Fixing a DIP in the neck

simonhpieman

Just picked up a new (to me) guitar. Took a bit of a risk in getting the seller to drop it to a relative who's local to them but not to me a few weeks back.

Anyway, the guitar is MINT but there's a dip on the bass side of the neck from the 7th-ish fret to the 11th. Lots of buzz on the low E, a little on the A and some buzzing and choking under bending on the B, too.

Pic below doesn't really show it too well but I've annoted it to give you the idea. You can see the dip easily by eye. Looks pretty much dead straight on the treble side by eye.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e9mD5cnDkS23UPpxnCN9RjmEA6zkpg_d/view?usp=drivesdk

I've heard of humps but never a dip!

Is there anything I can do about it? Leaving in the bathroom etc? Is there anything a luthier can do about it without planing the fretboard etc etc? Clamps or something? Given the guitar's not particularly expensive it's not worth spending a fortune on.

Here's a pic of the whole guitar, looks rather handsome and sounds pretty good too, so it's a bit of a shame but ho hum...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eEkRiTwZt9JMKT0ndpjUthc-ng09Ufzm/view?usp=drivesdk

I should add that the neck was so back bowed that notes wouldn't even sound on the low E around the 7th-11th before I adjusted the truss rod. Can't rule out my relative leaving it against a radiator or something for the last month or so!

ICBM

Probably the first thing to try is tightening the truss rod to take the dip out and raising the bridge far enough to avoid choking. Actually, the very first thing might be to check that there isn't a shim in the neck pocket...

simonhpieman

Thanks as ever for the quick and well informed response!

Confirmed there's no shim. That's a tight ol' neck pocket, too!

Have given the truss rod a bit more of an adjust. I hear letting it settle is a thing but it looks like there's a very slight twist/some fret unevenness towards the treble side. I've checked it with my homemade straight edge which is obviously not definitive but it looks to be straight to within a mm or so now. Fret rocker also mostly good with the 11th being a touch high. I guess fret rocker is of limited use if you're having a concave issue, too...

Raising the bridge has helped with the buzzing on the low E but we're a bit high action-wise now. Still some buzz in the middle of the neck on A, D, G and B but that might be my haphazard adjustments from saddle to saddle! But I have a feeler gauge which is showing I'm pretty good in terms of the 12" radius.

Looking a lot more promising than it did an hour ago, though! Hopefully it's settupable at least, if I take it to my usual guy. Just a bit short of cash before work starts up again and was hoping to scrape through doing it myself! And avoid leaving the poor thing next to my bog for the next month. Nothing or noone should have to suffer that!