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I have a '79 strat (one piece maple neck without fretboard) that came into my shop that has a warped or twisted neck. The guy left it strung up in the basement for 20 years with the truss rod loose, so the neck has a pretty severe concave bow or twist from the 7th fret to the nut. I measure about a 3/64ths dip from level at the worst point. The rest of the fretboard is reasonably straight. Adjusting the truss rod brings the rest of the neck in, but doesn't do much to straighten out the dip from the 7th fret to the nut on the treble side, especially.

Removing the frets, leveling, re-fretting, and refinishing the neck, is probably the fix, but I haven't done this on a strat (I work mostly on acoustics) and I am concerned about the truss rod channel at the nut end. The thickness of the fret board there measures only about 5/64ths, so if I have to level that end down 3/64ths to get the fingerboard flat, that doesn't leave much thickness above the truss rod channel. Is this a problem? Anyone else have a strat with a similar problem? Would heat and pressure applied to the neck correct the problem? What do you all think? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

I suggested a new neck, but the customer wants to keep things original and doesn't want to lose the Fender decals, so he would like it fixed.

I used to repair twisted necks with a judicious application of heat, and then clamping to bring the neck back into alignment, but it is an inexact method involving guesswork and some luck. Sometimes the repair "took", and sometimes the guitar came back a year later with the same problem.

It's difficult to completely ascertain how bad the twist is in your pix, but I'd say pulling the frets and replaning the fingerboard would be the way to go. It's a LOT of work, and would meaning touching up the finish afterwards. Also, there is no guaruantee that the neck will not twist again.

I would make sure your client is advised thoroughly of all possibilities before proceeding with the work. And don't be afraid to quote high! This repair should cost at least as much (or more) as renecking the instrument.

Good luck!

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Thanks for the comments Chris. I also discovered that this neck also has an S-curve looking from the bridge toward the peghead. It is really in bad shape, Being an acoustic repair guy, I think this is more that I want to bite off.