Cheap Bass (bent neck madness)

[glwstck]

I bought a cheap bass-starter set (300€; Squier P-Bass and an amp) a few years ago but never really used it that much. Today, after about one year in the gig bag, I noticed that the intonation is WAY OFF. The neck is completely bent – here is a pic:

HOW THE FUCK can this happen? The bass wasn’t THAT cheap. The first fret is about a half-step off – it’s basically useless.
Any ideas?

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Uh, its called a truss rod adjustment, look into it.

 

[glwstck]

Uh, its called a truss rod adjustment, look into it.

Is this "normal" on basses? I have several guitars and never had such a bent neck (minor neck adjusments, but not fixing a fuckin bow ).

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Its been packed away for a year going through who knows humidity and temperature shifts. Things like that tend to make a truss rod drift over time. Either that or the truss rod completely failed as the amount of bow there looks as if the truss rod is providing no inverse tension to the neck, though it may have just come completely loose too.

 

[Sloan]

Don't be afraid to crank the truss rod. I have never broken a neck due to adjustment and I'm not very gentle with guitars.

 

[Empathy]

Remember, quarter-turns at a time or you'll kill it. Give it plenty of rest between each turn.

 

[cyril_v]

"I noticed that the intonation is WAY OFF"