Back in January I had a gig with my Shen Hybrid where I stopped short because someone had cut me off. My bass was in the passenger seat and moved forward when braking, bumping up on the dash. When packing up, I noticed the split seam at the bottom of the bass. I have not had a chance to get it repaired since then, although I haven't been playing it. I detuned the strings to lower the tension and the gap closed. The photos I took were from yesterday after about an hour of putting the strings back up to tension, however I've detuned them again before I put the bass back in the gig bag and on the stand.
I emailed one luthier who said this is looks like the endpin block has let loose from the rib and is indicative of a larger problem. The opening itself is wide enough that I can easily fit my thumbnail in-between the gap, and it runs along the seam for a couple of inches. Unfortunately this is now two luthiers that have had to turn me away because of the backlog of work they have.
How much am I looking at, realistically, if the endpin block has come loose from the rib?