New string or adjust action?

[Lance Bunyon]

Hi.
I'm pretty good with rudimentary setups.
I have a fretless 5 which has never worn anything but D'addario Chromes. Recently I've fallen out of love with Chromes and moved on to D'addario tapewounds.

I changed strings 3 days ago and waited a while for the new strings to "settle in". Today I came to terms with the need for a tad bit of relief, so I loosened the truss rod a quarter turn.
The D string is almost bottomed out. I'm not sure if I should raise the action on the bridge at the D only just a C-hair or to hunt for a new D...
I may have trimmed the leader a tad short, it's got maybe a turn and a half on the post. Yes I've beat myself up endlessly for such a noob error...
Question is:
Could the lack of long enough leader be causing the problem?
Thanks in advance
The Podiatrist

 

[Lance Bunyon]

For the record everything else about the current setup was fixed by adding relief...

 

[buldog5151bass]

What do you have to lose by trying the adjustment?

 

[sissy kathy]

What do you have to lose by trying the adjustment?

.... and doesn't the D string run through a string tree anyway? If so, the windings won't matter much at all.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Fair point Bully. I'll raise the D setscrews half a turn tonight.
My only concern is uneven height. The bass is perfect every other string.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

Very slight unevenness in string height is ok with me if it is for you.

might try a 1/4 turn, depending on the thread pitch of the adjusters that could be all you need.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Turns out almost the whole bass needed to come up. Changing string types is a major pain in the arse. And my setup style is to go slow.
So every day I do a little bit, because I'm more than a little OCD and I get obsessed otherwise and just keep tweaking (pun intended).
She's pretty good right now. Might need a touch more relief tomorrow.

These tapes are super expressive! They're not like Labella in the least.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

So this week has been my week of adjusting action. Probably spent a solid hour doing tiny tweaks on three basses, a little at a time.

The results have been really satisfying. Looking around the cave I am pretty happy with almost all the bass action in front of me.
Or...the action on most of these basses is pleasing to my fingers and my ears.
Yeah, that's it