I was about to give my point of view, but that post made it totally useless.
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I should do my own setups from now on
- Thread starter scottfeldstein
- Start date
There is simply no reason to not do your own setups. As others have said: Unless you do something extremely drastic, you can't hurt the instrument. All you can hurt is the setup. And if you do make a mess of it, you can still take it to the tech you hoped to avoid.
I took a new Lakland to the local luthier everybody is raving about. He told me he would have to refret the entire neck because there was a "loop up". He meant taking a new Lakland, pulling out all the frets, working on the neck and refretting. A $300 job (then)!
I learned to do my own setup after that.
Someone else took a Fender Jazz for a setup and was sold the "loop up" horse###t. This luthier still has a 4+ stars rating on Yelp and I still cannot explain this for the life of me.
Edit: this guy actually DID PAY the fee to get the neck redone. Little to no difference.
I learned to do my own setup after that.
Someone else took a Fender Jazz for a setup and was sold the "loop up" horse###t. This luthier still has a 4+ stars rating on Yelp and I still cannot explain this for the life of me.
Edit: this guy actually DID PAY the fee to get the neck redone. Little to no difference.
When I used to race bicycles, (honest...this is related), one of the great take-aways I got from visiting the Olympic Training Center was the insistence by coaches that I be able to repair my bicycles myself, regardless of having mechanics working for our team. I carried this mindset into my career as a musician and have learned how to fix or modify my own equipment. Building/straightening spoked wheels from scratch is almost an exact parallel with fixing string action and neck warp issues. Learning these skills is a great benefit to any gigging or hobbyist player. It takes effort, but it's well worth it.
The only thing I haven't had to do is the nut adjustment. On an electric of the 4 main steps, it's the only one that is more craft than engineering, and unreversable.
I have done saddle adjustments on acoustics. My Takemine as an integrated piezo pickup (it's not being used though, having installed K&K Transducers), which you cannot fill down from the bottom. But their were Shims, so just took them out.
My Guild Guitar last year was a touch high as the saddle. I have a wet stone with perfectly square faces and and two levels of coarseness that allowed me to take that down square. If' you bodge that, then you can always shim, but baby steps is al it takes.
I have done saddle adjustments on acoustics. My Takemine as an integrated piezo pickup (it's not being used though, having installed K&K Transducers), which you cannot fill down from the bottom. But their were Shims, so just took them out.
My Guild Guitar last year was a touch high as the saddle. I have a wet stone with perfectly square faces and and two levels of coarseness that allowed me to take that down square. If' you bodge that, then you can always shim, but baby steps is al it takes.
And with XC mountain bikes, it's pretty essential to be able to do about 90% of the work, stuck on some hill in the rain.
For tongue rise, sand down the frets up high. Even it. Who seriously cares if the space under frets is shorter up high.. if frets are even up the board, even if that means shortening the highest ones a lot, you'll have a great playing bass. Get it level, then learn how to crown frets, then play that beast
Just my suggestion... might affect resale but imho resale goes up with low action... nobody notices if frets are shorter up high, even playing it
Just my suggestion... might affect resale but imho resale goes up with low action... nobody notices if frets are shorter up high, even playing it
StewMac's Dan Erlewine is the guy to listen to. Just by following his plain talking videos (not too intense for the newbie to understand) you can learn how to do just about anything your instrument needs. Dave's fun stuff only includes working on his beloved Rickenbacker. 
He knows a thing or two about basses, but there have been a couple of times I disagreed with his methods (or procedural order) of repair solutions. If the instrument in question is returned to the owner in playable condition with the problems solved I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. Many times having your instrument setup by someone else results in disappointment, not because of the incompetence of the tech, but because they go by the numbers regarding what a correct setup is. Did you ever buy a pair of pants? You try on one pair of what you think is your size and they have enough room in there to carry your cab. Another pair labelled the same is so tight you can't get them past your knees. Who's right? A setup is a very personal thing. Not only do your personal preferences come into play, but the instrument and strings do, too. Just as no two instruments are identical, no two setups are, either. It's good to know that you have taken on the responsibility of adjusting your own bass to your own specs. Not only will you be more comfortable with the results, but you will gain a better knowledge of your bass. I've been doing my own setups since I got my first guitar back in the '70's because I could afford neither a decent instrument or the services of a tech. The learning experience, though painful at times, is priceless.
One other advantage is being able to identify instruments worth rescuing from moribund specimens. You can get some great instruments for bargain prices when they are poorly adjusted and unplayable. A new set of strings and an hour at the workbench and Voila! NBD!!!
He knows a thing or two about basses, but there have been a couple of times I disagreed with his methods (or procedural order) of repair solutions. If the instrument in question is returned to the owner in playable condition with the problems solved I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. Many times having your instrument setup by someone else results in disappointment, not because of the incompetence of the tech, but because they go by the numbers regarding what a correct setup is. Did you ever buy a pair of pants? You try on one pair of what you think is your size and they have enough room in there to carry your cab. Another pair labelled the same is so tight you can't get them past your knees. Who's right? A setup is a very personal thing. Not only do your personal preferences come into play, but the instrument and strings do, too. Just as no two instruments are identical, no two setups are, either. It's good to know that you have taken on the responsibility of adjusting your own bass to your own specs. Not only will you be more comfortable with the results, but you will gain a better knowledge of your bass. I've been doing my own setups since I got my first guitar back in the '70's because I could afford neither a decent instrument or the services of a tech. The learning experience, though painful at times, is priceless.One other advantage is being able to identify instruments worth rescuing from moribund specimens. You can get some great instruments for bargain prices when they are poorly adjusted and unplayable. A new set of strings and an hour at the workbench and Voila! NBD!!!
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To successfully fix your bass, plumbing or car there are mainly three things you need: a) youtube, b) the right tools and c) patience. You can do pretty much anything nowadays or at least understand enough if somebody is BSing you.
I started doing all my own setups. I ended up investing in the stew Mac radius gauges, the 18” straight edge, the precision string height ruler and some feeler gauges. Once you get a feel for how things interact and know what order to do what in, it becomes pretty trivial to get things feeling just the way you want.
Well, I had a first go-round this evening. I took the Warwick and, armed with the Warwick videos posted here, I went step by step. Things seemed ok. According to the way they wanted me to measure stuff, I didn't really adjust the truss rod that much. Maybe not even half a turn. Then the nut adjustment. Again, thankful that this one is mechanical.
The bridge is where I really started to get confused. First you have to "release" the bridge. Then you can move the whole thing up and down. Then you begin by setting the string height on the end strings so they rest on the bridge. Meanwhile the magnets of the pickups (also poorly adjusted it seems) were pulling all the detuned strings down onto the bridge anyway, so I lowered them just to get them to stop doing that. I think I got the G and B strings in the right low position, just resting on the fretboard. Then you're supposed to adjust all the middle strings according to the radius of your fretboard...so eyeballing it.... When I think I've done that, it's time to raise the whole bridge again such that the strings are 2.5 mm above the highest fret... Then lock everything down again, each saddle and the whole bridge. Then it's on to pickup height. Fret the strings on the highest fret and put the pickup 2mm below the string. Or something.
Anyway, the end result is...a noticeable improvement? I had hoped for more, given that this bass has played like crap since I acquired it two plus years ago. I think I'll be having another go-round tomorrow. I have to lower the action more than this.
The bridge is where I really started to get confused. First you have to "release" the bridge. Then you can move the whole thing up and down. Then you begin by setting the string height on the end strings so they rest on the bridge. Meanwhile the magnets of the pickups (also poorly adjusted it seems) were pulling all the detuned strings down onto the bridge anyway, so I lowered them just to get them to stop doing that. I think I got the G and B strings in the right low position, just resting on the fretboard. Then you're supposed to adjust all the middle strings according to the radius of your fretboard...so eyeballing it.... When I think I've done that, it's time to raise the whole bridge again such that the strings are 2.5 mm above the highest fret... Then lock everything down again, each saddle and the whole bridge. Then it's on to pickup height. Fret the strings on the highest fret and put the pickup 2mm below the string. Or something.
Anyway, the end result is...a noticeable improvement? I had hoped for more, given that this bass has played like crap since I acquired it two plus years ago. I think I'll be having another go-round tomorrow. I have to lower the action more than this.
I'm about to attempt this myself on a new Spector Euro that came with excessively high action.
The only part that freaks me out is setting neck relief.
I found a document from Spector stating not to use the first fret but the second and last fret, measure at the 9th. Apparently the first fret on Spectors is left tall by design.
They go on to say the space should be equal to a business card or thin pick, i don't have either of those..
The only part that freaks me out is setting neck relief.
I found a document from Spector stating not to use the first fret but the second and last fret, measure at the 9th. Apparently the first fret on Spectors is left tall by design.
They go on to say the space should be equal to a business card or thin pick, i don't have either of those..
I have a music store literally across the street from my apartment. I went there to ask if they had feeler gauges for measuring very small gaps, like you need to do for guitar setups. No, they didn't have any. (Presumably they have them in back, just not for sale.) So I walked a block down the street to the ACE hardware store. Thinking they would a) certainly not have it and b) not even know what I was talking about, I was in for a surprise. Not only did the guy know what I was talking about, he walked down an aisle and grabbed one off the pegboard and put it in my hand. Just like the guys use in a lot of the youtube videos.
feeler gauges are pretty helpful in car maintenance. I used to have them for adjusting my valves on a Peugeot. The thing sounding like a diesel with regular tweaks.
Nobody cares more about your stuff than you do. I've never been happy with anyone else setting up my basses.
That, and DIY techs will either be capable, study mongers, or hacks. The in-between territory is like a deep, jagged crevasse.
