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new to bass.. need help with set up

C

Cornwell

Jul 12, 2008
24
1
#1
I started playing about 2 months ago on my friends bass and now own my own. I've tried to get him to take his back for a while and he keeps leaving it at my house and I don't think he really cares about it so Im going to learn how to fix it up haha since its just a squire anyways. The action is ridiculously high and I think the neck is bending forward a little. If anyone has some articles on what to do or could give me some advice to fix it up please help. Heres some pics.
 

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#2
Get a 2 allen wrenchs. One for the bridge sattles and another for the neck. Depending on the way the neck is bending you either tighten or loosen the truss rod. If it bends back tighten the truss rod. And the loosen of it bends foward. For the action. Drop the sattles flat and raise them to where there is no more fret buzz and then arch them to the shape of the neck.

And keep the tension of the strings on the neck when adjusting the truss rod
 
#4
thanks I adjusted the trust rod and it fixed the action. Sweet. I think Im gonna buy this off my friend just for a cheap bass to learn how to work on them with. Any advice on what to learn to do with one haha?
 
#5
Cornwell said:
thanks I adjusted the trust rod and it fixed the action. Sweet. I think Im gonna buy this off my friend just for a cheap bass to learn how to work on them with. Any advice on what to learn to do with one haha?
Click to expand...

You could learn to do fret job, although that is quite complicated. Also, learn how to fix problems on the electric part.
 
#7
have you tried setting the string and pickup height? or learn how to intonate. if you need help feel free to pm me. setting up even a cheap bass correctly can make for a very playable and great sounding bass. i bought this cheap samick for $100 after changing the strings and giving it a good setup it actually plays great.
 
#8
Awesome. Im actually considering lowering the pickups on my schecter, It has just to much punch for my taste and I think lowering them a tad would make it sound better. Oh and also I dont know what intonate means so I should probably look that up haha
 
#9
lowering the pickups are great idea. I sunk the pickups a low as i could on my fretless now it sounds like an upright bass. Doing that gives a more natural tone. Tone really comes from the wood but pickups just amplfy the tone. But you will lose volume
 
#10
Lowering the pickups without a reason to do so won't necessarily do anything but create problems by weakening the signal. OTOH, pickups set too close to the strings can dampen their vibrations due to the magnetic field of the pickups. I suggest you spend time working through some of the excellent setup procedures listed at the link in post #3. It's a good idea to use the common pickup adjustment as a starting point, and don't depart radically from it unless you have a problem you're trying to solve.
 
#11
Heres a pic of my schecter it uses emg hz pickups and it has alot of punch sometimes to much. It sounds good when I play rage but thats about it. Should I lower them haha Cuz I usually play with the tone way down anyways.
 

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#12
If it only sounds good part of the time, then candidates are your technique, the setup, or the vol/tone adjustments on your bass and amp.

The pickups look close to me, but if you're not hitting them with the strings you may be OK. One thing to do is pluck a note and see how fast it does out. If the pickups are close enough to damp the string action, the note will die out in just a few seconds.

I return to my earlier suggestion - set the pickup height to about what the Mr. Gearhead site (to pick one) suggests before you do anything else. Measure your current clearance so you can go back to it if you want to.

Bass Side Treble Side
Vintage style 8/64" (3.6 mm) 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Noiseless™ Series 8/64" (3.6 mm) 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Standard "J" or "P" 7/64" (2.8 mm) 5/64" (2 mm)
Special Design Humbuckers 7/64" (2.8 mm) 5/64" (2 mm)
 

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