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Neck modification
- Thread starter woody357
- Start date
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Do a good job with a set up, and you can get the action as low as you want.
I’ve had all my basses set up, but it never seems to be low enough. I’ve played other people’s basses and they had nice low action.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Likely it just was a better set up.
Take your bass to whoever did their setups.
The only reason you should need fret work for lower action is if you have a high fret or they’re not leveled and crowned properly. Without having your bass in hand I can’t say where it’s at but I have told people that how their instrument is set up is the best I can do unless they want to invest in a leveling and crowning. Also, a new bass doesn’t necessarily mean the frets are level.
Do you have relief and string height numbers?
Do you have relief and string height numbers?
No I bought this bass when it first came out. I I have some dead spots. I love the bass, but I feel it could be better. It’s a Fender Jazz Elite 5
It could need a leveling. Again, hard to say without having the bass in hand. You could use a credit card as an ersatz fret rocker or find out who the gigging players or the guys you mentioned with better setups go to and let them check it out.
Dressing the frets will help if you have uneven or worn frets. If they are even and not overly worn, a good setup should be all you need to get the action as low as you want.
You need to get your bass to someone who can do a decent setup. I had a Fender Ultra series Jazz in my shop a while back - it played horribly when it came in, and like butter with a decent setup - the fact that an instrument is new (and/or somewhat expensive) does not guarantee that it's setup is anywhere near ideal. All we're doing here is guessing - someone who knows what they're doing can replace all this speculation with real answers, and probably get you to a happy place action wise.
Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
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I think the only way to get it low and keep it low is to learn to do your own setups. So much depends on how hard/light you play and humidity changes. If you get it perfect in the winter it will buzz in the summer.
Filing frets to lower the action is just not part of the process. Unless you have a fret(s) that is rising, or you've played it hard and long enough to have gotten ruts in them, or very local fret buzz, a simple cleanup of them should do it.
There's all kinds of things it could be, but it's impossible to diagnose over a chat room.
I would suggest you find a qualified and experienced guitar tech to do a real and proper setup on your bass. New strings, check for proper nut slot depth, correct relief, correct height over the last fret, proper pickup heights, THEN see where you're at.
IF you have fret problems, a real professional will spot and advise how to fix many of the possible problems, if you even have any. Don't know about you, but often guys moan and groan about the money for someone qualified to do this right, but in the right hands, worth every cent IF you can't do it yourself. I see this question over and over, and often it's guys who don't know what they don't know and they just chase a problem while making more problems. Don't . . . . . be that guy.
If you are experienced at your own setups, then follow the process. New strings, truss rod, action, pickup heights, intonation, if there are no visible fret or other obvious problems. You'll get there.
There's all kinds of things it could be, but it's impossible to diagnose over a chat room.
I would suggest you find a qualified and experienced guitar tech to do a real and proper setup on your bass. New strings, check for proper nut slot depth, correct relief, correct height over the last fret, proper pickup heights, THEN see where you're at.
IF you have fret problems, a real professional will spot and advise how to fix many of the possible problems, if you even have any. Don't know about you, but often guys moan and groan about the money for someone qualified to do this right, but in the right hands, worth every cent IF you can't do it yourself. I see this question over and over, and often it's guys who don't know what they don't know and they just chase a problem while making more problems. Don't . . . . . be that guy.
If you are experienced at your own setups, then follow the process. New strings, truss rod, action, pickup heights, intonation, if there are no visible fret or other obvious problems. You'll get there.
Did you ask your friends what kind of strings they were using? Even if your bass is setup the same as theirs but you're using stiffer strings it will feel like it's not playing as well.
No. A shim changes the height and angle of the neck. May as a consequence change action.
String height is adjusted at the bridge. If you can't adjust the saddles downward anymore, you probably need a shim. You can check with a straight edge from the neck frets to the bridge. If you can adjust the saddles and the strings fret out or buzz, then either neck relief or fret leveling is likely to be needed.
JeezyMcNuggles
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The strings get pushed down to the frets no matter how low your frets are. If you grind them down, or install smaller frets, you'd still have to push the strings just as far, because once it's set up, your strings will be exactly where they are now over the frets.
JeezyMcNuggles
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Except that his action would be lower. Stiffer strings allow you to get your action lower, and neck straighter.
Check the nut height ! I had this once on a rickenbacker , the action measured right (when fretting), but the nut was just cut too high.
When talking about setup , we always mention bridge saddles and truss rod , but very few people understand the role that the nut plays.
When talking about setup , we always mention bridge saddles and truss rod , but very few people understand the role that the nut plays.
JeezyMcNuggles
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Depends. Adding a shim to the top of the pocket, let's your lower your saddles more, but then you have to tighten your truss rod a good deal more to counteract the forward tilt.
Shim in the bottom of the heel, tilts your head stock back which raises the last frets, and means you then have to raise your saddles much much farther to clear the last fret, and then relieve your neck just about completely to counteract the tilt backward, and make it playable again.
Either way, it's really quite counteractive, and you end up at about the same spot, or worse at the end of it.
But, lowering the last fret, is the only way to drop your saddles anymore than they can go now. A good tech, will file the last frets lower than the rest of the neck when "leveling"
