neck issue on 70's Precision copy

[overdrivethree]

in the heat of the moment, i rescued a lonely old Japanese Precision copy (badged "Crestline") from the local GC, for the whopping total of $99. i tried it out at the store, and found an issue with the pickup that i figured would be an easy fix. (it wasn't...more on that later.)

so i get it home, and start tinkering with it and running it through my rig. the action had been a bit high at the store, but far from unplayable, and there wasn't any kind of visible bow in the neck. and then, just by a fluke, i pulled back on the neck while i was playing. it had so much give to it, that i was able to get the strings flat on to the fingerboard. same thing (though not as severe) when i pushed it outward. i messed with this a little more, and found out how easy it was to bend the neck and put a bunch of slack on the strings.

is this a truss rod issue, or a poorly-constructed neck? or is it just a lousy bolt job in the neck pocket? frankly, i love the feel of the neck on this thing, and would hate to have to trash it. FWIW, the truss rod is accessible from the top of the pickguard, where the fretboard/neck meet the pocket, and NOT the headstock.

as far as tinkering with the pickup, i thought i just had to raise the treble side of the split pickup. the screws were so stripped, i couldn't get it to move up or down.

so basically, i have this neat old bass with a cool body (3-piece ash). if i have to replace the pickup, that's fine. but i don't have the experience to buy a new neck and slap it on. what should i do...fix it, attempt to part it out, cannibalize it for other instruments?

[2400]

Does the neck play okay? None of the frets buzzing with the action you prefer? Because if that's the case, I think the neck'll be fine. I don't know that much about necks, but I've been able to bend all my none-graphite necks as far as you're talking about.

So if it keeps itself straight when you don't push it -- don't push it

[overdrivethree]

that doesn't seem right to me, though. i sometimes move around a good bit when i play, and don't like the idea of a bass drifting in and out of tune just from me moving around.

[Turnaround]

"Whippy" necks are not that uncommon amongst cheaper instruments. This has to do with the design of the neck in part, but more often with the quality of the wood that is used. When you buy a "cheaper" instrument, you may figure that it has all the features of a more expensive instrument at a lesser price, but often you are buying an instrument made of lesser quality wood. It's not obvious to look at, but it may well show it's colours in its stability, resonance, durability, etc. Not surprising really....