SPECTOR® Club - Part 22

[JPSBassist]

OK a simple guide for setting string height:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I know this seems like a pain, but if you want optimum string height settings, this is how I do it.

Remember! You use the bridge saddles and adjust their height to set your action. The ONLY reason to adjust the neck/truss rod is because you've set your string height to where you want it and you've got some buzzing. So you need to adjust the pitch of the neck to compensate.

YOU DON'T use the truss rod to adjust string height. Only to fine-tune the pitch of the neck to eliminate buzz.

 

[iceboxbass]

In the end if comes down to personal preference. And everyone has bias. I've had three beautiful USA Bolt-Ons here for NAMM this weekend and honestly I haven't played them. I reach for my NS-2 or NS-4 every time. I prefer the neck-thru models. Nothing against the bolt ons. But I can tell you I'll never own one. I love the neck-thru models. And I'll never own an X body or a Rex or a Coda. They don't appeal to me. The Neck-Thru NS-Body Bass is where it is at for me. No two ways about it.

I have the love for the craftsmanship of an instrument, visual/physical.
I love the way the new Coda's, X bodies look. Just for their visual appearance alone I am enthuised! Ive been a woodworker as a hobby most of my life and when i see a beautiful piece of wood, it just makes my mouth water! But, when it comes to personal playing of a Bass, then the physical aspect kicks in! I too rather have a curved body bass that's unbelievable comfortable next to my body!

 

[JPSBassist]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

That's what they say. But now I'm confused.

Edit: Now I get it. So I CAN straighten the neck on my Euro, just not bend it?

Yes. Absolutely you can adjust your Europe Series bass's neck.

I have a Euro4LX-35-TW with the single action truss and I've got the relief on it set. It has some natural relief when the truss rod is at zero point. So I have very little tension on the truss. With the strings on it there's enough relief that I don't need to add any.

 

[Nate Plays Bass]

Jut curious, how the the DCs compare to the TWs in Spector's?

 

[JPSBassist]

Jut curious, how the the DCs compare to the TWs in Spector's?

It's an odd thing for me personally.

The DCs sound good. P/J's sound better and J/J is a winning combination in my opinion.

So going into this knowing I'm not a big fan of dual humbuckers and prefer some combination other than that...

I like the DCs better than the TW's in dual mode. The sound is richer to me... warmer.

I like the TW's in single mode a lot... but then we're basically talking they work like a set of J/J pups.

I find there's a little noise in the single mode that you don't get in the DCs ever... and is pretty much gone in dual mode.

And the output of the TWs in single mode is a lot less than the dual coil mode or just straight up DCs.

I have my Euro4LX-TW-35 in single mode all the time now. I like that sound much better than in dual mode.

But I always reach for my NS-2 first. I like the sound of the P/Js with the Haz.

After NAMM this year I'm ordering a Doug Wimbish USA model with a J/J setup instead of P/J. Haven't decided the color yet. I may stick with the black on black and black pearl neck. Don't know. I'll figure it out at NAMM.

 

[cjmodulus]

After NAMM this year I'm ordering a Doug Wimbish USA model with a J/J setup instead of P/J. Haven't decided the color yet. I may stick with the black on black and black pearl neck. Don't know. I'll figure it out at NAMM.

Dude. That sounds unbelievably awesome.

 

[JeffplaysBass]

I totally agree. Like I said, I only get off on this particular tangent when someone doesn't know the history and I feel that to honor Stuart and Ned I need to set it straight.

Sukop, BTW, makes a curved body bass. And I don't care. As does Ibanez. No problem. Copying the design isn't the issue. The Coda is a Fender Jazz copy, the X models are Thunderbird copies.

The issue has to do with not honoring a legally binding agreement and then being rude/ugly/unprofessional to people.

That's it in a nutshell.

No, disrespect to this guy andy(never heard of him myself). I value more regular guys like Lenny, Sam, Mike ..etc. Guys like myself that work jobs 50+ hours a week and "Squeze" time in to play bass and we don't get a PENNY to influence what we say....These are the guys that I listen to....not people that are paid to play, attend Namm or etc......normal Joe shmoes that really shouldn't be spending the money we spend on basses....BUT WE DO cause we LOVE to....

 

[JPSBassist]

Dude. That sounds unbelievably awesome.

I loved the sound of my NS-2JA-R. And of course it had a narrow nut (not as narrow as the 1.5" Wimbish but close at 1.56").

So I've been thinking... what could make the Black Pearl more awesome... and I was thinking about how I love the punch of the old Kramer NS-5 models... 9v Haz circuit and J/J pups. So I'm 99% sure this is what I'm going to order. I love the solid AAAA quilt maple so that's a given.

I'm not sure if I want to do Pau Ferro or Birdeye Maple for the fingerboard and what color I'm going to want.

I'll figure it out at NAMM. 4-5 days (12 hours a day) with beautiful USA Spectors usually inspires me. The Black Pearl was inspired by last years NAMM Show. So it'll come to me I'm sure.

 

[PhatBasstard]

No offense to Patrick, but some of the ways he's presented the truss rod info "appears" backwards.

A single action rod does nothing when loose (fully counter clockwise). Most basses in this state will have major relief (frontwards bow) to the point of whatever the string tension creates.

You do not "tighten" (clockwise) to create relief.
You tighten to "straighten" the neck, or taken further create back bow (If the rod allows. Not a realistic need in most cases).
This more or less is done to create optimum action from the 1st fret to about the 12th or a little more as the rod does not affect the neck much beyond this point (Your bridge saddles should be used first to adjust height from this point (12th fret) up before final truss rod adjustments are done).

A dual action rod works the same way as a single until the loose point.
The dual action can then be also again/further tightened in the counter clockwise direction to create more front bow ("relief") as needed.
This is a very rare need/occurance as string tension, with a truss rod loose, will usually create much more relief (front bow) than you would want.
The truss rod's general purpose is to counter act this string tension on the neck.

Many manufacturers are going to dual action rods not because of the need for the ability to create the (extremely rarely needed) force in the front bow/relief direction, but because they are an easier install (Dual-action rods tend to be easier to install when the neck is being constructed as they can usually fit into a flat, rather than curved slot).

Even the Spector page is not clear on this.
Hope this clears up any confusion.

 

[jarrod cunningham]

Jps , about the single action truss rods , you stated that tightening or clock wise provides relief .

Now when I talk direction , I'm looking at the truss nut from the headstock and tightening straightens the neck , counter clock provides relief . So does that mean all the spectors I have and have had have the rod in the 180 position you spoke of earlier ???

 

[JPSBassist]

No offense to Patrick, but some of the ways he's presented the truss rod info "appears" backwards.

Even the Spector page is not clear on this.
Hope this clears up any confusion.

Perhaps I'm explaining backwards... which has been known to happen. My experience with adjusting the truss rods for SPECTOR basses has been something I've just done instinctively. And honestly I've found they need very little adjustment. I've recently done adjustments on all of my basses to lower the string height which has involved the procedures I mentioned above. But let me play with my Euro4LX some more since it's the only one I own with the single action truss rod and see what I get.

And thanks for your input. I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes communicate too much info and make easy things much more complex. It's a result of my medical training I think. LOL.

 

[JeffplaysBass]

In the end if comes down to personal preference. And everyone has bias. I've had three beautiful USA Bolt-Ons here for NAMM this weekend and honestly I haven't played them. I reach for my NS-2 or NS-4 every time. I prefer the neck-thru models. Nothing against the bolt ons. But I can tell you I'll never own one. I love the neck-thru models. And I'll never own an X body or a Rex or a Coda. They don't appeal to me. The Neck-Thru NS-Body Bass is where it is at for me. No two ways about it.


Same for me i love the neck thru models...whether Ns2,Ns2a or Euro....nothing else for me.

 

[cjmodulus]

I loved the sound of my NS-2JA-R. And of course it had a narrow nut (not as narrow as the 1.5" Wimbish but close at 1.56").

So I've been thinking... what could make the Black Pearl more awesome... and I was thinking about how I love the punch of the old Kramer NS-5 models... 9v Haz circuit and J/J pups. So I'm 99% sure this is what I'm going to order. I love the solid AAAA quilt maple so that's a given.

I'm not sure if I want to do Pau Ferro or Birdeye Maple for the fingerboard and what color I'm going to want.

I'll figure it out at NAMM. 4-5 days (12 hours a day) with beautiful USA Spectors usually inspires me. The Black Pearl was inspired by last years NAMM Show. So it'll come to me I'm sure.

I love a dark fingerboard with dark colors personally, although black and maple is a beautiful combination.

You've definitely got a tough choice man. Luckily, what ever you get, you're getting a high quality instrument from Stuart himself.

 

[JPSBassist]

Jps , about the single action truss rods , you stated that tightening or clock wise provides relief .

Now when I talk direction , I'm looking at the truss nut from the headstock and tightening straightens the neck , counter clock provides relief . So does that mean all the spectors I have and have had have the rod in the 180 position you spoke of earlier ???

Sorry.

This is getting a little messy.

OK. Clockwise should lessen relief, counter clockwise should increase relief.

If you have a double action truss rod, you'll have a null point where the nut is loose. From this point you can tighten the truss nut in either direction. Clockwise will provide backbow or negative relief, counter clock wise will produce positive relief.

Phat is right that there is no null point on the single action rod.

 

[Clearwave]

Note to self:

Never touch the truss rod.

 

[JPSBassist]

Note to self:

Never touch the truss rod.

It's usually my recommendation if you have any doubts about what you're doing.

You should use the bridge saddles (their height adjustment) to make changes to your guitar's action. You only need to adjust the truss rod if you get buzzing at the desired height. And those adjustments are usually very minimal.

 

[worshiprocker]

Note to self:

Never touch the truss rod.

The first time I ever adjusted a truss rod I snapped it. It was an ibanez and the only good thing about it is I bought my first Spector.

 

[PhatBasstard]

You should use the bridge saddles (their height adjustment) to make changes to your guitar's action. You only need to adjust the truss rod if you get buzzing at the desired height. And those adjustments are usually very minimal.

This is actually one you've got over-simplified (a 1st??? ) and incomplete.

Let me quote myself :

You tighten to "straighten" the neck, or taken further create back bow (If the rod allows. Not a realistic need in most cases).
This more or less is done to create optimum action from the 1st fret to about the 12th or a little more as the rod does not affect the neck much beyond this point (Your bridge saddles should be used first to adjust height from this point (12th fret) up before final truss rod adjustments are done).

You do use the truss rod in combination with your bridge to get the best action.
Once the truss and bridge saddles are in the ball park, you get the best action you can from the 12th fret up to the last fret by adjusting the saddles.
Once you feel this is achieved you adjust (usually tighten) your truss rod to get the best action (hopefully lower without buzz) from the 12th fret down to the 1st.

You do it in this order because, once the bridge saddles are set the truss rod will not affect fretted notes from about the 12th fret up regardless.
However, the bridge saddles can certainly affect the performance of notes all over the neck. Possibly causing you to have to readjust the truss rod for the 1st to 12th fret area again.

 

[tommixx]

OK guys just thought I would post this one up here to give you first shot at this beauty! Here is a link to my For Sale thread for a BEAUTIFUL Wimbish I have decided to sell...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/beautiful-spector-doug-wimbish-840514/

Would love to see her go to one of us Spector FANatics here! PM me if interested! Thanks and God Bless!

Peace,

T

 

[JPSBassist]

This is actually one you've got over-simplified (a 1st??? ) and incomplete.

Nice!

You do use the truss rod in combination with your bridge to get the best action. Once the truss and bridge saddles are in the ball park, you get the best action you can from the 12th fret up to the last fret with the saddles. Once you feel this is achieved you adjust (usually tighten) your truss rod to get the best action (hopefully lower without buzz) from the 12th fret down to the first. You do it in this order because, once the bridge saddles are set the truss rod will not affect fretted notes from about the 12th fret up regardless.

Thank you. You did a much better job with this than I did. I never really think about the order you mentioned above, it just seems the natural way to do it. So thanks for pointing that out. It's one of those things where I guess there's a dialog inside my head about do this first, do this next... but when you're writing it out it's sometimes easy to overlook.

And I checked my Euro4LX.

Obviously the nut if turned counter clockwise will eventually come off threads. At zero tension, meaning the nut is loose, the neck on my Euro4LX is flat. No relief, no backbow.

If left this way, when strings are added and tuned, there is a fair amount of relief. And to reduce this relief you can tighten the nut in a clockwise fashion.

I used Jimmy Eppard's recommended height of 5/64 inch at the twelfth fret and everything is good from the first through the 19th on the B and E strings, then buzzing through the 22nd frets. The A and D strings are good all the way down.

So my Euro has some crown issues at those frets. I can see a visible height difference. Those frets on one side are slightly higher than those around them. Go figure.