Did my first setup..... any suggestions?

mdsmith · #1 08-10-2011, 05:10 AM

Hey guys. I just did my first setup on my bass last night. It's a Fender Deluxe Active Jazz strung with LaBella "Deep Talkin' Bass" strings. I watched a few videos and took what I could from each one since I don't have a lot of the tools.

The first thing I did was check the neck, which was back bowed. I put a capo on the first fret, and fretted the 12th fret. I used the flap on a book of matches as my feeler gauge since I had read that both the match book and a cheap bussiness card give you just about the right thickness feeler.

Next I adjusted the action at the bridge. This is where I had some trouble. The video I watched said that you could use a quarter at the 12th fret to set the string height. Just lower the saddles until the quarter just barely fits between the string and fret. According to this method, my action was pretty high, so I lowered the saddle on the E string until it just touched the quarter. The problem is that there was major fret buzz on the higher frets. So I came up with my own way of doing it, which I though made sense. I lowered the saddle of each string until it was buzzing up toward the end of the fretboard, the slowly raised the saddle until the buzzing went away. I figued that this would give me the lowest action possible without fret buzz. My biggest question here is if this is an acceptible method of adjusting the string height. My concern is that I'm sure the strings aren't radiused to match the radius of the fretboard. Does this matter?

I didn't check the action at the nut, because I didn't have a steel ruler, and didn't find anything in the videos that told you what to use in place of the ruler. I don't have any buzzing up ther though, and the strings fret comfortably , so I'm assuming that it can't be too far off.

Lastly I set the intonation of each string, which was pretty bad to start with.

Tonight I plan to set the height of the pick ups, which I'll have to look up since I have no idea how high they should be set. After this, I'll oil the fretboard, clean the strings and polish the body.

All and all the bass plays much better, and I found it very rewarding to do the setup myself. Any other tips, or things I miseed would be greastly appreciated. Thank you.

Turnaround · #2 08-10-2011, 05:31 AM

Just one small correction. When you adjust the neck relief you should capo the first fret and fret the seventeenth - not the twelfth. Then the thickness of a matchbook cover can be used at the seventh fret as a gauge. Better yet, a Fender thin pick will give a more consistent setting - matchbook covers vary in thickness.

Using a quarter as a gauge at the twelfth fret will result in a very low setup and will be unplayable for many bassists. Your method is better - i.e. start low and raise the saddles until it plays cleanly.

mdsmith · #3 08-10-2011, 07:04 AM

Wow, thanks for the heads up. I'm sure fretting at the 17th instead or the 12th will make a difference. Also, great advice on the Fender thin pick. So you wouldn't be concerned with the string radius not matching the fretboard radius? I may be close, but since I didn't set them all to the same distance off of the frets, I'm sure it isn't perfect. Also, any idea of something to use to check the string height at first fret? I can go but the steel ruler this weekend if need be, but it would be cool if I could find something around the house to use. Thanks again for the response.

ga_edwards · #4 08-10-2011, 07:21 AM

The Jerzy Drozd setup guide under the setup stick thread has some 'cut out' radius guides (not to mention it being an excellent set up guide):
ALL BASIC SETUP QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE

As a rule, you'll want to have the action of the lower string higher than the higher strings and their mass requires more space to move. Get these to right first, then radius the inbetween strings with the radius guide - using the correct size for your neck.

Best way I've found to check nut action is to capo at the 3rd fret and push slighty of the strings directly above the first fret. There should be a very small amount of play followed by a 'chink' sound as the string touches the fret. If there's no chink, it's already touching and too low. If there's a lot of movement, it's too high. I'd personally be quite wary about fixing this bit myself, once you file a nut, it's difficult to build it up again.

mdsmith · #5 08-10-2011, 07:35 AM

Thanks ga, I'll check out the thread. I definitely wouldn't try to fix the nut myself. I was actually going to pay to have a full set up done, but then I figured I may as well try it myself first, and if I screw it up, then I'll pay someone to fix it. I just want to check the nut, but if it seems wrong, I'll take it to someone.

Sorry for posting this question. I just saw the note at the bottom of the thread ga linked.