Having trouble adjusting the trussrod my Telecaster

I'm a Les Paul guy who has never owned a Tele, however the band I'm currently playing does a few country songs and I've been thinking a Telecaster would be fitting. Today I bought a MIM Telecaster off of Craigslist. Its a nice guitar, lightweight and in mint condition, and the price was very reasonable. While trying it out, I noticed it had quite a bit of relief in the neck (at least .030") and it was fretting out with the slightest string stretch above the 12th fret. I figured this could easily be cured with a setup but so far that's not the case.

The trussrod adjustment is on the end of the neck, so of course the neck needs to be removed to adjust it. When I tried tighten the nut, I was surprised at how tight it was already. I loosened and removed the nut, put some oil on the threads and wax on the end of the nut and then threaded it back in. This seemed to help a little, but its still VERY tight to adjust. I tightened it as tight as I could using a regular screwdriver and the neck still had .015-.020" relief in it. Next I used an offset screwdriver to get more leverage and I was able to tighten it a bit more, but they neck still has more relief than I prefer. The TR is extremely tight right now and I almost certain that if I tighten it any more the rod will snap. Its almost as if the trussrod does not have a bow in it to allow it to bend the neck. I put the guitar together and it plays somewhat better, however I needed to raise the action to about 1/8" before it stopped fretting out.

I adjust the TR on my Les Pauls twice a year (Spring/Fall) when the weather changes and its always a piece of cake. It takes little effort to make adjustments and I can get the action down to 1/16th at the 12th fret with no buzz or fretting out. I've never had trouble like I've had trying to setup this Tele. Does this sound like a typical MIM quality or did I just get a dud guitar?

That's not typical. I own 3 MIMs, including a '50s Classic Esquire, and the TRs function normally in all. I would take it to a good luthier for an assessment.

Necks can get a semi-permanent bow in them if they're left with too much relief for too long. The wood eventually gets used to its shape and settles there. Fixing it is not as hard as you'd think. You just need a heating pad, a sturdy hunk of wood, and a clamp.

This setup below was to correct a back bow. To correct a forward bow, use spacer blocks at either end and clamp it in the middle.

It takes some patience and a little trial and error. For small adjustments I usually heat for at least 4 hours, then let it cool, then take the clamps off and measure the straightness. If you need to move the neck a lot, do it over a longer period of time

I like using these style of clamps because I can measure the space between the jaws and use that to figure out if I need more tension on the clamps.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_sh-oKu0G4ls/TSsyhg224QI/AAAAAAAAB8Y/psWDp26uGsU/s720/IMG_20110109_184456.jpg

There are two other things that could be going on - one's not a big deal, the other is fatal.

First, if the nut is reaching the last thread on the rod, then it will rather suddenly get tight and will not want to go further. This is remedied by putting an extra washer under the nut (you'll need to ream out a small #10 washer to fit) which will give you more travel on the threads.

The second problem I haven't encountered, but the cogniscenti here have posted that the trussrod channels in MIM necks sometimes don't have curve to them (something about not gluing the fillet in far enough); they reach a point where they're straight and tight, and no amount of tightening is going to change the relief of the neck. A trussrod really isn't supposed to feel like it's getting tighter and tighter.