I've got a '94 MIM (Black label, "Squier Series") Fender J here.
According to the previous owner, it sat for many years untouched. The truss rod nut was nearly off, there was zero tension on the truss rod whatsoever and the neck was badly bowed forward. Fortunately the truss rod works, and now, at least between frets 2 and the heel, the neck is nice and flat.
The problem is I think sitting like that all those years has permanently bent the wood near the headstock, because the neck is still bowed between fret 2 and the nut. Like this:
I've exaggerated the problem here for purposes of illustration. In reality, the first fret and nut are only about 1 and 2 mm higher than they should be, respectively.
So I'm thinking about removing fret 1 and the nut and sanding down the fingerboard, taking off basically nothing starting at fret 2 and gradually about 1.5 mm by the nut. Will removing that much wood be a problem ? For what it's worth, I think the neck has pretty much stabilized, because the bow in my drawing above is exhibited with or without tension on the strings.
According to the previous owner, it sat for many years untouched. The truss rod nut was nearly off, there was zero tension on the truss rod whatsoever and the neck was badly bowed forward. Fortunately the truss rod works, and now, at least between frets 2 and the heel, the neck is nice and flat.
The problem is I think sitting like that all those years has permanently bent the wood near the headstock, because the neck is still bowed between fret 2 and the nut. Like this:
I've exaggerated the problem here for purposes of illustration. In reality, the first fret and nut are only about 1 and 2 mm higher than they should be, respectively.
So I'm thinking about removing fret 1 and the nut and sanding down the fingerboard, taking off basically nothing starting at fret 2 and gradually about 1.5 mm by the nut. Will removing that much wood be a problem ? For what it's worth, I think the neck has pretty much stabilized, because the bow in my drawing above is exhibited with or without tension on the strings.
