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Will adjusting my string height require me to mess with the truss rod?

E

Exadon

Guest
Jul 3, 2013
16
0
#1
I just bought a Fender American Jazz bass, which is my first super nice bass. The thing is, the action is a little high for my liking. I know how to adjust the string height on the bridge. But I don't know if that would throw the truss rod out of wack. I would really hate to destroy the neck on my brand new $1300 guitar. If it requires truss work, I'll take it to a tech, but if I can just change the saddle height, I'll do it myself.

What say you talk bass?
 
#3
I just purchased a new bass as well. Fender has a great setup guide right on their web site. I wateched a few You Tube videos and dug in myself.
It couldnt be easier to do a whole setup yourself. The truss rod adjustment is rarely more than a quarter turn in either direction. Simply loosen all strings, adjust very slowly and by no more than 1/8 of turn, tune strings and measure.
Nothing to be afraid of.
 
#4
You're right that the neck relief and bridge saddle height are related, but lowering the saddles doesn't necessarily mean you'll have fuss with the truss rod.

You could just start lowering the saddles a little at a time, retune, and check for buzzing. Can't hurt anything that way!

When you get buzzing the neck might need a bit more relief for that string height--but you can just raise the saddles enough to lose the buzzing and call it good.
 
#5
No, but the reason for your high action would be too much truss rod relief, so adjusting it might be a better fix than higher bridge.

I recommend that you specifically adjust bridge or rod after finding out what's responsible, not randomly pick one. If you use the wrong your setup won't be right after after adjusting.
 
#6
uOpt said:
No, but the reason for your high action would be too much truss rod relief, so adjusting it might be a better fix than higher bridge.

I recommend that you specifically adjust bridge or rod after finding out what's responsible, not randomly pick one. If you use the wrong your setup won't be right after after adjusting.
Click to expand...

Yes, if your neck has a lot of relief then straightening it will help "lower" the action. Check the relief first and go from there.
 
#8
uOpt said:
No, but the reason for your high action would be too much truss rod relief, so adjusting it might be a better fix than higher bridge.

I recommend that you specifically adjust bridge or rod after finding out what's responsible, not randomly pick one. If you use the wrong your setup won't be right after after adjusting.
Click to expand...
Perfectly said. A small turn of the truss rod clockwise usually works for me. The action gets lower for all strings at once. As long as you still have a little relief(thickness of a business card at 12th fret). Once the relief is right where you want it then "tweak" the saddles to fine tune each string.
 
#12
I based my suggestion on the OP's comment that he didn't want to mess with the truss rod but was comfortable fooling around with the bridge saddles.

But, yeah--it's worth the time to learn how to do a complete setup, including the truss rod. I learned from Gary Willis's 101 Tips book, and the youtube video by (forgot his name) the guy at Lakland is a good primer, too.
 
#14
Sweets718 said:
It seems logical to me to start from a new setup. Going through all of the steps. That way the setup is done in order and you arent chasing the buzz around.
imo, of course, I am just a baby bass player among the TBers.
Click to expand...

Maybe you are a baby bassist, but you are right on point with this post.

OP I don't know why you think adjusting your bridge is going to screw up your neck.
 
#15
Adjusting the truss rod controls relief.

Adjusting the saddles controls string height.

While one may seem to do the same thing as the other, that's not the way to do it.

Lock in the relief first. Then adjust the string height.
 
#16
If you aren't going to follow all the steps of a setup from start to finish to make the instrument play its best, then you either need to pay someone else to do it or you should consider selling your expensive instrument.

There's really nothing to it. Fender's website is excellent at explaining how to do each step. Read until you understand the process before beginning. There are a few simple and inexpensive tools you will need, there's a whole network of people here to support you, and your instrument will play smoov like butta when you're done.
 
#18
You bought a brand new bass, so it really needs a full set up. Which should be done in this order

1. Neck Relief (truss rod adjustment) With a capo at the first fret, you should hold the E string down at the last fret. You should have a gap about the thickness of a business card at the 7th fret on the E string.

2. Action at nut, Filing the nut slots until proper action at the first fret is achieved. About the same action at the second fret when the first is fretted, maybe a hair higher.

3. Action at the bridge, Raising or Lowering the strings at the bridge until the action is where the player prefers it.

4. Intonation, Increasing or decreasing the speaking length of the string, to where the 12th fret harmonic is in tune with the open string.

You just bought a very nice bass, you should take it to an experienced tech and have it set up. You would serve yourself well to learn how to do this for yourself. The first set up is more involved, so its a good idea to have a tech do it.
 
#19
Perhaps a shim under the neck bolts? I have a jazz bass that the neck had the perfect relief, the saddles were very low, the the action was still to high. I took the neck off and placed about 3 strips of masking tape in between the neck and the body. Easy fix. This was actually good because I was able to raise the saddles and get a good angle of the strings over the bridge.
 

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