Thanks; maybe I'll start going to Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta. That traffic though. Atlanta is either 2 hours for me or 4. No joke.
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Rant - Music Store Bass Set-ups
- Thread starter Treblefree
- Start date
Thanks; maybe I'll start going to Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta. That traffic though. Atlanta is either 2 hours for me or 4. No joke.
I would absolutely not recommend driving that far for Maple Street unless you just really want to see some Fenders, which is fine, but it seems like a hell of a long way to go for nothing out of the ordinary.
Many stores can’t keep guitars on the shelf right now, wasting any time setting them up when they will sell right away regardless seems like a waste of time, at least from their perspective. But then you can go to a good shop like CME or bass club Chicago and most of their instruments are very well set up.
drumvsbass
Commercial User
- Aug 20, 2011
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- I work for Long and McQuade Musical Instruments Canada in Sales.
Likely that no one sets up those basses. Certainly not Fender/Squier, and certainly not the employees at the store. They come out of the box, and go onto the wall, you're lucky if they're in tune. Stores might have a luthier on staff to take care of customers guitars and warranty issues, but they wouldn't have the resource to make sure a rotating list of 500 or more guitars in a store play perfectly. Most stores will offer a free setup after purchase to mitigate this, or offer to set the instrument up for the customer right then and there. I know to me that sounds like going to look at used cars and all the cars are sitting on flats. You know they can put air in the tires, but it still looks and feels bad.
But...
Here's the question, what would YOU consider to be a good setup? I know a few local players that prefer banana boat necks with no buzz, others prefer super low action with a little buzz. Where is the mid ground? There is no pleasing everyone.
But...
Here's the question, what would YOU consider to be a good setup? I know a few local players that prefer banana boat necks with no buzz, others prefer super low action with a little buzz. Where is the mid ground? There is no pleasing everyone.
First, it depends on the brand of bass. Not even the price point. Many of the brands do not do any setup prior to shipping. Having works for many years for a major conglomerate instrument manufacturer I can tell you we did a tune and a basic bench test to make sure the instrument can function. We’d run the frets to check for any “unplayable” positions. Then out the door. And most music stores don’t employ a luthier to do professional setups on everything.
So…
If the factory doesn’t do a full setup on a $2,000 bass and the store doesn’t wish to “blow” their already slim margin paying someone to do a setup pre sale then the likelihood is that most basses are never set up. That may explain why we buy used basses in need of a basic setup.
So…
If the factory doesn’t do a full setup on a $2,000 bass and the store doesn’t wish to “blow” their already slim margin paying someone to do a setup pre sale then the likelihood is that most basses are never set up. That may explain why we buy used basses in need of a basic setup.
I always expext to have to set up my new basses. Its the only way to arrive to custom perfection.
Bought my Mikro after it had been sitting, somewhere, for two years, brand new from a closed music store. It was, as some here won't believe, 100% unplayable. The neck was bowed so far back, the saddles cranked so far down, even the factory had not touched this guitar. Being the List, we were in a McDonalds parking lot, and it's my second ever guitar. I'd done some tweaking before, but never tackled something like this. It was "playable" after about 45 minutes of learning and work. I just tweaked it AGAIN six months in. I've learned a lot, I think it's valuable, I saved a lot of money on a cheap bass which was invested into mods, and I'm more confident as both a buyer and an owner. Even without the full slate of tools listed earlier, you can do a lot. This isn't bass, but a bass is still a guitar, and that's still Uncle Joe. I learned the most from this video.
The first set up I paid for was my last 
This old guy I knew had a music shop i'd go and buy harmonic from. I got my first bass and asked him for a set up. He told me to come in at closing time and bring $20 with me. I show up and he takes me and my bass to his bench, lays the bass out and tells me to sit down at the bench because I'm doing it
For the next two hours or so, he has me set up my own bass, walking me through every aspect of a set up, explaining what every thing did and why, checking my work as we go. The best $20 spent in my life
This old guy I knew had a music shop i'd go and buy harmonic from. I got my first bass and asked him for a set up. He told me to come in at closing time and bring $20 with me. I show up and he takes me and my bass to his bench, lays the bass out and tells me to sit down at the bench because I'm doing it
For the next two hours or so, he has me set up my own bass, walking me through every aspect of a set up, explaining what every thing did and why, checking my work as we go. The best $20 spent in my life
'Most guitar stores have dudes sitting around learning their own chops in their free time. Surely they can pull a bass off the wall and bring the action within a reasonable distance to not require a vice to fret it.'
Personally, I'd totally prefer 'those dudes' stay the hell away from them. Nothing like a new bass you find out after you've had it home for a few days the truss rod adjustment is all chewed up from the wrong allen wrench that almost fit, bridge saddles the same way, who knows what else? Then, I really am screwed.
No Thanks, I'd really, really prefer to do it myself, instead of someone really unqualified or barely qualified to make a mess of something that was a lot easier to set right BEFORE they got their hands on it.
And while I've certainly seen some 'unplayable', neglected axes for sale, I've yet to find one that given time and a work-up that may take several adjustments over several days can't be reeled in. I'm sure there may be some, but so far I've dodged that bullet.
Maybe I just look at it differently. I never expect to buy a new bass that is perfectly set up for me, or often even one that's still within spitting difference of the factory spec. I always expect that to a degree, I'm buying a project piece that's going to take varying amounts of tweaking to have it suit me the way I'd like it to, and that's not price-dependent: Big buck axes can be just as wonky as el cheapos.
But really, it's part of the fun of it, to do the work on them in drydock !
Personally, I'd totally prefer 'those dudes' stay the hell away from them. Nothing like a new bass you find out after you've had it home for a few days the truss rod adjustment is all chewed up from the wrong allen wrench that almost fit, bridge saddles the same way, who knows what else? Then, I really am screwed.
No Thanks, I'd really, really prefer to do it myself, instead of someone really unqualified or barely qualified to make a mess of something that was a lot easier to set right BEFORE they got their hands on it.
And while I've certainly seen some 'unplayable', neglected axes for sale, I've yet to find one that given time and a work-up that may take several adjustments over several days can't be reeled in. I'm sure there may be some, but so far I've dodged that bullet.
Maybe I just look at it differently. I never expect to buy a new bass that is perfectly set up for me, or often even one that's still within spitting difference of the factory spec. I always expect that to a degree, I'm buying a project piece that's going to take varying amounts of tweaking to have it suit me the way I'd like it to, and that's not price-dependent: Big buck axes can be just as wonky as el cheapos.
But really, it's part of the fun of it, to do the work on them in drydock !
That's the kind of music store owner we are losing. My drum guy of 35+ years died last March. I have no idea where I want to buy sticks or gear from. He gave me half my sticks free. That'll never happen at some center, or an online marketing jungle, no matter what the water tastes like. These guys teach and guide you in a music life, they let you hang out, invite you to their gigs and mentor you. I wonder what it's like for musical kids these days?The first set up I paid for was my last
This old guy I knew had a music shop i'd go and buy harmonic from. I got my first bass and asked him for a set up. He told me to come in at closing time and bring $20 with me. I show up and he takes me and my bass to his bench, lays the bass out and tells me to sit down at the bench because I'm doing it
For the next two hours or so, he has me set up my own bass, walking me through every aspect of a set up, explaining what every thing did and why, checking my work as we go. The best $20 spent in my life
I went to a local music resale store looking for a set up for a guitar. I specifically mentioned truss rod, intonation, action. He said it would be $25. I noted all three things before I handed the guitar over. When I got it back, everything looked the same, particularly the intonation. Just lined up like stock, same as the day before. I asked what work was done, and it was essentially a cleaning. Fretboard, a little spray in the pots, a wipe down, tuning. That's when I started my own fiddling. My local library had Dan Erlewine's book, Guitar Player's Repair Guide a few years ago, and I learned a bit about wiring a pickups. I'll have to check back and see if they still have it and I'll learn more about setups. He's got at least one more.
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Yup, I played my first bass for a year and a half the way I received it, no idea there might be any issues with it the way it was. I kept reading about setups, and there was a local class on how to do your own. Figured I’d rather pay once, and learn to do it myself. Turned out the truss rod nut was completely loose, really nice banana bow in the neck, strings way above the fretboard. Learning to do my own setups is the best $50 I’ve spent.
9 times out of 10 a buzz on the open A string and only there is the sign of a string cut too short or not wrapped low enough on the machine head, rather than a trussrod issue.
I know how to do setups so it really doesn't matter to me how good or bad it is when I try the instrument. That's how you get good deals.
I know how to do setups so it really doesn't matter to me how good or bad it is when I try the instrument. That's how you get good deals.
I bought harmonica's from him...The first set up I paid for was my last
This old guy I knew had a music shop i'd go and buy harmonica's from. I got my first bass and asked him for a set up. He told me to come in at closing time and bring $20 with me. I show up and he takes me and my bass to his bench, lays the bass out and tells me to sit down at the bench because I'm doing it
For the next two hours or so, he has me set up my own bass, walking me through every aspect of a set up, explaining what every thing did and why, checking my work as we go. The best $20 spent in my life
I would never rely on or even expect a store to setup an instrument to my specs. I also wouldn’t judge an instrument based on a poor setup when trying in a store. If I found something I wanted to buy and the setup was bad, I would tweak it myself right there and judge properly after that.
Setups are easy and I think everyone should learn how to do it.
Setups are easy and I think everyone should learn how to do it.
Yep, low expectations keeps disappointment in check and may be the secret to happiness
and doing it yourself builds self esteem
Setup in a store? Fine, I don't need it since I can do it and always have done it on my own... But of the freaking knobs are falling out of the bass then SOMETHING is wrong.
You know, that doesn't really phase me as much as crappy customer service. I just spent a buncha cash in your store and I get treated with this disregard/hand wave thing and you're not even looking at me while speaking to me.
Rant over.
Stores kinda suck when the seller sucks.
You know, that doesn't really phase me as much as crappy customer service. I just spent a buncha cash in your store and I get treated with this disregard/hand wave thing and you're not even looking at me while speaking to me.
Rant over.
Stores kinda suck when the seller sucks.
