Re: Neck bowing in an odd place
Just one non-professsional's observation:
If there really is a "dip in the neck ... around the 4th fret", that's not obvious to me in the photos. It would be interesting to measure a string's clearance over each fret to determine if the fretboard really does have areas of inconsistent clearance/releif. I'm not saying such a dip is NOT there, just that it's probably minimal in comparison to the headstock's obvious forward pitch (as viewed in comparison to the ruler held against the top of the body), and maybe not the source of such forward pitch.
From what I see in the photos, most of the issue seems to be at the base of the headstock itself, being just outside of the trussrod's reach; most likely warped wood that started from the original neck blank. Since the metal string retainer ensures that the strings are well-angled over the nut, it seems possible that the headstock's angle is mostly a cosmetic issue, and maybe obvious only to those doing measurements.
If this guesswork is accurate, the good news is that the fretboard s/b fairly straight & playable, and well-controlled by the trussrod.
FWIW, my interest is because I have a Fender P-Bass Lyte that plays well & responds to trussrod adjustments, but does have a shallow "V" of releif right at the 17th fret, where the neck transitions to rectangular at the bolt-on pocket. The dip is not obvious unless you look for it (preferably w/ a straightedge) and the guitar plays so well that I've not been moved to correct it.
Last edited by EdHanrahan; Mar-05-2020 at 5:24pm.
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
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