Having trouble getting my bass adjusted

[Ian the bassist]

I have brought my 5 string bass to the shop when I had it restrung. I asked for a low action. The guy did say he can't play left handed bass so He had trouble adjusting it. It felt nice when I was playing in the shop but when I went home I tried some double hand tapping and realised I have a low action on maybe the 1st to 12 fret but the neck downwards is harder to play. I tried to adjust it with the saddles but it always makes the top frets buzz when I do this. Is there a way of making the the neck straight so I have the same action all the way down the neck? I'm afraid to even touch the truss rod myself though.

[JFace]

Sounds like a job for a neck shim. Placing a thin piece of wood or a business card in the bottom of your neck pocket will ramp the upper register of your neck, allowing lower action on the high frets. There are a lot of threads with information on shimming.

[Ian the bassist]

Read up on this and asked to guy at the shop to do it. No charge since I just got it serviced. Booya!! Thanks alot for the help.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by JFace

Sounds like a job for a neck shim. Placing a thin piece of wood or a business card in the bottom of your neck pocket will ramp the upper register of your neck, allowing lower action on the high frets. There are a lot of threads with information on shimming.

Wrong. Fretting out on high frets is a fretboard issue, usually the dreaded ski jump. Shimming the neck to increase the angle, will make it worse.