Fitting a skunk stripe (or how I learned to stop buying projects that are beyond my level of skill)

5redlights

Hello. 

I've recently picked up a bass for a long term winter project that I'd like to work on myself (pics to follow). 

Someone historically has decided it would be a good idea to pull out the skunk stripe. There's a slight crack on a piece of wood along the grain next to the skunk stripe. Truss rod is still in place.

Makes sense to replace the truss rod as it's there. How would I go about making a new skunk stripe and putting it all back together? I've been quoted around £300 to fix the neck, which makes it a bit pointless based on value (it's an ibanez roadstar II bass). 

It also needs to be fretted and re-finished, but I'm fine doing this. 

Ideally I'd like to try and restore the neck, but I'm also aware that it may end up being better to just fit a new neck (and have a blank spare available). 

I'm also not really looking to spend alot of money as there's a chance that once I put the neck together, I'll find out there's something wrong once it's strung up and the repairs are redundant. 

Thanks 

WezV

any hardwood will do, you just need a strip the right thickness for the channel, helps if you are good with a hand plane.  

then you need to determine if the channel is flat or curved.  this will depend on the type of truss rod used.  

If its flat, simply glue in the new strip, and carve it down to match the neck once glue is dry

If its a curved channel you will need to shape the skunk stripe to match it prior to gluing.  You can use the pencil and washer trick to do this

Glue choice is important.  You have a failed join, so it may not be as clean as you ideally want.  if gluing into a clean channel go with wood glue.  A bit on the truss rod won't stop it working, but try to keep it away from the threads.   If you can't get a perfectly clean channel then you will need to epoxy the stripe and need to be a lot more careful where the glue goes