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New Jazz setup

#21
Ash Jazz said:
So sorry for the faux pas. Here are some pics.
Click to expand...

Looks great to me! Is it too low fo you?

How is a factory or shop supposed to know your preferred action, much less string gauge and type? Can they know if you're on the "show off low action pics online, plus I only tap chords lightly unamplified at 2AM when the kids are sleeping" trend or actually wanting your notes to ring out and maybe performing with some rockin' funkin' flourish onstage?

Same reason "factory specs" are preposterous. I couldn't care less what some guy at even a boutique shop thinks my setup should be when they know zero about me, my strings, my playing style or my gigs.

Learn to do a setup! With sincere respect, it's easier than posting ill-considered complaints online and it'll come in handy often. The pics you posted look like a perfectly average generic setup. Hard to tell ... maybe the pickups are a bit low, but again it all depends.
 
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#23
StayLow said:
Looks great to me! Is it too low fo you?

How is a factory or shop supposed to know your preferred action, much less string gauge and type? Can they know if you're on the "show off low action pics online, plus I only tap chords lightly unamplified at 2AM when the kids are sleeping" trend or actually wanting your notes to ring out and maybe performing with some rockin' funkin' flourish onstage?

Same reason "factory specs" are preposterous. I couldn't care less what some guy at even a boutique shop thinks my setup should be when they know zero about me, my strings, my playing style or my gigs.

Learn to do a setup! With sincere respect, it's easier than posting ill-considered complaints online and it'll come in handy often. The pics you posted look like a perfectly average generic setup. Hard to tell ... maybe the pickups are a bit low, but again it all depends.
Click to expand...

Have to disagree with you a bit.

Factory specs are a really good starting place. They aren’t perfect for everyone and all situations, but they are really useful in terms of a frame of reference.
 
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#24
g-dude said:
Have to disagree with you a bit.

Factory specs are a really good starting place. They aren’t perfect for everyone and all situations, but they are really useful in terms of a frame of reference.
Click to expand...

Fair point, but aren't we saying much the same thing? Agreed tone has to start somewhere, however this post is akin to complaining the new convertible is sitting on the sales lot instead of coasting down a sundrenched deserted highway. Make it happen!

Tough to tell from the pics, but it looks like a normal, functional, middle-of-the-road setup to me.
 
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#25
StayLow said:
Looks great to me! Is it too low fo you?

How is a factory or shop supposed to know your preferred action, much less string gauge and type? Can they know if you're on the "show off low action pics online, plus I only tap chords lightly unamplified at 2AM when the kids are sleeping" trend or actually wanting your notes to ring out and maybe performing with some rockin' funkin' flourish onstage?

Same reason "factory specs" are preposterous. I couldn't care less what some guy at even a boutique shop thinks my setup should be when they know zero about me, my strings, my playing style or my gigs.

Learn to do a setup! With sincere respect, it's easier than posting ill-considered complaints online and it'll come in handy often. The pics you posted look like a perfectly average generic setup. Hard to tell ... maybe the pickups are a bit low, but again it all depends.
Click to expand...
Actually, no, the pics are after I adjusted the neck. The action was preposterous. Nobody would want a set up like that. You make a point regarding defining the perfect set up, however, it seems to me they manage to do a pretty good basic set up on the 500 cheap guitars but the high end pro guitar setup is awful.
 
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#26
Ash Jazz said:
Actually, no, the pics are after I adjusted the neck. The action was preposterous. Nobody would want a set up like that. You make a point regarding defining the perfect set up, however, it seems to me they manage to do a pretty good basic set up on the 500 cheap guitars but the high end pro guitar setup is awful.
Click to expand...

I bought a Jazz pro last summer and don’t even get me started on the setup.
I’m probably mostly irked that the shop charged me for new Sunbeams. You’d think, y’know, “Hey, we’ll throw in these new strings for you.” You’d be wrong, haha.
 
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#27
Ash Jazz said:
Actually, no, the pics are after I adjusted the neck. The action was preposterous. Nobody would want a set up like that. You make a point regarding defining the perfect set up, however, it seems to me they manage to do a pretty good basic set up on the 500 cheap guitars but the high end pro guitar setup is awful.
Click to expand...

Possibly it shifted in transit though winter? Maybe one got missed getting checked at the factory. As you said, they have no trouble putting good setups on instruments. You could send it back. You could have had the seller state the setup specs before shipping.

One couldn't care less and simply set it up oneself if one learned how.
 
#28
Ash Jazz said:
Hi all,

So I took a chance and bought a floor model Jazz Pro over the internet. It arrived today. First, it often surprises me how poorly these things are set up in the store. For a "professional" instrument the set up should professional out of the box... But sadly that's rarely the case.

I did a quick neck adjust by the seat of my pants which was an immediate improvement but it could still be better.

Just wondering if anybody has any hard and fast rules for a quick set up.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

A new Jazz Professional 2 came into my local store last week. They had it on the bench doing a once over on it. I went in there and looked at again a few days later and the action at the 12th fret was so high that I could put my pinky between the board and strings!!
 
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#29
I find that often with a 'recently built' bass in a moderate or inexpensive price range, often the wood is a little 'greener' than a serious-money axe, where the price point allowed for more thoroughly milled and aged wood.
My Squiers certainly fit into this bracket, and with each of the three I own, none of them were really way off when I got them, but after the first adjustment, over the next 90 days I'd have to touch them up until they finally got used to living with me and got really stable: I can well imagine the Tennessee climate is QUITE different from Indonesia !

This is not uncommon nor unexpected. FWIW, they're set to Fender standard setup figures, maybe a tad lower, but nothing super extreme.
Here's their guide:

Invalid Link Removed

I prefer to have a set of numbers to do this with, if for nothing else as a repeatable starting point.

These questions always make me think of Mica Wickersham's remark that 'sooner or later, the wood will realize it's no longer a tree.' Just takes some of them longer than others.
 
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#33
For a 10 minute setup on a new instrument:

1. 1/4 turn truss rod tightening, if needed (new necks usually have excessive relief IME).

2. Raise saddles one turn on saddle height screws (always 1–2 turns too low on a new instrument IME).

3. Quick-n-dirty intonation. Make things roughly in tune up to the 7th fret on the A string. Set the other saddles visually in relation to the A. Bass/guitar played into cel phone tuner without being plugged in.

4. Attach a strap, and Grolsch washers or shoelaces.

5. Throw the thing into your normal gig case or bag (which always has your tuner, instrument cable, spare 9V battery, and screwdriver in it).

6. Head out the door to the gig! You're already late...which is why the setup needed to be only 10 minutes.

7. Cuss and turn back. You forgot to load your SVT and Fridge, because you were distracted by rushing to set up a new bass right before a gig.
 
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#34
Ash Jazz said:
Hi all,

So I took a chance and bought a floor model Jazz Pro over the internet. It arrived today. First, it often surprises me how poorly these things are set up in the store. For a "professional" instrument the set up should professional out of the box... But sadly that's rarely the case.

I did a quick neck adjust by the seat of my pants which was an immediate improvement but it could still be better.

Just wondering if anybody has any hard and fast rules for a quick set up.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Back in the stone age, music stores usually did setups on incoming instruments before they hit the rack, but in the days of the big box concept, customer service is something i never expect so i go in knowing any new bass is going to need some work before it’s playable. Having limited experience with drop shipped Fenders, the guitars and basses i saw that came straight from Fender all needed a complete setup to be playable.
 
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#35
Ash Jazz said:
The first thing I noticed was how high the action was. Now I'm starting to wonder about things like when you stop with the neck and adjust the bridge pieces? Is there a recommended clearance over the pickup? Is there a trade off between height and sustain? Etc.
Click to expand...
There are general recommendations, even specs on pickup height in relation to strings, string height is personal, some people like them a little higher, some lower action, depends on how you play. Having the bridge saddle contour match the neck contour is important so your picking hand is able to transition from string to string smoothly. From your pic it looks a little high, maybe the A string is too high, though hard to tell from the focus. Neck angle is equally important for the action and intonation, look up set ups or find a good tec to set you up for how you play.
 
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#36
Ash Jazz said:
The first thing I noticed was how high the action was. Now I'm starting to wonder about things like when you stop with the neck and adjust the bridge pieces?
Click to expand...

Personally if the action is ridiculously high (i.e. no buzz anywhere) I wouldn’t start with the truss rod, I’d adjust the bridge saddles first to a ballpark, then you can work out how to adjust the truss, if at all.

If you get fretbuzz at the lower notes you can loosen it the truss rod. If you get fretbuzz at the higher notes, tighten it.
 
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#37
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#38
Ash Jazz said:
Actually, no, the pics are after I adjusted the neck. The action was preposterous. Nobody would want a set up like that. You make a point regarding defining the perfect set up, however, it seems to me they manage to do a pretty good basic set up on the 500 cheap guitars but the high end pro guitar setup is awful.
Click to expand...

Okay...how much relief do you have onboard post adjustment?

Riis
 
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