Adjusting action on Höfner Ignition bass

[blower_bass2321]

Hello! I’ve been playing bass for a little less than a year now and I need some help with a new bass I have acquired a couple months ago. I need to know if and how to adjust the action on my Höfner Ignition bass. I have attached some pictures below and wonder if it’s good just the way it is or if it needs adjusting and how. Thanks!

 

[JimmyM]

Those wheels on either side.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

You still have the packing material under the bridge. Remove that.

This is about intonation, not action:
When you are ready to perfect intonation as much as possible, those saddles can be moved from slot to slot in the wood (though I notice almost no one ever does this). Use a very good strobe type tuner app, like iStroboSoft to help you.

Apply a strip of (an easy to remove type of) tape across the body of the bass to mark the position of the bridge as you go. Because I worked so hard on mine I have left this tape on the instrument in case the bridge ever moves. Isn't hurting me.

By moving and angling the bridge you can get the intonation of two strings approx. perfect enough. Then one of the other strings will be off a little bit, and the fourth one will be off a lot. That's the one that might benefit from moving the saddle-piece.
Not easy. Good luck!

Hopefully, you commit to your type and gauge of string before doing the above.

 

[blower_bass2321]

You still have the packing material under the bridge. Remove that.

This is about intonation, not action:
When you are ready to perfect intonation as much as possible, those saddles can be moved from slot to slot in the wood (though I notice almost no one ever does this). Use a very good strobe type tuner app, like iStroboSoft to help you.

Apply a strip of (an easy to remove type of) tape across the body of the bass to mark the position of the bridge as you go. Because I worked so hard on mine I have left this tape on the instrument in case the bridge ever moves. Isn't hurting me.

By moving and angling the bridge you can get the intonation of two strings approx. perfect enough. Then one of the other strings will be off a little bit, and the fourth one will be off a lot. That's the one that might benefit from moving the saddle-piece.
Not easy. Good luck!

Hopefully, you commit to your type and gauge of string before doing the above.

So, would you agree that it needs adjusting, or would it be good on its own?Thanks for responding so fast!

 

[LetItGrowTone]

@blower_bass2321, you asked about action but most of my previous post was about intonation. Sorry about that, but you can use the info later.

About the action, it depends on how hard you play and how much rattle you like or not. It's easy to adjust using those thumbwheels on the bridge, so you could just lower it a bit at a time and see how it works for you.

EDIT:
Loosen the strings before turning the thumbwheels.

This is more about working on the intonation:
After you remove that packing material, of course if you slide the bridge across the body it can scratch it. Mine isn't scratched (I don't think) because I loosened the strings *a lot* before moving the bridge each time.

So a good tuner app is very helpful.

 

[blower_bass2321]

@blower_bass2321, you asked about action but most of my previous post was about intonation. Sorry about that, but you can use the info later.

About the action, it depends on how hard you play and how much rattle you like or not. It's easy to adjust using those thumbwheels on the bridge, so you could just lower it a bit at a time and see how it works for you.

EDIT:
Loosen the strings before turning the thumbwheels.

This is more about working on the intonation:
After you remove that packing material, of course if you slide the bridge across the body it can scratch it. Mine isn't scratched (I don't think) because I loosened the strings *a lot* before moving the bridge each time.

So a good tuner app is very helpful.

Thanks! I’ll give it a try

 

[mongo2]

Intonation adjustment may require more than just shifting/angling the bridge. On my Hofner I had to move one of the fret saddles on the brige a slot closer to the neck to get it intonated when the other 3 strings were already intonated.