Normal for a Fender Tele Bass?

[Ric5]

Is this headstock angle normal for a Fender Tele Bass circa mid 1970's?
I don't recall them tilting up at the end...

View attachment 4520834

probably time for a replacement neck

 

[chadds]

Buy with approval take to a trusted tech.

 

[GIBrat51]

Hmmm... can you say "headless conversion candidate"...? Honestly, I won't say that it can't be fixed; you can do almost anything - if you throw enough effort, time, and money at it. Question is, whether it's really worth it. If your life will be empty and meaningless without that particular bass? Snatch it up. But... otherwise? Pass on that one, and wait for a better one to come along. Which is what I would do...

 

[tothemax]

That photo got me looking at my 2018 MIM Tele P... It looks like there is a slight bit of upward bend, more visible from the curved side. The flat side with the tuners looks more in line with the neck. That would make sense as there is more meat on the straight side. I'll grab a picture when I get a chance.

 

[ctmullins]

Fortunately Leo designed those necks to be replaceable, and the old one disposed of.

 

[WillyW]

The dangers of using a guitar tuner.

 

[braud357]

I would be willing to bet that it has some heavy-gauge flats on it !

 

[Iridescentone]

I'd expect that neck to have a nice forward bow to go along with the deformed headstock. Hard pass on that bass.

You could send some pics to FIX AN INSTRUMENT'S WARPED NECK. They can fix a lotta bad necks, but there are limits to what even they can do.

 

[Ghastly]

You "believe it 'can'"?? There's a picture of it right there.

Hence what I said. It's a manner of speech, in case you're inexperienced. Otherwise, I figure you're just causing strife.

 

[devnulljp]

 

[okabass]

Never happened any of my basses ('65 P,'68 TB,'73 JB, '83 J and P etc.). But my friends '56 P has that and some of his '60 JB or PB too. He's a collector and dealer (dozens of old 7enders) and said it happens sometimes.
Wood acts some times strange. Or the headstock could have been machined too thin.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Yep.
Wood can warp.
Some more than others.
The good news is that if it can warp that way, it can be warped back.
With time and controlled heat it might be possible for it to be straight ( or straighter ).
Hopefully in less time than it took to get that way.

If you get it back right, try lighter strings.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Not normal. It looks like too much meat was taken out where the “ramp” is in the nut/headstock transition.

 

[Yahboy]

Beside storage , temperature, humidity blah blah blah condition, some vintage bass neck wrap cause by earlier high tension flatwound bass string too. Especially on the set with thick and high tension DG string.

 

[micguy]

I’ve seen that kind of warping a lot of times, but… never that bad.

The way you bend wood intentionally is to get it wet, get it hot, and apply force. If I were asked to guess how that happened (I’m an Engineer, we ponder catastrophes all the time), I’d say that bass had a Lot of tension on the strings (heavy gauge La Bella’s), and it got left in a hot humid car or building a lot over the years - perhaps it lived in the tropics? A car with black interior in the Sun can get up to 180 degrees in certain situations - that’s the common test temperature for stuff used in the automotive industry. That kind of temperature and high humidity could probably do that over enough time.

If the headstock is that warped, it’s a good bet the neck itself ain’t straight. I’d call that a hard pass.

 

[LHbassist]

I have been repairing for almost 50 years now. I've seen a number of them do that. Usually you'll see an added string retainer disc for the 'E' and 'A' strings. ALWAYS on old P-basses, and Telecaster basses with that headstock. I've never been asked to offer a solution to that. Usually, heat, opposing- clamped -in- a- fixture- pressure, and time... can straighten out warped wood. Being that that looks like it has occurred over a long period of time, that warp may never come out. My experience with wood, is once it warps- in a single piece like that neck, it's where it WANTS to stay. I've seen this with 'S' curved necks, the fibers compress, and that's it. Warped necks with fingerboards can be straightened, but that, is under so much tension.... it's a good idea to just play it... until it becomes unplayable. For the record, of the ones I've seen, I never saw one that warped so badly it couldn't be played.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

I have been repairing for almost 50 years now. I've seen a number of them do that. Usually you'll see an added string retainer disc for the 'E' and 'A' strings. ALWAYS on old P-basses, and Telecaster basses with that headstock. I've never been asked to offer a solution to that. Usually, heat, opposing- clamped -in- a- fixture- pressure, and time... can straighten out warped wood. Being that that looks like it has occurred over a long period of time, that warp may never come out. My experience with wood, is once it warps- in a single piece like that neck, it's where it WANTS to stay. I've seen this with 'S' curved necks, the fibers compress, and that's it. Warped necks with fingerboards can be straightened, but that, is under so much tension.... it's a good idea to just play it... until it becomes unplayable. For the record, of the ones I've seen, I never saw one that warped so badly it couldn't be played.

This is the most meaningful post I've seen on TalkBass all week.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

I saw a ‘72 Jazz that had the same bend of the headstock. It was a really nice bass except for that issue. A couple luthiers had tried to fix it, but had no success. It was warped badly enough that if the D & G strings were taken out from under the string tree, they passed over the nut about 1/2” high. It was a shame, because it was a blocked & bound Rosewood fingerboard neck. It still looked good, but was virtually unplayable.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Hard pass.

 

[jamro217]

Offer $200 and see what happens. The parts are worth that much.