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Jazz bass action setting

U

uglycustard

Dec 12, 2007
35
3
#1
Hi folks I'm sure some kind person on this site can help me out with the following:hmm:

I have 2 fender jazz basses (vintage 62 ri and a road worn 60's) they are both strung with Thomastik j344's which I love the feel of.The RI 62 has a lovely low action with no fret-buzz,the problem is the Road worn bass has a very high action even with the saddles ajusted right to the bottom and the truss-rod fully clockwise.Is there anyway I can get the RW to have the same action as the RI 62?

cheers folks
steve
 
#2
First things first: don't use the truss rod to adjust action! Bad things can happen. If you're not sure about proper truss rod adjustment, read the "Setup Questions Answered" sticky at the top of this forum (read the Stew-Mac and Sadowsky articles first). This will also tell you about shimming the neck which will solve your issue with high action.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f18/all-basic-setup-questions-answered-here-125382/

Here's a step by step on neck shimming: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f18/lowering-strings-my-fretless-768995/
 
#4
What I always do is file the grooves in the nut to lower the strings so that pressing the string at the first fret is the same distance as holding the string down at the first fret and then pressing the second fret.

Do you get what I mean? Nut to First = the same as First to Second. I'm talking about the vertical distance the string has to travel to reach the fret.

If you hold a string down at any fret, and then with the other hand press it down the next fret, you will see the travel distance is very minimal.

Make it so that it's that way from the nut to the first fret also. THEN adjust your bridge.

If your neck is straight or near-straight, you'll have fantastic low action. If your neck is not at least near-straight you'll get fret buzz and NOW you can adjust your truss rod to get rid of that.

I've done this for 40+ years to all my guitars, including a 12 string and to all my basses and every last one of them has fantastic action. Other musicians say they all play like a dream.

There's no need to spend $3000 for a bass to get good action.

In the end if you still have one or two buzzing frets, it just means they're high and you can have them leveled or level them yourself with a little emery paper. It's not rocket science, like a lot of people think. Just go slowly and gradually until the buzz is gone.

There you have it! The "big secret" is adjusting your string height at the nut.

Good luck! You're gonna love the results.

:cool:
 
#6
I do agree that a shim under the neck will lift it slightly off the floor of the neck pocket and therefore reduce the contact area. It should affect the tone but I don't believe the average "ear" could detect the difference. Taperd shims are nice but difficult to make. I use paper thin brass shim stock and fold it 2-3 times to get the thickness I need. The brass, should transfer tone better than a cardboard shim, but again, I can't hear the difference.
Rocky
 
#7
if the neck is straight and the saddles are slammed and its still too high, you need a shim. no way around it. a perfectly cut nut wont address that. if youre doing it right theres no reason you should be hearing a difference in tone. if you can hear a layer of business card in the neck pocket you have bionic ears:smug:
 
#8
THORRR said:
In the end if you still have one or two buzzing frets, it just means they're high and you can have them leveled or level them yourself with a little emery paper. It's not rocket science, like a lot of people think. Just go slowly and gradually until the buzz is gone.



:cool:
Click to expand...

while its not rocket science, its a lot easier to f-up your fretwork than it is to get it right if you dont know what youre doing.
 
#9
The unfortunate element is that if the shim is paper or other non-metal product it will very often flatten after a period of time. That's why sand-paper is often used. But there ARE professional metal shims that have sizes written to them, that will not compress like a piece of business card etc.
What's been mentioned as inadvisable is CRANKING the truss-rod to achieve major alteration but if the alterations light (1/4-1/2 turn) that may have been a factory assembly issue that went unaddressed at time of assembly. All of the "Basic Questions Answered Here" don't advise never touching the rod; it's the over use of the rod that can be a problem; just as piling a great deal of shim material is not appropriate either.
-=Balance in all things.=-
 
#10
john grey said:
The unfortunate element is that if the shim is paper or other non-metal product it will very often flatten after a period of time. That's why sand-paper is often used. But there ARE professional metal shims that have sizes written to them, that will not compress like a piece of business card etc.
What's been mentioned as inadvisable is CRANKING the truss-rod to achieve major alteration but if the alterations light (1/4-1/2 turn) that may have been a factory assembly issue that went unaddressed at time of assembly. All of the "Basic Questions Answered Here" don't advise never touching the rod; it's the over use of the rod that can be a problem; just as piling a great deal of shim material is not appropriate either.
-=Balance in all things.=-
Click to expand...

my buddy who does my major repairs who works at national resophonic guitars started using brass for shims because of the compression of business card. in practical use, ive just never had an issue of it flattening to that great of a deal over time. if brass is available than it surely does make more sense to use than paper.

ime, the whole quarter turn at a time thing is pretty overkill as well. i know exactly where i need a neck to be for the set up i prefer. that's pretty damn near straight (at least on the treble side, the bass side will usually still have a tiny bit of relief). when i buy used basses, theyre usually no where near the set up i need. that means cranking the rod to get it where i want it. its done in one shot.
 
#11
narud said:
while its not rocket science, its a lot easier to f-up your fretwork than it is to get it right if you dont know what youre doing.
Click to expand...

That pretty much goes for anything you do in life.

Most musicians I know have good "small muscle coordination" and if you can file your nails you can file/sand your buzzing frets with very fine emery cloth until the buzzing stops.

It just takes a very little effort, and suspend your fears for a short time. It's easier than you think.

It just IS -

:p
 
#12
THORRR said:
That pretty much goes for anything you do in life.

Most musicians I know have good "small muscle coordination" and if you can file your nails you can file/sand your buzzing frets with very fine emery cloth until the buzzing stops.

It just takes a very little effort, and suspend your fears for a short time. It's easier than you think.

It just IS -

:p
Click to expand...
ive done levels/crowns and a board level/refret. i f-'d up a lot of stuff before i got decent results. to tell a guy to just go ahead and try sanding the frets on his thousand dollar bass is a little irresponsible imo
 
#14
Excellent post. ...and I thought the secret to low action was marriage! ;)
Just kidding. Great explanation.

THORRR said:
What I always do is file the grooves in the nut to lower the strings so that pressing the string at the first fret is the same distance as holding the string down at the first fret and then pressing the second fret.

Do you get what I mean? Nut to First = the same as First to Second. I'm talking about the vertical distance the string has to travel to reach the fret.

If you hold a string down at any fret, and then with the other hand press it down the next fret, you will see the travel distance is very minimal.

Make it so that it's that way from the nut to the first fret also. THEN adjust your bridge.

If your neck is straight or near-straight, you'll have fantastic low action. If your neck is not at least near-straight you'll get fret buzz and NOW you can adjust your truss rod to get rid of that.

I've done this for 40+ years to all my guitars, including a 12 string and to all my basses and every last one of them has fantastic action. Other musicians say they all play like a dream.

There's no need to spend $3000 for a bass to get good action.

In the end if you still have one or two buzzing frets, it just means they're high and you can have them leveled or level them yourself with a little emery paper. It's not rocket science, like a lot of people think. Just go slowly and gradually until the buzz is gone.

There you have it! The "big secret" is adjusting your string height at the nut.

Good luck! You're gonna love the results.

:cool:
Click to expand...
 

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