Neck repair question

[Avalon]

OK, so I have an old Japanese bass that I love and cherish even though it is very much in the ilk of the old Teisco genre.

The brand is a one-off called "Avalon" - hence my name - and it was probably built in the late 60's to early 70's. I needs a bit of work and I just don't have the time and materials to do these things myself. Life keeps me busy (unless I'm wasting time on TalkBass).

The biggest issue is tne neck bow. It's not twisted; it's just bowed from the years of string tension while sitting in various closets and beneath beds over the years.

I dropped it off at a guitar store in the area and the store owner calls me back to tell me that the Truss Rod is already maxed out. He was not sure that it was worth any further effort, but said that there was one trick that he could try that involved applying heat to the neck.

I gave him the nod to go ahead and try it, but now I'm wondering if I did the right thing. Now I'm kind of worried that maybe this wasn't the best place to take my old baby. Has anyone else ever heard of this technique before? I'm considering just calling him back and just calling off the whole thing. I've read some other websites that discuss options to deal with truss rods and none of them mention applying heat unless it was in the context of doing other things to totally refurbish the neck. This thing is setting off alarm bells in my head. Anyone else have an opinion on this method?

[Benjamin Strange]

Doing a heat press is a rather standard procedure for necks that won't straighten out. Your fears are understandable, but unfounded. As long as your tech knows what he or she is doing, it should be fine.

[ProfGumby]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

Doing a heat press is a rather standard procedure for necks that won't straighten out. Your fears are understandable, but unfounded. As long as your tech knows what he or she is doing, it should be fine.

Yup. I had a Cortez P Bass copy with probably the same issue as You do Avalon. The heat press did the trick and the truss rod had enough play to keep the neck where it needed to be for the year or so after that (the rest of the time I owned the bass)

[Avalon]

OK, I really appreciate the responses guys. It does put my mind at ease.

It's great to be able to come here and get unbiased opinions. Now hopefully the heat press can do the trick. If so, then we agreed that it would worthwhile to do a few other things as well.

The original nut had been replaced by a graphite one that aligned the strings lower on the fretboard and it was moving around as well. Then there was the tone pot with the snapped off post, some very microphonic pickups (I was considering a parafin dip), a scratchy-intermitent selector switch and a loose worn out jack.

[Pilgrim]

Nothing too unusual for an instrument of its age - and some of it is stuff you could fix yourself.