An article from StewMac on Ric's

[lcjones]

Thought some might find this interesting...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 924&type=3

Chap

[Rickissippi]

wow! crazy. When did this practice stop? And how long did it last? .............and what do they mean by "dead spot," anyway? Hard to imagine a note wouldn't sound or fret at a certain point because of neck mass. How would a piece of lead correct that? Oops - too many questions. Thanks for sharing.

[jingle_jangle]

Yes, I've got one of these boards in my shop right now. And it's perfectly flush with the surrounding wood, incidentally.

I'd love to know how Erick "milled" that one flush. Just setting it up on a mill can take several hours...I'm guessing he used another machine or did it by hand...

[cjj]

Probably "milled" it with a mill file...

[ken_j]

His heat source for removing the fretboard is rather innovative. At first when looking at the thumbnail I thought it was a sander.

[electrofaro]

So, what's the lead for except if one would want to keep the bass balanced?

[iiipopes]

The lead block would be to damp resonance, thereby getting rid of any dead spot. In the present day, the same thing is done by gluing a strip of contrasting wood between the two outer laminates of different density and/or grain.