Relief on old 1980s Aria Cat Bass

[LowEndSoul]

I just changed the strings on this 1986 Aria Pro II cat bass, and I'm just wondering if my setup is normal, as it seems like I had to see the relief a lot higher than it was before with the other strings, and also much higher than on my '02 Squier P bass. To begin my setup, I used the Fender/Squier Setup specs, because that's all I have. Aria doesn't have setup specs on their site, and even if they did, I don't know that they'd have them for the old ones.

Before, I was using standard D'addario Roundswounds, 45-65-85-105, EXL165.
I've switched to Fender 9050L flatwounds, 45,60,80,100. Of course, with the increase in tension, and slight change in gauge, I had to do a setup.

Before, I i had my neck relief at .014". That's at the 7th fret, with the first and last (22nd) fret capoed. My string heights, measured at the 17th fret with 1st pressed, are from 6/64" to 5/64". That's pretty close to what my Squier is set up with too, with D'addario Tapewounds.

With the Fender Flats, string height is about the same as before, but I had to set relief to .024. I might be able to get it down a tiny bit more, but I hate fret buzz and if I go down much more at all, it buzzes for the first few frets.

As I said, I have no idea what the actual spec is for this bass, but I just know fender Spec is .012-.014. Should I be concerned about the stress from the added tension?
Note: the neck on this bass is a bit thinner and narrower than a P bass.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Twice the normal relief is not a great starting point. Exactly where are things buzzing? Did you address break angles and witness points during the string install?

Riis

 

[Turnaround]

Using the first land last frets as references for the relief is not a good choice. Fret the first fret and the fret where the neck meets the body. Dial in about .0010" to .0015" of relief at the 6th or 7th fret.

As Riis said, be sure you set the witness points at the nut and bridge before adjusting the truss rod and saddles.

 

[LowEndSoul]

Twice the normal relief is not a great starting point. Exactly where are things buzzing? Did you address break angles and witness points during the string install?

Riis

With relief in "spec", at .014", I get buzz from frets 4-6. I think my break angles look good, but I'll post a picture later this evening. I did not set witness points, so I guess I'll try that too. Admittedly, witness points aren't usually part of my string install process. I appreciate the response. I'll report back this evening.

 

[LowEndSoul]

Using the first land last frets as references for the relief is not a good choice. Fret the first fret and the fret where the neck meets the body. Dial in about .0010" to .0015" of relief at the 6th or 7th fret.

As Riis said, be sure you set the witness points at the nut and bridge before adjusting the truss rod and saddles.

Ok. That's good to know. I'd just been using what I found on the fender website. I'll try it the way you suggest once I get home from work. Do you know why fender suggests first and last fret? I guess that might be just what they found that works in the factory, and that's probably a lot easier to spec across a known product line, vs a random other bass.

 

[Turnaround]

Ok. That's good to know. I'd just been using what I found on the fender website. I'll try it the way you suggest once I get home from work. Do you know why fender suggests first and last fret? I guess that might be just what they found that works in the factory, and that's probably a lot easier to spec across a known product line, vs a random other bass.

Fender suggests first and last frets because they don’t make basses with ski jumps. So first and last fret is fine if you know for sure that you don’t have that condition developing. Unfortunately it’s all too common on Fenders and many other basses.

 

[LowEndSoul]

I got it down to .013" today.

I think there are two immediate possibilities:

1) My capo doesn't have enough tension. It's cheap. It came with a cheap acoustic I have. When it's at the first fret, if I play a string, it's not clean.

2) Maybe, the neck needed to settle a bit before I adjusted the truss rod more? I It did turn it quite a bit yesterday.

I don't know, but at least I got that taken care of. I'm open to thoughts as I want to learn as much as possible. I think the neck on this bass is in decent shape.

By the way: ignore all my kid's junk in the background haha.

 

[Bass Ameg]

Watch MusicNomad's bass setup video on Youtube, all wisdom is there.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I got it down to .013" today.

I think there are two immediate possibilities:

1) My capo doesn't have enough tension. It's cheap. It came with a cheap acoustic I have. When it's at the first fret, if I play a string, it's not clean.

2) Maybe, the neck needed to settle a bit before I adjusted the truss rod more? I It did turn it quite a bit yesterday.

I don't know, but at least I got that taken care of. I'm open to thoughts as I want to learn as much as possible. I think the neck on this bass is in decent shape.

By the way: ignore all my kid's junk in the background haha.

Pics are helpful but not conclusive.

*Did you re-set your witness points?!?

*Really wish the A string wraps were a little lower ("hitting the deck") on the machine head post.

*I place the capo directly on top of the 1st fret.

*When tightening the TR nut, I manually flex the neck (left hand & forearm) in the desired direction with strings-at-pitch. 9/10 times, I over-shoot my target. In these instances, I "relax" the TR in small increments until the desired relief is dialed-in. The 24 hour settling-in term is an old wives' tale.

Riis

 

[JTNuney]

No help on your setup question, but I’d love to see a full bass pic for notalgia. A black Cat was my first decent bass after I absolutely wrecked my “starter” bass (long story).

 

[LowEndSoul]

Pics are helpful but not conclusive.

*Did you re-set your witness points?!?

*Really wish the A string wraps were a little lower ("hitting the deck") on the machine head post.

*I place the capo directly on top of the 1st fret.

*When tightening the TR nut, I manually flex the neck (left hand & forearm) in the desired direction with strings-at-pitch. 9/10 times, I over-shoot my target. In these instances, I "relax" the TR in small increments until the desired relief is dialed-in. The 24 hour settling-in term is an old wives' tale.

Riis

To clarify, yes, I did set witness points last night. I tried to, anyway and I think it worked. I gave the strings a firm press by the saddles, nut, and retainer. Great advice. Thanks for sharing your setup and truss rod expertise.

I'm going to try to get that a string a little lower on the tuning post later on today. But, for future reference, should I cut that one a little longer next time?

 

[LowEndSoul]

No help on your setup question, but I’d love to see a full bass pic for notalgia. A black Cat was my first decent bass after I absolutely wrecked my “starter” bass (long story).

I'll try to get some later today. I like this bass a lot. The neck feels very fast compared to my p bass. The active electronics provide nice tonal variety. At some point long ago, someone changed the P pickup on this bass (but the j is original), and also switched it to a 5 knob setup, so it might not be pure nostalgia for you, though!

 

[Zooberwerx]

To clarify, yes, I did set witness points last night. I tried to, anyway and I think it worked. I gave the strings a firm press by the saddles, nut, and retainer. Great advice. Thanks for sharing your setup and truss rod expertise.

I'm going to try to get that a string a little lower on the tuning post later on today. But, for future reference, should I cut that one a little longer next time?

Yeah, I would cut it longer. Rule of thumb: E string > 3.5" / 4 fingers past the post, crimp, cut. Each string in order gets a little more length (...diameter decreases). Setting witness points is paramount as this creates a well-defined vibrating string path. As you've guessed, I wish we had more of a break angle on the E & A.

Riis

 

[LowEndSoul]

Ok. Here's the bass. The last picture is next to an Aria Pro II guitar I found in my grandparents garage. That's what made me seek out a bass of the same make. I'm not much of a guitar player. But I just loved the feel of the neck on it. The guitar is a 1982, MIJ. I'm liking these old Arias.