my ernie ball neck has some issues

[PallarAndersVisa]

ok so I got this ernie ball music man silhouette special from a friend for a great price and the guitar is flawless. no scuffs or scratches anywhere. its awesome!

but I noticed that some of the frets sound dead near the high top. i cant notice any visible fret wear, and the guy only had it for a very short period of time before he sold it to me, but starting around the 15-17th fret and up, the notes sound very dead. everything else plays well.

is this a simple neck or saddle adjustment issue?

[data187]

sounds like a possible truss rod adjustment might fix it...
if not, the eb/mm customer service is very helpful.

[Dred]

Truss rod adjustments don't affect the neck where it's directly attached to the body. In other words, the neck over the heel isn't affected by truss rods. The 15-17 are close to the heel anyway, so truss rod wouldn't have a major impact on them, but it's possible. This image shows that the body contacts the neck at around the 17th, leading me to believe that the truss rod won't affect 17 and up.

Possibly high frets? Get a razroblade and lay it down from fret to fret and see if it pivots, If you've tall frets and don't want to have to have them levelled, you can try raising the action, or you can try shimming the neck at the front of the heel (towards the nut) to alter the angle of the neck so the strings will have more clearance. I'm sure there may be other suggestions.

[DrDestruction]

Check if the neck's been shimmed.

Often times, some guitarists will stick a shim in the neck pocket to get more neck angle to lower the distance between the strings and the upper frets. By removing the shim, you will increase that distance, and hopefully get rid of that dead spot.

It could also be high frets as was stated, or it could also be a rise in the wood under those frets. If THAT'S the case, the affected area will need to be planed down to spec.