How many of you guys do your own set-up?

[skypn]

I have gathered all the stuff the Fender set-up guide asked for, and I'm pretty sure I can follow what they say. I have a ~'87 MIJ Fender Jazz that has not been played much, but I want to change the strings and pick guard. I'd probably WONT mess with the truss rod (at this point). How many of you guys do this yourself (the whole set-up, not just truss rod) or do you trust someone else to set your bass up. I kinda thought it would be like having someone else tune up your vintage car. I'm not really looking for bragging rights, I just want to know whether you guys do this yourselves.
TIA

[FromTheBassMent]

I do it all myself. If you remember to limit your truss rod adjustments to quarter-turns, there's not much you can mess up.

I find all of the suggestions about "73/116ths of an inch" or "a credit-card width" to be useless. I tweak the truss rod until the neck is NEARLY flat, then noodle with each saddle until I've got the action low but without any fret buzz (once a string starts buzzing with my typical right-hand attack, I adjust the saddle back up). When I'm happy with all of that, I tweak the intonation.

For me it's not about hitting a tolerance or matching a measurement. I have to adjust the instrument to MY playing, and this may not match the "ideal" setup. But if it works for me when I have to play a 5-hour gig, I'm happy.

[elgecko]

Who else but you knows how you like your bass set up? I've always done my own setup.

[honeyiscool]

I do all of mine. I know how I like it, and I can do it.

I definitely can't deal with a straight neck. I need a bit of relief to get the feel I like.

[hdracer]

I'm doing one of mine right now.

[MuzikMan]

I do my own. I learned by reading. Setup is pretty easy once you know how to do it.

[trueno87]

i started doing my own setup as well. i have a tobias growler and the neck on that baby just has a mind of its own. But it plays better than ever with me adjusting the truss rod and not sending to have it setup

[Matthew_84]

yup do it myself, my first bass had a neck that wouldn't sit still. The first month or so of every season I'd have to adjust the truss rod 2 - 4 times, so it would be a costly affair taking it to a guy everytime.

I finally thought that it would be good to get a guy to give it a good once over which would kind of reset it to a good setting, but they set the neck too flat and the first fret buzzed llike crazy (either needed a new nut or a fret job), but still, they never checked that fret or else they would have recommended that job in hopes of some more work. Since then, I've always done my own, and never had any problems.

Like someone said, there's not much to screw up. Adjust the truss rod a 1/4 turn, tune the strings, wait a day or two for the neck to settle, re-tune the strings, then adjust the truss rod again (if needed) or if the neck is good then start setting everything else up. Read, read, read, and be patient, and you'll be fine.

[Bassics101]

I do my own, and with one of my basses being a fretless with an extremely thin and environmentally challenged (sensitive) neck, I get to practice often. I've never had one set by anyone else, so it is hard for me to know if it could be done "better". But as others have said, I agree that only you really know how you want it to feel.

[mcm]

i do mine cause nobody else ever got it quite right

[calebbarton]

I do my own setups with feeler gauges for the neck and its pretty much dead on perfect with realllllllly low action. I use .006-.008" for that.

[Chowowbus]

It really pays to do your own set ups. You never know when a wather change will send your set up out of whack. If this happens right before a gig youll never have time to take it in to have it done. It is simple once you learn how and only takes a few minuts to do. Plus youll save a lot of money over time. I often adjust my tress and action about 4 times a year because of wheather changes. Make sure you have the right tools and go look at some youtube vids and read a few articles and you will be just fine.

[delta7fred]

I learned through necessity, when I started playing it was a whole days trek on public transport to get anything done. A friend of mine had his guitar set up this way. He was less happy with it after it had been done so we sat down and worked out what the 'tech' had done and then set about undoing it.

He had put a slight back bow on the neck so we adjusted it flat, better but still not right, so we tried a little bit at a time until it felt right, adjusting the saddles as required. Sighting down the neck there was just a discernible bow in it.

If the internet had been available then we would have Googled it but we had to discover for ourselves. A good lesson learned.

We realised that the 'tech' was actually a 'hack', nothing more than a salesman with a wrench and very little knowledge or patience.

[Rockmusician]

I have owned many basses and am surprised when I hear bass players talk about how often they are tweaking their set up. I rarely have to do anything. The action on my Alembic is the same as it was when I bought it 8 years ago and all I have ever done is clean it and change strings. I have made some minor adjustments to one of my Fenders but I haven't had to do anything to them in a few years.

[canadian_man_44]

I've been doing my own setups for awhile. Just happened to have a setup done on my Fender P Deluxe and didn't like the job the guy did on it so I lowered the strings, adjusted the intonation and played it. Haven't had to touch a thing on this bass since then(even though I've changed strings 3 times).
Just today I pulled the neck off a new acquisition(Squier Jazz Deluxe V), shimmed the neck a little, adjusted the truss rod, lowered the saddles and perfected the intonation then plugged her in and played her for awhile.
A couple years ago I would have been afraid to mess something up by doing this myself, but you never know until you try. After you see how easy it is, you'll be setting up all your basses to your own specs instead of someone else's version of what you're describing to them.

[Babaghanoush]

Originally Posted by mcm

i do mine cause nobody else ever got it quite right

+1

Setups are like taxes... everyone should do their own at least once.

[iridiumrocks]

Originally Posted by Rockmusician

I have owned many basses and am surprised when I hear bass players talk about how often they are tweaking their set up. I rarely have to do anything.

I have to agree. In all of the years I have been playing, I have only made minor adjustments. I have basses that I have owned as far back as the late 70's and never needed to adjust the truss rod on any of them.

[loinmute]

I do most everything cept' frets and neck building Oh and bobbin my pup's. Never done that.

[dlargent]

I started doing my own setup about 4 years ago, because I was never happy with the setup I got at a shop, and I was getting charged up to $95 (NOT including strings), and most of the time they couldn't get it exactly right for my taste.

There is a fantastic guide on setting up a bass:

Fender® Support

All you need to do is buy automotive feeler guages, and a decent capo, and whatever tool is necessary to adjust the truss rod, string height and intonation (for my Fender J, allen wrenches). Start by adjusting your bass to exactly their specs. If you're like me, the setup will feel PERFECT. If not, you can tweak it a bit, but at least you're using Fender's standard setup as a starting point.

At first, the setup/intonation took about a half hour. Now, it takes me about 30sec to tweak it every now and then when the weather drastically changes. It's really satisfying to do it myself.

Oh yeah, also read Gary Willis' setup guide for info on bending the neck back and forth to help in setting up. It saves a lot of 'settling' time.

[VanillaThundah]

I do now. Seriously, a good set of allen wrenches and a manufacturer setup guide does WONDERS