Hey guys,
I am a newb at doing my own set-ups, but TB has helpeda great deal. Thought I might save some others some time and aggravation by posting and talking a little about the tools I am using, including a few new ones that Santa brought.
Bass set-up kit by
alanpachter, on Flickr
Shown above are the obvious #2 phillips head screw driver, Allen (hex) wrenches to fit my truss rods and bridge height adjustment screws, my new Snark tuner which is very useful and pretty darn accurate for a simple cheap tuner, a cool little mini-screw driver ($5 at Home Depot) for flat head bridge height adjustment screws as well as pick-up height adjustment screws. I also just got the Stew-Mac String Action Gauge and a set of neck radius measuring tools so that I can match the curvature of the strings to the curvature of the neck.
The string action gauge is very handy, but pretty pricey at $20 plus shipping. However, it makes measuring precisely so much easier. I couldn't find any other way to measure .5mm. It can also double as a quick rough feeler gauge since it seems to be about a half mm in width, so useful for measuring relief in the neck.
Got a new capo to make it easier to measure neck relief. $20 for that tool was a bit much for what I needed, but what the heck. Its a nice one!
And I had to throw the reading glasses in the pic since they get a lot of use when I do set-ups.
Lastly a nifty little container to hold most of the smaller pieces. $2.50 at Office Depot.
Below is my new addition, the Stew-Mac Guitar Tech screwdriver set. I love it so far.
Guitar tech screwdriver set by
alanpachter, on Flickr
So there you have it. I welcome an comments, and any advice from you guys our there who have loads more experience than I do.
I was pretty pleased that my "roughing it out" method held up when I measured exactly with these new tools. I had gotten the set-up specs pretty close by my former rough and inexact methods.
Thanks guys. Hope you find this thread helpful.
Al
To my opinion this is a very clever way to set up a bass. The ruler to set up the straightness is a very good idea. Measurement of neck straightness is less accurate if a string is used. Strings tend to sag a little under their own weight.
