Speed, strings and set up

[bobwhite]

Like many of you, I've seen elec bass players on Instagram and TikTok that are using two or three fingered slap-puck technique and playing extremely fast and precise runs.

I was wondering if these guys are using a lighter gauge of string and a much lower set up height to achieve this success. Specific examples of string gauges and set up height for this style would be most appreciated.

I'm pretty old-school in that I use round wound strings, thick, set fairly high, and thump it pretty good, but I play mostly blues/rock material. My #1 is a Fender American passive J bass. I was looking at getting into some of these other genres, but couldn't help but think that with my set up, the playing I first described would not be possible.

Thank you.

 

[ajkula66]

Well, set-up height/action is going to be instrument-dependent, not every bass will conform with *really* low action.

Rotosound Funkmasters FM66 (30-90) were once considered to be the slap set, thanks to Mark King of Level 42 but there are other options available nowadays. While I don't play in that manner anymore, I'd also suggest SIT Power Wounds in 40-95 because it seemed to me that they would play well with that particular style.

My $0.02 only...

Happy explorations!

 

[cxcxcx]

That style is dependent on a low action, not much neck relief, and a light string set.

The generic standard for a Victor Wooten style setup is a 1/16th to 3/64th action from the bottom of the string to the top 12th fret at the very highest. Some players might go lower. .008” to .010” relief, and a roundwound string set around .040 to .095. Brand doesn’t really matter although there are some that will mention them.

As with all things musical, there will be different opinions and approaches to this, but this example is a good starting point and is what the vast majority of practitioners use. You can’t say the other types of setups and string will make the style impossible, but there are physics involved and it’s best to bet on a horse that is most likely to win.

Any bass can be adjusted to play like this - it all depends on how much time and effort and money you want to put into to making it happen. It takes a lot of nut work, fret leveling, truss rod tweaking, bridge adjustment, and other mods. It’s about creating and maintaining the tight tolerances a setup like that requires. More expensive basses tend to accept lower easy-action set ups better that cheaper ones because they are designed to do so. The very best basses typically ship set up like that already, but the man-hours it takes for that to happen are reflected in the price.