3 weeks and still no joy =(

TravisMoore

TravisMoore

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Been trying to set up my bass for 3 weeks now and still no joy. I think my problem may be that I've never had a bass with a "good" (low) action before so i don't know what I'm trying to achieve.

help?

:lol: :x
 
Have you considered taking it to a pro? Might cost some, but it's definately worth the pro setup.
Watch him while he's doing it, and ask him underways, you could learn something =)
 
TravisMoore said:
Been trying to set up my bass for 3 weeks now and still no joy. I think my problem may be that I've never had a bass with a "good" (low) action before so i don't know what I'm trying to achieve.

help?

:lol: :x
Click to expand...

Too bad you don't live anywhere near me, I'd set it up for ya for free!
 
Well i would have already gone to a pro but i simply don't have the money. Also the nearest person who will do it properly is in London which means £25 train and £25 set-up...
 
thumbin said:
TravisMoore said:
Been trying to set up my bass for 3 weeks now and still no joy. I think my problem may be that I've never had a bass with a "good" (low) action before so i don't know what I'm trying to achieve.

help?

:lol: :x
Click to expand...

Too bad you don't live anywhere near me, I'd set it up for ya for free!
Click to expand...

Yea that would be a bit more expensive than going to London lol
 
With my thumb the same thing happened! Maybe you know this before, but must take a lot of patience, gentle turns of 1/8, waiting for a couple of hours and then continue, these woods are very solid and slow to react, totally straight is not recommended, you should leave a very minimum of relief because strings need space for vibrate! good luck!
 
FunkyMan said:
With my thumb the same thing happened! Maybe you know this before, but must take a lot of patience, gentle turns of 1/8, waiting for a couple of hours and then continue, these woods are very solid and slow to react, totally straight is not recommended, you should leave a very minimum of relief because strings need space for vibrate! good luck!
Click to expand...

Yea what i have been doing is every day i try once then if its not right i adjust the truss rod and leave it over night and try again the next day.

One thing i don't understand is I've read my Warwick manual and Seths posts on the forum on how to set my bass up but they all describe the adjustments in different ways.

e.g. bow and relief, loosening, tightening, front bow, back bow,

The last few days i've been messing arond the the truss rod because neck is straight at the moment just don't know if im ment to go back or forward.

so relief would be backwards?
 
For a long time I thought that it was normal and standard to have high action and that having any kind of fret noise was bad. I now realize that that is completely wrong. Its ok for there to be fret noise as long as you cant hear it through your amp. Alot of bassists even go past that point. If you listen to Bill "Buddha" Dickens he has a lot of fret noise. Victor Wooten, Seth Horan, Jeff Schmidt, etc... a lot of them have some fret noise. I think that having lower action/some fret noise livens up the sound a bit and adds extra growl.

Anyway when I set my bass up I usually tune it up and look down the neck to see how much its bending. If it looks like there is to much bend I will push down the 1st and 12th frets to see how much of a gap there is at the 7th fret. If there is too much I loosen the strings and adjust the truss rod. I usually leave the bass to set into the new truss adjustment for a day or so. Then when I tune it back up and if the the neck is straight enough (but not 100% straight) I will check the nut height.

The way that I check nut height is I press down the 3rd fret and then tap the string on the 1st fret repeatedly. If it doesn't slap against the 1st fret then move the nut up. If there is a lot of space between the string and the 1st fret lower it until you are almost touching the fret. When you play a note on the 3rd fret the string should not buzz on the lower frets nor should it be hard to push down the 3rd fret. When Im done adjusting the nut I will retune the bass before I check the string height/spacing.

Next I will check the string height/spacing. To do this I loosen all the saddle locks. From here I press down on the 12th fret with my left hand and tap the string on the 24th fret with my right (similar to the nut adjusting). There should only be a small gap between the string and the 24th fret when your holding down the string at the 12th fret. If you tap the string down and the string doesn't slap against the fret the move the saddle up. If the string doesn't slap easy enough then move the saddle down. Do this to all the saddles and your strings will be setup to the curvature of the frets and will be at the proper height. After doing this to all the strings, tune the bass back up and play around on the neck. If you hear to much buzzing or not enough, just make those fine tuned adjustments accordingly. When the strings feel like they are at the right height adjust the spacing evenly to your liking. When you have the strings where you like them lock them into place and move on to the intonation.

Intonation is quick and easy. Plug your bass into a tuner and tune up your bass as well as you can. Then go through each string playing the open string (making sure its in tune) the playing the same string at the 12th fret. The 12th fret should be exactly in tune like the open string is. If not then adjust the screws in the end of the bridge piece. Adjust them in or out to until the 12th fret is exactly in tune with its open string. Do this to all the strings, make sure your in tune, and your bass should be setup right.

These are my techniques for setting up my basses. I found that they work for me. Others may do things differently and you may do things differently too but from my experience and from what I have seen professional luthiers do when they do, this is a quick way to setup your bass right.
 
If this doesn't work save up and go to a pro. I have had to do this before.
 
Ok cheers for the info and suggestions guys I'll see how it goes =D
 
there's a HUGE difference in fret buzz. Some whine if the string is hit hard, and it slaps the fret around a few times, giving a hint of a metallic sound sometimes. But what I find "Fret buzz" is when it's so wrong that the note dies.
 
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