How long should it take?

[IG_Tristan]

Probably this has been asked several times already. But my case is different. So hear me out for a moment.

So it is a NBD for me. Got the Ibanez SR300 2008 series (with the style sweeper knob)just now. The bass was bought in Sweden a couple of months ago and it stayed there all through out until earlier. My friend bought it for me and he came home yesterday. He had the bass properly set-up but as we all know, Sweden is really cold! I don't exactly know how cold but it is. And then our place is very hot, like very very hot. I read a few threads that the set-up might change and that the wood/neck is more likely to differ. The action of the bass now is really high. Planning to set it up but my question is, how long would it take for the wood to settle/adjust? Should I wait for it to settle before I set it up?

 

[Hopkins]

Adjust the truss rod until the relief is set correctly, don't worry about doing it in small increments. If the quarter turn a day myth were true, it would have taken me a month to set up some of the basses that were brought to me. Don't worry about the wood acclimating to your environment, just adjust the neck until the relief is set. If it moves again tomorrow readjust it, that is exactly why the truss rod is there.

 

[96tbird]

When will the myth die? How does an LA big name fly across the nation to NY for a gig that night and have to wait for truss adjustments to "settle"?

They don't. They crank the rod and get on with it.

 

[IG_Tristan]

Thanks for the inputs guys. I appreciate it. True! The myth doesn't exist but just trying to make things right that's why I asked. I'm worried cause the bass came from a freezing temp country going to a very hot temp country (near equator). LOL. I thought I should let the neck adjust to the environment and it will eventually be okay. Then again, that's why the rod is there. For adjusting.

 

[Wolffgang]

Thanks for the inputs guys. I appreciate it. True! The myth doesn't exist but just trying to make things right that's why I asked. I'm worried cause the bass came from a freezing temp country going to a very hot temp country (near equator). LOL. I thought I should let the neck adjust to the environment and it will eventually be okay. Then again, that's why the rod is there. For adjusting.

I guess it depends whether you do your own setups or not. If you are, like everyone's been saying, adjust away, then adjust some more. If not, maybe ask whoever you're going to be taking to to adjust; he's probably not going to take the word of a bunch of TBers anyway, and it's his word that you'll be putting your trust in.

I always advocate for being able to maintain as much of your own gear as possible, and adjusting a truss rod sounds a lot scarier than it actually is. Elixir have a great series of videos about setups, if you're interested.

 

[IG_Tristan]

I guess it depends whether you do your own setups or not. If you are, like everyone's been saying, adjust away, then adjust some more. If not, maybe ask whoever you're going to be taking to to adjust; he's probably not going to take the word of a bunch of TBers anyway, and it's his word that you'll be putting your trust in.

I always advocate for being able to maintain as much of your own gear as possible, and adjusting a truss rod sounds a lot scarier than it actually is. Elixir have a great series of videos about setups, if you're interested.

Yeah! The sound of adjusting the truss rod gives me the chills. LOL. I watched a lot of detailed videos on how to set-up the bass properly and read a lot of them too. Its just that, I'm too scared that I may do things wrong and ruin everything. But it may also be done poorly by someone too. Well, I guess I have to take courage and do it myself, soon??

 

[Wolffgang]

Yeah! The sound of adjusting the truss rod gives me the chills. LOL. I watched a lot of detailed videos on how to set-up the bass properly and read a lot of them too. Its just that, I'm too scared that I may do things wrong and ruin everything. But it may also be done poorly by someone too. Well, I guess I have to take courage and do it myself, soon??

Yeah, I know what you mean. If anything, sometimes it feels like being able to ask on talkbass makes it worse, as you can get a lot of well meaning advice that tends to imply that 'if you need to ask about X you probably shouldn't be doing it yourself', which is probably true, and safer for your gear, but can make you gun shy about learning new skills. You also get a larger sample size of horror stories of it all going catastrophically wrong.

If you have a cheaper bass you can practice on, by all means do, otherwise dive right in; I can't promise you won't hurt anything, but I can promise you'll learn something. But seriously, adjusting a truss rod is super easy, and you really have to *try* and hurt your bass to do so

(If I've misunderstood, and you've done your own setups before, I apologise, wasn't trying to be condescending)

 

[96tbird]

Get a feel for the truss rod. Do this: loosen the nut at least a quarter turn. Now tighten it the same amount. It is safe because you are only going back to where you began. Feel and listen to the tightening to get a feel for the force required.

Keep in mind every bass will require different force. Also, as you get tighter, the force required will increase but it is gradual and by then you'll probably be moving into back bow.

If the force required shoots up dramatically, you are out of threads. Stop. If needed, you can then back it off and put washers in there.

 

[t77mackie]

(Watch all four videos before laying hands to your axe)

It's a good idea for one to learn how to properly set up their instrument. Unless you're going to only play in your climate controlled house or you can afford to have a tech on hand at all times.

That being said, once you've got your instrument set up properly you shouldn't ever need to turn the rod in one direction or another more than a quarter turn unless you go from a gig in Antarctica to one in Death Valley or you jump from .085 to .120" gauge strings etc.

Sooooo.... set the action right to the specs you use - "normal" is .012" relief @ 7. YMMV and you may like it higher or lower. But the beauty of 'doing it right' is that no matter the climate or circumstances, you have the exact same action all the time once you know your personal preferred specs and set it up using thickness gauges.

There's no need to step it up / down, etc. If the action changes on you overnight or whatever, just set it back to where it should be. Once you set up your bass a few times it will become as easy / normal as tuning it up.

There's a lot of mystique and fear about the truss rod but once you have a decent understanding of proper feeding and care of your instrument, there's nothing really to fear.

Good luck!