Squier Inquiry (insquiery? ;)

[red_rhino]

I recently came into possession of an older Squier Jazz Bass. It very clean, a nice player, but the action is super stiff and high. It has an ancient set of what appears to GHS Boomers on it, and the action is high enough to be used as a longbow. I want to pass it along to the daughter of a friend of mine, but before I do, I want to put a new set of strings on it and tweak the action.

The problem I’m having is that, for some reason, none of hundreds of hex key wrenches I have around the house fit the bridge saddle screws. Don’t know if I’ve just misplaced the ones that I’ve used on every other jazz bass I ever owned, or if Squiers are really different?

Can anyone tell me what size hex key they’re using on their Squire basses?

 

[MdC64]

Try 1.5mm hex.

 

[JW56789]

This caution:

Don't know you or your skills, but often a bass like that will have the saddles jacked up to try and make it quit buzzing on the frets, and if indeed they are very high, it may be that the previous owner knew nothing about a real setup (neck relief-string heights over the last fret-saddle length adjustment-pickup heights-nut adjustment if necessary). These values have to be in a relationship for it to play right.

Good on you for fixing this up for her, but if not in your skill set, you might want to buy new strings and have them installed by a competent repairman who can reel everything back in. Occasionally you can very slightly tweak one of the values once it's very close to right, but 'way too high' is usually going to involve more steps.

 

[elgranluis]

I believe 1.5. If the previous owner tried raising the strings without removing the tension on the string , the screw might be damaged and that’s why you can’t find the exact fit.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

This caution:


Good on you for fixing this up for her, but if not in your skill set, you might want to buy new strings and have them installed by a competent repairman who can reel everything back in...

This, this, THIS!

I have tried, time and time and time again to do a proper setup; following good directions, taking my time. I just lack the mechanical "knack" for it. Thus, I have found that the best $60 I can spend is on a good setup by a good luthier.

I don't know the OP's skill set, but for me, I am happy to pay the $$$.

 

[red_rhino]

it may be that the previous owner knew nothing about a real setup

The previous owner is my son-in-law. He doesn’t play it anymore cuz he’s moved to short-scales, and he asked me to find a good home for it. I don’t think he’s ever done a setup on it, but I’ll ask him. The intonation is spot-on though, so whoever did it got that part right.

I have tried, time and time and time again to do a proper setup; following good directions, taking my time. I just lack the mechanical "knack" for it. Thus, I have found that the best $60 I can spend is on a good setup by a good luthier.

I like to joke that I have the mechanical aptitude of a can of Silly String. I can do basic setups, but I always involve a repair tech for anything too gnarly. The secret to life is knowing the limit to your abilities, and understanding your potential for creating an even bigger problem than the one you’re trying to solve.

My plan is to put some light-gauge GHS Pressurewounds on it and see how the bass settles with those, then adjust the saddle height and neck relief as needed. Eyeballing it, the neck could use a bit more relief. I think whoever did the last setup did compensate by raising the saddles.

 

[JW56789]

This, this, THIS!

I have tried, time and time and time again to do a proper setup; following good directions, taking my time. I just lack the mechanical "knack" for it. Thus, I have found that the best $60 I can spend is on a good setup by a good luthier.

I don't know the OP's skill set, but for me, I am happy to pay the $$$.

Let me utterly assure you that when I taught myself, after days of watching setup videos, buying Dan Erlewine's books, the whole nine yards, I MOST certainly turned mine into logs once or twice until I began to 'Get It', so I can guarantee you that it happens to all of us. And believe me, if I can learn to do it, ANYBODY can. If nothing else, remember how many turns you took to screw it up, then reverse it !

I would allow that the I would highly recommend watching Dave Reaume do setups on basses on his YouTube channel, 'Dave's World of Fun Stuff'. Dave ALWAYS performs the same evaluation, and then always the same process to setup a bass, even if he has to make repair side trips of bogus frets, neck heats, bridge problems, etc., of neck relief, string height, intonation, pickup height, then any nut adjustment if necessary. Again, he correctly always goes through the same process in order, and I highly recommend watching more than a few of his vids to begin to understand what makes the wheels go 'round.

Here's Dave doing a setup on a late-model, Indonesia-built Squier Jazz, and note he mentions 'unbelievably high string action', and this is NSFW.



Dave's usual target values for Fenders and most other axes:

.012" relief at the 7th fret, capo'd on the first fret and held down with your off-hand at the 17th fret
5/64" clearance, each string over the last fret (no capo)
1/8" pickup clearance with the strings held down at the last fret
.020" nut clearance, each string over the first fret

This works for a lot of guys, and if too low or too high, is a good starting point to begin from to fine-tune it exactly.