Did you temper that belly? Tempered mhickory will rarely, if ever, fret on you. Try tempering it into reflex. It will add 15# and allow you to scrape below the frets you have now.....................hopefully!
yeah I did. Not sure if I did it right though. Maybe I just scorched the surface
Could try again. I did put some reflex into it too. got about 4 or 5 more lbs then started sanding and thought I was sanding "tool marks" then dropped the dang thing by 7 lbs. ...I got a little carried away with a little too much elbow grease. some of those frets are pretty deep
. Got nothing to lose now I guess. that was one of my very best board staves too...
I'm definately NOT sending a bow out unless its the very best I can do.