So the wood will fill out? How does this work? If it wasn't on the front of the bass, I wouldn't worry so much about it.
It works quite well!!!
The wood is compressed with the dent. The steam gets in there and expands the wood fibers to nearly its original shape. If the fibers are broken - cut or snapped in the wood itself, steaming wont work. Usually, you get some broken fibers and some bent fibers... the bent ones straighten out and the cut or broken ones.. dont. You end up with a better situation than when you started.
I just steamed out a dent in a NEW Les Paul (arrived with a nasty dent). It came up to about 85-90 percent of what the dent was. The small place left over... got hit with a bit of extra lacquer when I refinished it (bfg, begging for refinihs)
I'll give it a try. Thanks for the tip!