Understring radius gauges for bass?

[azfryguy]

Does anyone know what if any company makes understring radius gauges for bass? Stew-mac has a few, but I am not sure if they will fit my 5 string bass. I looked at the Drozd template gauges. My printer is broken and I can't cut a straight or curved line very well. I have e-mailed Stew-mac but no response, so does anyone have tips or information about these hard to find tools?

I also heard that I can somehow use a machinist ruler, can someone explain?

long story short I need to have my bass bridge match the radius of the neck.

[JLS]

You can also do it by eye, and by feel. At the risk of stating the obvious...

[azfryguy]

thats what i have been doing and they turn out good to me but for 20 bucks i dont really see the harm

[JTE]

They don't have to cover all five strings at once anyway. Read the curve on four of them, and then slide it over to read the curve on the four the other way. If the E, A, and D are right, even a short gauge will read the B and the G correctly.

John

[azfryguy]

So on my five string i could place the gauge beetwen the A and the E then the A and the D and i would get it perfect radius

[walterw]

i never bother with gauges like this for setting string height.

just use that machinist's ruler to make each string the same height from a given fret (bottom of string to top of fret) and you'll have a perfect radius.

usually, you'll want the big strings a little higher and the skinny strings a little lower; the ruler can tell you that, too.

[azfryguy]

Originally Posted by walterw

i never bother with gauges like this for setting string height.

just use that machinist's ruler to make each string the same height from a given fret (bottom of string to top of fret) and you'll have a perfect radius.

usually, you'll want the big strings a little higher and the skinny strings a little lower; the ruler can tell you that, too.

So whats an optimum height and what fret? 24 I assume?

[walterw]

that's beating a dark horse of another color.

if the neck is straight and if the nut is nice and low, then 3/32" gap between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string at the 15th fret is a good medium action.

cheat it lower for high-end basses played with a light touch, especially the treble strings, and cheat the low B a bit higher if need be.

[azfryguy]

thanks ill try it out I assume this kills two birds with one stone you'r checking the radius and the string height

[Rick Auricchio]

I tried printing the Drozd gauge templates, but they're designed for European A4-size paper; they weren't right on US Letter on my laser printer.

I bought a set from Stew-Mac, but I've used WalterW's measurement method.