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Just thought I would share this. I had a customer drop off a Seagull guitar with a broken headstock today. I had a few minutes to explain to him that the fact that it was opened up quite a bit would make it easier to get a decent amount of glue in there. I flex it open to show him and 2 tiny bugs crawl out of the crack. I have had spiders crawl up my arm when inside an acoustic but this was new to me. It got me thinking that there must be life on other planets. If your mailing address is inside the broken headstock of an acoustic guitar than Neptune does not seem so far fetched
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Yikes Evan!

Maybe powderpost beetles eating up the neck. I would say that is a warranty issue if you can find evidence they were eating up the neck. You will see tiny wandering grooves in the wood from the bugs.

Something similar happened to me with an African-made Djembe. I discovered the beetles eating up the drum and threw it away as fast and far as I could get it. I have hundreds of board feet of cherry from my Mom's farm (18" wide and 3" thick) in the shop and the thought of those beetles still gives me the willies.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I bought a kitchen nook set a while back, thinking it was made in Atlanta... turns out it was made in China

After I had it for about a week and assembled, I noticed a small hole about 1/32 with sawdust coming out of it. I immediately filled the hole with bug spray and WD-40, and have inspected the furniture at least weekly ever since to make sure that was the only one and he is no longer living.

Gives the the creeps to think about wood eating insects also.

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Reguards,

Ken H

its funny, I don't think these were wood eating as they were so tiny. I think they were just living in there.
Now they are living in there with Titebond . There were only 2 and no evidence of "family". Oh well they say Jimmy Hoffa is in the concrete of Giants Stadium so these things happen I can see how scary an infestation would be to builders.
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Be careful. Deathwatch beetles (Anobiidae) are only about 1/32 to 1/4 inch and are woodborers.    

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

[QUOTE=Hodges_Guitars]

I bought a kitchen nook set a while back, thinking it was made in Atlanta... turns out it was made in China

also.

[/QUOTE]

You have another Chinese pest in MI which is causing havoc and has resulted in a quarantine, Emerald Ash borer. It probably came into the US in chinese pallets. With new restrictions on the use of fumigants, global trade is causing the USDA lots of grief these days.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

The emerald ash borer is wreaking havok in Michigan and on into Indiana also. The Ash I built one of my guitars out of was from this area. It seems the loggers are cutting down ash trees ahead of the borer to try to choke off it's food supply. That is how I ended up with a stash of such pretty ash. I have another load on the way as I have bought a 30" diameter log, 12 foot long and am having it custom sawed for me for back and side sets and also necks. I should be in good shape for a logn time as far as ash guitars are concerned.

By the way, that guitar has been my most popular guitar that I have built so far. People are just drawn to it for some reason.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Evan and All,

I'll confirm, along with others, what you've likely got is some species or
another of pesky wood boring beetle larva, or, I would add, wood boring
fly larva.

I’ve had a long tango dance with these critters down here in the tropics
and can say that
they can show up in the darnedness of times in many kinds of wood soft
and hard alike.

There are many. many species, each adapted to a set of conditions-
woods, climates, etc – some go after specific trees, like those that Ken
mentions, others – tropical hardwoods and some are omnivores looking
for any handy free lunch.

Adults lay eggs into the bark of their favorite or opportune types of trees.
Once the lava hatch and begin boring tunnels as they chew and grow,
there they live until the fly or crawl away as adults.

With the global nature of the wood market, an in particular – lutherie
wood, these invasive insects can hitch a ride around the world, wind up
'vectored' all over creation & in your shop’s wood stash. If the conditions
are comfortable, they’ll dig in, go thru their pupae stage and fly or crawl
away as adults looking to repeat the cycle.

Prevention:
1) inspect all incoming wood for ‘worm holes’. Besides the bore hole, you
might see signs in stacked wood of the insect frass or saw dust fallen
below the inhabited pieces.
2) inspect wood routinely & weed out any suspected wood.
3) separate any suspect wood from ‘clean’ wood.
4) burn any wood that has obvious signs of multiple ‘worm holes’ (each
hole is one larva). Note: the thinness of cut top and bottom and side
woods make it less likely that wood infested wood could go undetected.
The thicker pieces – neck, fingerboards or blocks, slabs or bolts are prone
to the infestation remaining hidden.

Treatment:
Depending on the degree of infestation, there are ways to ‘treat’ wood in
order to eliminate or at least reduce the problem. Note: Varnishing or
gluing them in an effort of entombment won’t generally work. Titebond
= custard pudding.

1) An insecticide can be injected into the bore hole(s) with a syringe
(being of the organic ilk, I recommend a least toxic [that is - to humans]
natural product like pyrethrum (pyganic) combined with a neem product
(agroneem plus) – a 1-2 punch). Repeat 2-3 times over a couple of days.

There are chemical treatments as well, but the gnarly mammal toxicity
and unpleasant aromas may be something to consider before going this
route.

2) Also, wood can be baked at say 160*F+ for 10-15 minutes or so. The
steaming, bending process, likely creates an unbearable situation for the
larva, no doubt. If the bug survives that – it might be genetically
engineered.

I could go on, but hopefully this is some useful information that will shed
some light on the problem,

John