Ski Jump

[tamecat]

My 2001 Fender American hot-rodded precision bass has developed a pronounced "ski jump" where the neck joins the body. In other words, with the relief set correctly at the 12th fret, there's a hump at the high frets by the cutout. This forces me to set the action too high. At Mike Lull's they told me a "plek" job would help, but that wouldn't make the neck any straighter. The truss rod works and has plenty of adjustibility in both directions. Do i need a new neck, and if so, how do I get an OEM replacement? Thanks for your help.

[tstone]

The surface defined by the tops of the frets is much more important than the surface of the fingerboard.

Sometimes problems such as yours can be addressed with just a fret level and crown, it depends on how bad the hump is and how much fret meat you have left.

If the neck has such a kink that leveling the frets would make some of them too low to be playable, then the next most drastic solution would be to remove the frets, re-countour the fingerboard, and refret.

Last option is a new neck. Solutions 2 and 3 may be comparable in cost, depends on your individual circumstances.

[gfried84]

Depending on how drastic the rise is the frets can sometimes be filed down. I however always recommend removing them and removing the wood from the top of the fingerboard to ensure the best playability. Many times the frets become so low that they become difficult to crown properly.