Tilt Neck vs. Truss Rod vs. Bridge Height

[RSY]

I could use a little education on when to utilize the truss rod for adjustments or when to use the tilt-neck adjust. I have an old Music Man that needs a little work.

For that matter, where does adjusting saddle height fall into the mix with the other two.

Thanks mucho.

scott

[J.P.]

Here's the way I did it on my jazz bass. Adjust the neck first. I'm not sure what the music man specs are, but on my jazz I have about .013 relief at the 8th fret (capo at first fret and hold string at last fret).

I'm not sure if this is the right way to do it, but the way I did the tilt/bridge was to set the action at about 3/32 at the 17th fret. Then I turned the tilt about a quarter turn then reset action for 3/32. I kept tilting the neck and resetting the action until the strings would buzz out when I played around on the 12-15th frets. Then I backed off the tilt a little and then set the action one final time.

It took a while and a lot of tweaking, but when It was right it was right.

There's probably an easier way but that's how I did it. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

Good luck.

And by the way, I noticed you were in Covington. I'm in Lake Charles.

[Magneto]

Truss rod: Adjusts the tension of the rod built-in to the neck. This sets the amount of "relief" or curvature of the neck. This rod counteracts the tension that the strings pull on the neck. This is not really meant for adjusting string-height or action, but will have a pronounced effect on it. Read the stickys posted at the top of this page. It'll start to make sense.

Tilt adjustment: You can use this to tilt the higher frets closer to the strings. When you know the truss/relief is set correctly, you have a good action at the low frets, but action is too high at the upper frets, this comes in handy.
Please keep in mind that you'll want to loosen string tension and usually all 4 neck bolts a bit before you tighten/loosen this adjustment. Then make sure all bolts are tight before retuning the bass back to pitch.

Saddles: This sets the overall height of the strings, and they can be adjusted individually per each string. They also have an adjustment to lengthen or shorten the string's scale to set "intonation"..

So if I had all 3 and wanted to set up that bass I'd:

1. Tune the bass to the pitch I intend to use.
2. Adjust the truss to give the neck the right amount of relief (string height doesn't matter yet).
3. Adjust string height with the saddles. Check action at low and upper frets.
4. If action at the high frets is uncomfortably high, I'd use the micro-tilt adjustment to fine adjust this.
5. Fine tune pickup height to compensate for any string height changes.

Note: Keep in mind that while doing this, you'll need to retune the bass between every step. Even small tune changes will change the feel and action of the neck.

Good luck...
Mag...

[202dy]

Originally Posted by Magneto

Truss rod: Adjusts the tension of the rod built-in to the neck. This sets the amount of "relief" or curvature of the neck. This rod counteracts the tension that the strings pull on the neck. This is not really meant for adjusting string-height or action, but will have a pronounced effect on it. Read the stickys posted at the top of this page. It'll start to make sense.

Tilt adjustment: You can use this to tilt the higher frets closer to the strings. When you know the truss/relief is set correctly, you have a good action at the low frets, but action is too high at the upper frets, this comes in handy.
Please keep in mind that you'll want to loosen string tension and usually all 4 neck bolts a bit before you tighten/loosen this adjustment. Then make sure all bolts are tight before retuning the bass back to pitch.

Saddles: This sets the overall height of the strings, and they can be adjusted individually per each string. They also have an adjustment to lengthen or shorten the string's scale to set "intonation"..

So if I had all 3 and wanted to set up that bass I'd:

1. Tune the bass to the pitch I intend to use.
2. Adjust the truss to give the neck the right amount of relief (string height doesn't matter yet).
3. Adjust string height with the saddles. Check action at low and upper frets.
4. If action at the high frets is uncomfortably high, I'd use the micro-tilt adjustment to fine adjust this.
5. Fine tune pickup height to compensate for any string height changes.

Note: Keep in mind that while doing this, you'll need to retune the bass between every step. Even small tune changes will change the feel and action of the neck.

Good luck...
Mag...

Good summary!

[jeffhigh]

Yes, set the neck relief first.
Then set the string height using the saddle adjustment and/or the neck tilt, both achieve the same end result- changing the angle between the strings and the fretboard.
If the saddles are too low or high then use the neck tilt