Fretboard Curvature

[dfmilkman]

Hi all, I've gotten some conflicting information about setting up a bass. Some guides say that the action on each string should follow the curvature of the fretboard (like the jerzy drozd guide in the sticky). Other guides (like the lakland videos in the sticky) have said to do it differently (so the E string has a higher action and each subsequent string is a little lower, due to the difference in string gauge). Is there a consensus on which is better? I've tried to set it up according to the curvature, but it's such a minute curvature and the little cardboard print offs i made using the jerzy drozd guide are basically a joke; I can't tell using it if it's properly following the curve. I set it up using the lakland guide and it seems to be playing well, but I don't want to be missing out if there are advantages to following the curve. Any opinions?

 

[SoVeryTired]

I'd go with what sounds right. You could set them up to follow the radius of the fingerboard by simply measuring the string height above a fret (I think Fender's guide mentions example heights above the 17th). But I've found that gives me a start point at best, and I'll adjust each string up or down based on the sort of action that feels right and how much fret buzz I'm happy with.

 

[bassdude51]

Umm, each string should be adjusted to a height off of a fret and this will mean that each string is conforming to the curve or radius of the fret board.

Most manuals by Fender, G&L, Gibson, Music Man....etc call for a 2 to 3 mm string height for each string at the 12th fret. From the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. A wee bit higher for the A and E string.

This is just a guide. Some like the strings lower or higher. But yeah, the string height will comform to the radius and the E and A can be a tad higher or the G and D a bit lower however we want to view it.

Stiff high tension strings can be lower since they don't bang down on the frets as easily as loose, low tension strings.

 

[dfmilkman]

Cool, so maybe I set it up to follow the curvature without even knowing it. I didn't think about it that way, i did measure each string from the fret so that makes sense. I appreciate the input

Umm, each string should be adjusted to a height off of a fret and this will mean that each string is conforming to the curve or radius of the fret board.

Most manuals by Fender, G&L, Gibson, Music Man....etc call for a 2 to 3 mm string height for each string at the 12th fret. From the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. A wee bit higher for the A and E string.

This is just a guide. Some like the strings lower or higher. But yeah, the string height will comform to the radius and the E and A can be a tad higher or the G and D a bit lower however we want to view it.

Stiff high tension strings can be lower since they don't bang down on the frets as easily as loose, low tension strings.

 

[SkylineFiver]

Laklands have a compound radius (10-13). Does that matter?

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Jerzy is correct, I use his guide and when I took my Carvin in to Dingwall, Sheldon commented that my setup job was nice, I even followed the curve of the fretboard.

OP, don't use Jerzy's radius gauges, they suck, use the ones from tunemybass.com they are far more practical and work MUCH better. I had my buddy make me a couple out of plastic on his CNC machine, they're great and I use them for every setup.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Laklands have a compound radius (10-13). Does that matter?

This one has always stumped me as well, my ABZ has a compund radius and I always just use the lower radius, would love to hear some concrete information on this.