Good call. Take that $400 you would have spent (wasted) on that guy’s class and buy some cool new piece of gear!
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Bass Setup - Who Does Their Own?
- Thread starter BostonJazz72
- Start date
Good call. Take that $400 you would have spent (wasted) on that guy’s class and buy some cool new piece of gear!
read an article of a guitar tech who may set the intonation for a rhythm guitar player so that it's dead on for only the first 7 or so frets because the player may not use the meedly registers, where a shredder lead player may ONLY use the meedly strings so maybe he makes sure that high e string 15th fret is dead on
basically, on my bass, for the stuff I play at church, E string 12th fret is dead on (according to my polytune that is too sensitive/accurate to be on my live board), A string 15th fret, D and G strings 17th fret.
does a few semitones accuracy around those notes make all that much difference to anyone but me who is playing it? probably not
but since setting intonation can never be 100% perfect, I prefer to have it work with me than against me
If the only touching, you do to your bass. Is playing and practicing. Then you don't know your bass. I've been playing bass for some years now and the one main thing I was determined to do was get to know my bass and how I wanted my bass to deliver what I was wanting it to. So in plain words I got into knowing every detail about my basses. Pickup height, string height, intonation on the bridge. Right tuners to help stay in tune, adjusting the neck you name it.
Screws are meant to be turned and adjusted.
Don’t over torque anything. EVER!!!
Filing is fundamental and not as easily reversed. I still feel that nut slot depth is equally as important as saddle height. Filing a nut is a serious matter.
35 years of playing and I still don’t mess with frets. Lol.
Don’t over torque anything. EVER!!!
Filing is fundamental and not as easily reversed. I still feel that nut slot depth is equally as important as saddle height. Filing a nut is a serious matter.
35 years of playing and I still don’t mess with frets. Lol.
I do my own, for what little I know how to do. My SUB’s bridge is really user-friendly so I can get the action and intonation where I need ‘em, but I’m at a complete and total loss with acoustic instruments save for nervously adjusting the truss rod and hoping for the best.
--^@
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Everytime.
IMO:
YT has a TON of DIY bass vids. Fodera had a great, quick, down and dirty one. Look for one that goes from headstock to strap button and back again. There are even some good general guitar vids; same principles.
IMO Toolkit:
1 small cross style (Phillips) screwdriver
1 small flatheaded screwdriver.
Appropriately sized hexstyle (Allen) keys for truss adjustments when required. Some rods require Metric others use Imperical important NOT to "think" it fits, make certain.
Appropriately sized hex style keys ffor possible bridge/saddle adjustments when required
1 roll of paper towels (old CLEAN cloth diaper works the best)
1 Pollishing cloth for bass body (will not scratch finishes, WAY cheaper at hardware store!)
1 small bottle of fretboard cleaner/conditioner (NEVER EVER use stereotypical furniture polish!)
1 bottle of guitar polish for guitar body (furniture polish not recommended.)
1 metal straight edge for more accurate neck adjustments (using strings as a guide is okay in a pinch, but a straight edge is well worth the investment)
Optional: Stew Mac makes this killer little piece of metal that has mm and thousandths marks on it with conversion chart. Excellent for string height/saddle adjustments! About the size of a credit card.
Keen eye, patience, willingness to always improve on your maintenence, and a knuckle bump when YOU do it yourself.
Once you get the confidence and hang of it, in most cases your set-up/maintenence will only take about 15-20 minutes for general service. You'll also get to know YOUR instrument better.
A teeny tiny bit of adjustment(s) will go a l o n g way.
Good luck!
IMO:
YT has a TON of DIY bass vids. Fodera had a great, quick, down and dirty one. Look for one that goes from headstock to strap button and back again. There are even some good general guitar vids; same principles.
IMO Toolkit:
1 small cross style (Phillips) screwdriver
1 small flatheaded screwdriver.
Appropriately sized hexstyle (Allen) keys for truss adjustments when required. Some rods require Metric others use Imperical important NOT to "think" it fits, make certain.
Appropriately sized hex style keys ffor possible bridge/saddle adjustments when required
1 roll of paper towels (old CLEAN cloth diaper works the best)
1 Pollishing cloth for bass body (will not scratch finishes, WAY cheaper at hardware store!)
1 small bottle of fretboard cleaner/conditioner (NEVER EVER use stereotypical furniture polish!)
1 bottle of guitar polish for guitar body (furniture polish not recommended.)
1 metal straight edge for more accurate neck adjustments (using strings as a guide is okay in a pinch, but a straight edge is well worth the investment)
Optional: Stew Mac makes this killer little piece of metal that has mm and thousandths marks on it with conversion chart. Excellent for string height/saddle adjustments! About the size of a credit card.
Keen eye, patience, willingness to always improve on your maintenence, and a knuckle bump when YOU do it yourself.
Once you get the confidence and hang of it, in most cases your set-up/maintenence will only take about 15-20 minutes for general service. You'll also get to know YOUR instrument better.
A teeny tiny bit of adjustment(s) will go a l o n g way.
Good luck!
If I drop a screwdriver on my bass I wont strangle myself. Also I'm cheap and don't know anyone that does a better set up than I do anyway.
PaulCISSA
Unsweetened, highly-caffeinated
Been doing mine for myself since I was young. I realized that getting my ‘70s Fender Mustang setup at the local music store would require 4-5 lawn cuts to accomplish and that’s a lot of work for a 13 y/o in 1974. I learned with the help of mentors and older kids that knew what they were doing (or so I thought!).
It’s not as difficult as some think, but requires patience and diligence. AND, we now enjoy the ability to learn from a global community rather than the older kids in the neighborhood.
It’s not as difficult as some think, but requires patience and diligence. AND, we now enjoy the ability to learn from a global community rather than the older kids in the neighborhood.
I do my own. As a matter of fact, I had to setup my Spector yesterday as I put some much heavier gauge strings on it and had to readjust everything and file the nut as well. I'm going to fine tune it all this weekend when I get some more time. I just got it to where it was "good enough" because I couldn't wait to play it.
It's now my dedicated C standard bass.
It's now my dedicated C standard bass.
If you have the inclination, and the bass isn't too expensive, do it yourself. You can learn a lot just from the experience, and the gratification factor is a 10/10.
My new to me Samick is now a WIP for setup. The neck had a bad back bow and it took several days of clamping under a 100 watt bulb to get it to anywhere near acceptable condition. It's still not perfect, but close enough for now. Just finished setting string heights today, and I'll check it again tomorrow. If it's stable, I'll work on the intonation. The fun part is, all I have is Allen keys a Phillips, my fingers, ears and experience. As yet, I don't have a tuner, and finding a good analog sweep tuner isn't as easy as it once was, what with digital being king, and clamp on's are all the rage. I did find one for my phone, but it's not good enough for setting intonation, just getting close for home use.
My wife suggested finding someone to do it, but I figured it would cost more than the bass is worth.
My new to me Samick is now a WIP for setup. The neck had a bad back bow and it took several days of clamping under a 100 watt bulb to get it to anywhere near acceptable condition. It's still not perfect, but close enough for now. Just finished setting string heights today, and I'll check it again tomorrow. If it's stable, I'll work on the intonation. The fun part is, all I have is Allen keys a Phillips, my fingers, ears and experience. As yet, I don't have a tuner, and finding a good analog sweep tuner isn't as easy as it once was, what with digital being king, and clamp on's are all the rage. I did find one for my phone, but it's not good enough for setting intonation, just getting close for home use.
My wife suggested finding someone to do it, but I figured it would cost more than the bass is worth.
So Anyway, I can do my own... but not nearly as good as the guy who does it for a living. And once I have a pro set-up, I'm usually good for a couple of years.
You've got to expect that the guy who does 10-15 a week has a few tricks that only comes from experience.
You've got to expect that the guy who does 10-15 a week has a few tricks that only comes from experience.
With the right tools, some reference materials and some practice and patience you can do nearly as well as a professional. With just a few tools (truss rod tool, screwdrivers, hex wrenches) and a tutorial and a small amount of time you can take an instrument from being unplayable to being usable. Every player should learn to do the latter.
I do my own. It's not difficult to do your own setups. And as with anything else, the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. I've found that with truss rod adjustments, it can take a little time for the neck to truly settle. So I'll check again after 2 days or so and do a final tweak. But much of that is due to the fact that I have a lot of basses and many sit idle for log stretches, and are out by more than a 1/4 turn.
Buy “Bass Guitar for Dummies”, everything you diden’t know enough to ask is there. Watch u tube how to setups,then you too will know. Enjoy
Just about every time I would get my bass set up at a shop it would never turn out how I like so I started doing my own, I researched and got tips on what to do, I don't use any measuring tools I eyeball everything from neck relief to pup height, my basses play and sound nice and tight to my taste, basically the necks are flat as I can get them with the strings as low as I can with no fret buzz..
