Bass Set up

[basswanabe]

I have a US Masters and would like to start working on slap bass but I don't feel it's set up correctly. Anyone have any advice on set up for my particular bass. As in, distance from strings to frets. The reason I ask is when I received the bass I had to adjust the neck as it buzzed down by the 22-24 frets. But now that I try slap it seems the distance (string to fret) is too great. Any advice?

One another subject: I lost a monster bass cord at our last gig...looking to get another cord but I've been reading and I'm finding the planet wave, klotz and some others or preferred over monster. Any advice on the best cord?

 

[lethargytartare]

Chords first -- a lot of hype there. I never bothered with it much and didn't know any gigging musicians who did either. I just look for durability -- I have a couple of heavy ones for shows, and the rest are whatever I've accumulated over the years.

Setup: so since you had to adjust for buzz on the really high frets, that sounds like not-uncommon ramp-up. I'd say you do the following;

Readjust your action back down to a comfortable level, and practice away. I think a lot of your initial practice would probably stay in the lower registers, so the highest frets shouldn't bug you too much. Long term fix might just be to file down those last 2 or 3 frets a bit to compensate for the ramp-up.

You also said that you adjusted the NECK to adjust for the buzz -- which could indicate you just need to review a proper, methodical, bass setup, and go over your bass again (or have a tech do so).

Post your findings or progress! Good luck!
ltt

 

[gre107]

The neck relief should be a little tighter than usual (meaning less bow but still need some so you don't "choke" the notes), low (or maybe super low) action and use a light set of steel strings. Try 40, 60, 80, 100 gauge. The "numbers" really don't mean much for a setup. It's what feels/works well for the specific bass.

I play with an extremely low action and little to no relief in my necks. The "trick" I use is that I play softly and avoid buzzing out but enough to get some sizzle. I also play with a pickup cover that I rest my right hand on which keeps me from slamming the strings. With that said my two main basses are set up in a similar fashion but the actual distances from the frets to the bottom of the strings and neck relief are slightly different. Like I said before, it's the feel and what works right for the specific instrument.

Get the strings on first and then do the setup.

That should get you to where you want to be.

 

[Dave W]

Setup: If you want to learn how to do it, pick up any book by Dan Erlewine on guitar repair. The Guitar Player's Repair Guide is excellent and has ALL of the info you would need.

Cords: It honestly does not matter. I'm not a fan of Monster cable, but that has more to do with their business practice than their product. I do own of bunch of their stuff though...although I'm in the process of phasing it out completely in favor of DIY stuff. Canare GS-6 with Neutrik ends specifically.