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Ideal Setup Adjustment?
- Thread starter Basslice
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- action adjustment
I taught myself (with Dan Erlewine's help and StewMac) to do it after one too many guitar repairman told me ,'it's a bass, why would you want low action?'. I do mine myself, know where my knowledge stops, and living here in Nashville, there's no shortage of excellent guitar repair guys to handle the stuff out past the end of my experience.
Not 100% necessary for everyone, but I would not dream of not knowing how to do it myself. Learn it well, and among other things, you'll never get fooled and buy a bum instrument, you now know what to look for, you now have a pretty good idea of how to evaluate a new-to-you instrument, new or used.
Not 100% necessary for everyone, but I would not dream of not knowing how to do it myself. Learn it well, and among other things, you'll never get fooled and buy a bum instrument, you now know what to look for, you now have a pretty good idea of how to evaluate a new-to-you instrument, new or used.
John Caruthers' column in Guitar Player Magazine, then later Dan Erlewine's in GP and BP, Hideo Kamimoto's book, the Fender service guide ca.1973, and a copy of Sloane's guitar construction book. Plus several very good tech people helping me out. And managing a guitar store for 11 years.
Started
Started
I'm somewhere between "magic" and "trial & error".
Riis
Riis
I'd also recommend going to YouTube, and searching out 'Dave's World of Fun Stuff'.
Dave's a bassist himself, and his channel has probably 50+ vids of him working on everything from Squiers to a TUNE 6-string beast, and everything in between. He works a steady process each time (truss rod, action, intonation) with side trips like neck shims, nut work, fret work, or whatever else the piece may require. A big help for me to look over a pro's shoulder on so many different axes, it's helped me internalize my process better. Also lots of guitars as well. And he's sometimes an older, grumpy guy, just like me. . . .
I'd caution he's not the biggest fan of Rickenbackers . . . .
Dave's a bassist himself, and his channel has probably 50+ vids of him working on everything from Squiers to a TUNE 6-string beast, and everything in between. He works a steady process each time (truss rod, action, intonation) with side trips like neck shims, nut work, fret work, or whatever else the piece may require. A big help for me to look over a pro's shoulder on so many different axes, it's helped me internalize my process better. Also lots of guitars as well. And he's sometimes an older, grumpy guy, just like me. . . .
I'd caution he's not the biggest fan of Rickenbackers . . . .
Dave is a funny, cranky b*stard. Some of what he says about Rics is…. true… in a sort of hyperbolic way, but I think most of his major gripes have been solved over the years. He hasn’t actually owned one since the 70’s, apparently. He more or less follows the Caruthers method, with occasional detours into ranting.
Depends on the strings.
Stiff strings, lower action.
Low tension strings, higher action.
"To each his own." Some like dead straight necks. Some like some bow. Some like high strings. Some like low. It's a personal thing.
If you can drive a car, then you should be able to set up your bass. Adjust the truss rod. Up or down the saddles. Use a tuner to do the intonation (screw driver). Pfffff. Not much to it.
Stiff strings, lower action.
Low tension strings, higher action.
"To each his own." Some like dead straight necks. Some like some bow. Some like high strings. Some like low. It's a personal thing.
If you can drive a car, then you should be able to set up your bass. Adjust the truss rod. Up or down the saddles. Use a tuner to do the intonation (screw driver). Pfffff. Not much to it.
There's a couple of videos from Lakland with Carl Pedigo that shows his setup - he uses a straightedge (not the string) to do neck relief adjustment:
If you try this, you'll quickly realize that it's a better way of getting relief dialed in - much less subjective than using a string as the straight edge. Other than that, his method is similar to other's. I choose to do my setups from the first to 17th frets; I have a straightedge cut to the right length for that measurement. I can do a setup so much faster than it would take for me to even drive to my closest music store, and I know exactly what works for me anyway; no way I'd have someone else do my setups. I have done setups for other people - though my shop is generally aimed at custom wiring stuff, most everything that comes through gets a setup.
If you try this, you'll quickly realize that it's a better way of getting relief dialed in - much less subjective than using a string as the straight edge. Other than that, his method is similar to other's. I choose to do my setups from the first to 17th frets; I have a straightedge cut to the right length for that measurement. I can do a setup so much faster than it would take for me to even drive to my closest music store, and I know exactly what works for me anyway; no way I'd have someone else do my setups. I have done setups for other people - though my shop is generally aimed at custom wiring stuff, most everything that comes through gets a setup.
See, this is exactly why you learn to DIY your setup. You can get it exactly like YOU want it, as everybody feels it differently, plays differently, etc. It's like having someone grill a steak for you, or you doing it yourself: You just know you'll get it exactly like you want it.
No way Dave would touch my basses. I’ve seen banging metal PG off a nice blonde Classic ‘50s P body, and other careless tool drops, and if you pay attention he’s drinking beer most of the time, getting drunker and drunker. CUSTOMER’S guitars.
And that’s our Canadian beer.
He’s a hack with a little bit of knowledge.
I’ve been doing setups for forty years, so it’s perfect for me every time.
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I can do truss rod/saddle height/intonation and get my bass playing like I like, but don’t do my own frets or nuts. I’m actually shopping for a great bass setup person near me since no one has touched the impeccable work I used to get from Jim Mouradian (rip). He was amazing.
I do it all myself, but it's not like there's any magic to it. Most parts of playing music have some kind of personal touch to them, but setting up an instrument is entirely down to logical adjustments; you just have to know what the goal is when you begin.
Turnaround
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Dave's a neighbour of mine and has been doing tech work for nearly as long as I have. Nice guy despite the salty language (which he has toned down in the last couple of years). He knows what he's doing.
I learned the basics of nut and fret work purely by watching YT videos and getting advice here in TB. No substitute for direct apprenticeship under a real Luthier, but that wasn’t an available option locally, so I made do. The fundamentals can be learned in a weekend, and then you can spend years really getting it down to near Plek level of accuracy that Pros can do……or just take it to a Pro.
I don’t want to put in the time, and I don’t have access to a good pro. A Plek machine is out of budget.
I guess I will keep limping along until I find a good pro.
