Does your bass play awful??

[leftybassdog]

I setup my stingray basses the same, Action low and string gauge the same. When I use flat wound strings I set the action much higher. I have flats on my Hofner and P-bass. I can't remember getting a bass and not having to reset everything. We all have that sweet setup. Spaz21387 is right, Learn to do your set up how you like it.

 

[bobba66]

I like my TI Flats, but I think it's time for a little more tension. Or practice, which is unlikely.

 

[twinjet]

Like the title states - does yours? If so, why? I've recently played some other folks basses that are darn near unplayable to me. And these belong to experienced & competent players, not noobs. Tall action coupled with wide ball bat sized necks, made it hard to play even just a few songs on them, and even then i had to "dumb" down my playing just to get through the songs. I play all night on my basses and never get that kind of fatigue, and I don't setup my basses as low as they will go. These are 34" scale basses with regular gauged strings (45-100 rounds). There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious.

My basses feel fine. When my hands are cold, it don't feel like it. But the rest of the time, they're OK.

 

[sikamikanico]

For some reason, this reminds me of Odysseus' bow (if you don't recall the story, Odysseus was the only one capable of stringing and shooting his bow).

I like my action fairly high, and I can see how some people would find it unplayable (perhaps even refer to it as a bow, maybe that's what reminded me of the story). I don't slap or tap, and prefer the tone and feel of higher action for fingerstyle - a little stiffer, allows to dig in more, etc.... On the other hand, I can barely play basses with very low action - all I get is fret buzz. While I can get used to it with some time, it's not my favorite...

So, analogous to the Odysseus story, I like to believe that high action is for real men

 

[39-Bassist]

My basses play great with lower action but still high enough to get aggressive. BUT I think the question becomes,subjective on your style and taste....I know some pros that play with action so high you could put a weight on it and still not hit the frets.

 

[Mr_O'B]

The neck thickness of my American and Mexico basses are different. However, both are set up low enough to not have fret buzz!

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Like the title states - does yours? If so, why? I've recently played some other folks basses that are darn near unplayable to me. And these belong to experienced & competent players, not noobs. Tall action coupled with wide ball bat sized necks, made it hard to play even just a few songs on them, and even then i had to "dumb" down my playing just to get through the songs. I play all night on my basses and never get that kind of fatigue, and I don't setup my basses as low as they will go. These are 34" scale basses with regular gauged strings (45-100 rounds). There are no wrong answers, I'm just curious.

If you bass plays poorly, then either you need a good setup or a new bass. Who would keep a bass that plays poorly?

 

[mojomike001]

You should set up your bass for you. There really is no right or wrong. It's just a matter of what works for a particular individual. I've got about 25 basses. They are all set up with either flatwound or tapewound strings set at medium to medium-low action. I like my "A" and "D" strings sitting up higher than my "E" or "G" strings. They are all pretty much set up this way. There are fat necks, skinny necks, wide necks, narrow necks. I try to play them all so that nothing feels too foreign to me if I should happen to play someone else's bass, but there's nothing like coming home to one of my own.