harmless to mammals but is razor sharp to insects and larvae, slices up the exoskeleton and they die shortly after. I use it around the house and dog run from time to time.
———————————
I don’t think I’ll ever buy another ash guitar. Most of mine are alder, pine, basswood, mahogany, maple thank goodness. I’ve seen a lot of decimated ash groves throughout the Midwest. My uncle had to cut down several ancient ash trees at the farm and start anew with some young plantings — not ash! This borer is a real pestilence.
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