Need opinions on neck repair on an H575

[goSteelers]

There is a 95 H575 on ebay that had a warped neck repair in the early 2000s. I ask the seller about it and the response was:

 

"The neck had warped and I did not want to risk straining the truss rod any further trying to straighten the bend. I contacted the factory and they urged me to send the guitar back. They used a combination of heat and a special press that they have to true up the neck. It has remained straight ever since with zero adjustment from me"

 

Has anyone ever heard of straightening a neck like this? Any experience -- how likely is it that the neck is really straight, and will maintain that over time, etc? Any opinions appreciated. The neck is a bound neck. The seller is new to ebay -- no feedback to establish credibility, etc.

 

Thanks,

MK

 

[JAM]

Well, first off, if you aren't comfortable with the Seller, RUN, don't walk, away ! There is really no shortage of used Heritage Guitars for sale.

 

A warped neck can be placed in a jig and either heated or steamed back to it's original shape within a fair degree of accuracy. The Fretboard is then usually planed, re-radiused, new frets installed along with some possible bridge/saddle work to get the intonation correct... so it is possible. If done correctly, a neck so repaired can actually be more resistant to future warping. The procedure takes a lot of time and is VERY costly - think $500-$800, which usually makes such a repair cost-prohibitive.

 

If done at the Factory, there should be some documentation the seller can give you. Absent this, it may be possible to get the info. directly from Heritage. A work Order by serial # should exist.

 

But, unless this is being offered at a VERY deep discount (think 50%), or is an EXTREMELY rare example, personally, I'd pass.

 

Even if fixed by the Factory, there is really no way to assure how the neck will react in the future. If it goes astray again... it'll be your problem.

 

cheers!

 

Jim

[yoslate]

Jim's post, above, pretty much nails it. May be fine. May not. You can steam it, plane it, talk nice to it, but it's still the same piece of wood. It'll do what it wants to do. Wood's like that. Caveat emptor....

[Genericmusic]

[goSteelers]

The minimum bid is low -- $1000 for an H575 Custom. Not half of what it would normally be worth used, but still pretty low. I sent the seller another message asking for some documentation, if they are willing to have it examined by a repair shop in their area (Boston), etc, etc. I'll see what the response is. Thanks for the input.