Bass Setup - Who Does Their Own?

[Whippet]

It's difficult if you don't know what you want from your bass. Each bass has an optimum setup. The optimum setup might not be your playing style or the way you want it to be set up.

If you know what you want, it will make life easier and surprisingly not too difficult. But once again, this doesn't mean the guitar will get the best tone. It just means that you set it up to your own liking.

That's my experience with owning 30 plus bass guitars. Each guitar is different and requires a different type of setup and mental approach to get the best bang for the buck.

 

[Deleted member 261632]

I do it by myself, loads of Youtube movies and internet reading.

I'll figure it out sometime.

 

[beaglesandbass]

I do. Very good skill to have and can save you a lot of money. The basics of it (relief, height and intonation) and not hard to do at all. Though I would definitely practice on a cheaper bass first. I wouldn’t want my first time adjusting a truss rod to be on a $4k instrument.

 

[madbass6]

Is it possible to self learn bass setup and maintenance? If so - how? I want to learn how to do basic setup like trust rod adjustments, etc. What essential tools do I need? What books/videos can be recommended?

I am in Chicago and there is a shop called 'Chicago School of Guitar Making' that offers the following course:

Guitar Set-Up & Maintenance - Chicago Workshops - Specimen Products

Has anyone taken this?

Thanks!

There is such a thing out there called youtube, check it out sometime.

 

[Coot]

I agree with electracoyote. Especially regarding the nut. i was getting chorusing,dead spots around B on the A string on my 73' 4001 ricky no matter what I did with the bridge .Then I realized my nut had been worn away too much from 46 years of round wounds. I haven't got the cash for a replacement at the moment ,so I took a tiny piece of hockey tape and laid it gently in the slots for my A and D strings. It brought the strings up a tiny fraction and every problem vanished ... It's a stop-gap but I know what the issue is now..Common sense, youtube vids( read the after-comments first so you get an idea if the poster actually knows what they're doing )trial and error ,patience and little adjustments can go a long way to tutoring yourself.. ( PS.. I've done stuff wrong, brought it in and had it fixed and as a result,learned the right way to do something ..we all have to learn somehow)have fun ..Your bass won't fall apart or explode !! lol

 

[nilorius]

Every bass has it's own instruments to precisely set it up. As to setting it up yourself, start with small things - adjusting string height, all will come in time.

 

[GRS1959]

Not doing your own setups is for chumps and the entitled.
youtube youtube youtube.... not just for basses, but for fixing everything.

So I'm an entitled chump for taking my new bass to a pro for it's first proper setup??

Nice.

 

[SparkyLB]

Is it possible to self learn bass setup and maintenance? If so - how? I want to learn how to do basic setup like trust rod adjustments, etc. What essential tools do I need? What books/videos can be recommended?

I am in Chicago and there is a shop called 'Chicago School of Guitar Making' that offers the following course:

Guitar Set-Up & Maintenance - Chicago Workshops - Specimen Products

Has anyone taken this?

Thanks!

I'm a complete novice to the bass. This gave me what I needed to do it on my own with confidence

 

[glocke1]

Is it possible to self learn bass setup and maintenance? If so - how? I want to learn how to do basic setup like trust rod adjustments, etc. What essential tools do I need? What books/videos can be recommended?

I am in Chicago and there is a shop called 'Chicago School of Guitar Making' that offers the following course:

Guitar Set-Up & Maintenance - Chicago Workshops - Specimen Products

Has anyone taken this?

Thanks!

I started doing mine...it's not so bad.

Plenty of instructions around here on how to get started.

I bought some tools/gauges to help with measurements. Some people don't use them, but I like to use them to establish a baseline setting and than tweak from there.

 

[DavetheDude]

Check out the setup tutorial Videos by Sheldon Dingwall. His Video about Intonation really did it for me.

DIngwall Guitars Setup Series - YouTube

 

[Andy Daventry]

I do my own, self taught. My principles are, all being equally important, these:

1. Have the right tools
2. Get the right information
3. Take great care and pay great attention. Turn OFF distractions like TV and radio, and wait between adjustments till you find out what effect they are having.

If you do that, you'd be amazed how far you can go.

 

[Zooberwerx]

So I'm an entitled chump for taking my new bass to a pro for it's first proper setup??

Nice.

Heavens no! OTOH, do your own set-ups, save the dough and buy a tankful of gas, rent a U-haul, and move the *** out of northeast Ohio.

Don't forget the fireworks.

Riis

 

[Acoop]

I paid once to have it done and took it back to have it redone.

 

[Wiremessiah]

I'm a complete novice to the bass. This gave me what I needed to do it on my own with confidence

that's how I learned from those videos. So ridiculously easy. I spent a decade playing bass not even knowing what "setup" meant. I thought it was new strings, cleaning, and tuning

 

[Wiremessiah]

So I'm an entitled chump for taking my new bass to a pro for it's first proper setup??

Nice.

well at this point it's like bringing your drums to get tuned by a pro. You are supposed to learn from pros, not have them do what you need to learn. That said, it could need a fret job, so for this time you get a pass.

 

[Jay2U]

There's only one person I know who can set up my basses to the exact specification I like... and that's me, myself and I.

 

[CatchaCuda]

When I started doing setups I made my first bass really hard to play

After that I noted on a piece of paper what I changed, so that I had a baseline to reference.

"Truss rod: -1/4 turn
G saddle: Treble side +1/2 turn
Bass side +3/4 turn
Etc..."
You can easily put it back to how it was if things don't pan out.

 

[friskinator]

I've tried a million times to understand how setups work. I've watched videos, read tutorials, and I even took a class on how to do it. I still don't understand how the truss rod works. Every time I try to to sight down the neck, I cannot see what I'm supposed to be looking for. So until I can grasp it, someone else will be doing my setups.

However, i can change strings, tune accurately, set string height at the bridge, and set intonation. I'm just still in the dark on how to safely and accurately adjust the truss in conjunction with the rest of it.

 

[madbass6]

Is it possible to self learn bass setup and maintenance? If so - how? I want to learn how to do basic setup like trust rod adjustments, etc. What essential tools do I need? What books/videos can be recommended?

I am in Chicago and there is a shop called 'Chicago School of Guitar Making' that offers the following course:

Guitar Set-Up & Maintenance - Chicago Workshops - Specimen Products

Has anyone taken this?

Thanks!

I always take my basses in to a pro tech! do to the fact that I'm blind when it comes to the whole checking the neck for inward or outward bow thing!
(Sorry don't mean to piggy back your post)
But I just can't see it ! When I pick up the bass and look from the bridge towards the neck even if it bows (out or in) all I see is a straight flat neck! Why is that what am I doing wrong?

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Step 1. Go to Google and type “setup Talkbass” that should get you started.
What I consider must haves are capo, feeler gauges, screwdriver(s), hex wrenches.

Add:
6" ruler with 1/16" increments, tape measure or yard stick. I prefer the yard stick because it is soft wood and won't scratch the finish. I don't know what brands of basses you are going to set up, but the Fender web site has a setup guide. There are also several videos on You Tube showing how to do a setup. Some are better than others, watch a few.
It really isn't that esoteric.