Newbie setup question

Hey, if it plays in tune and sounds like a bass you're fine. Put on your new strings, set the action how you like it, check and adjust the neck if you have to. Buzzing frets are usually a neck relief issue, sometimes the saddles will be too low and sometimes a fret will have popped up and may need a tap or two to set it. After a generation of storage I would suspect you truss rod will need a turn and hopefully that's it.

 

Take a look through these articles and videos and ask any questions you may have.

ALL BASIC SETUP QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE

 

Fender basses are great to learn setups on. The bridges are pretty easy to adjust, and the necks are usually generous in their ability to be adjusted.

Just remember to test your setup through an amp under normal playing conditions. Otherwise you might find yourself with a setup that is great for playing unplugged but a pain while plugged in.

 

While I never stopped playing entirely, I really got back into daily playing myself a bit over two years ago after laying low for about a decade. Even though I have never thought of myself as “handy” (and still don’t!), I have gotten into doing my own setups and I’m so glad. Pretty hard to break things if you don’t force them, so jump in. You will find helpful people with great advice here.

 

When you say “tap,” you mean with a hammer? I suspect I have one high fret on an otherwise perfectly playable bass myself.

 

If the fret is lifted then a small plastic or brass hammer can typically get it seated again. I’ve also seen a couple of guys on YouTube take a short length of aluminum rod and grind a recess into one end for the fret to just seat in and then tap that with the hammer to seat the fret. Not a bad idea as you don’t have to worry about denting the fretboard that way. If a fret has popped up, there’s a decent chance it will again after you hammer it back in place so it’s not a bad idea to glue it once it is back down on the board, that’s assuming the fret slots go all the way to the edge of the board.

 

I haven't found anything better than this 4 part series. It's all covered in the sticky setup section, but I'm a sucker for a video. Plus, he sounds a little like Elmer Fudd, which is a bonus. His numbers for relief and string height are safe and conservative, you can probably sneak both a little lower. All you need is a capo, feeler gauges, and the right Allen wrenches for your bass.