'Not enough' relief

[Annoying Twit]

I adjusted the truss rods on my Shine SB26 again. I found that I'd over-done it, and the neck has gone flat and has no relief at all. After I noticed that, I thought I'd have to losen the truss rods a bit again.

Funny thing is, I like the way that it plays now. The neck is really flat, and strings need to be treated really gently. But, I like the result. The pickups are currently really near the strings and they have bar magnets that protrude through the top of the pickup covers, so there's plenty of signal even when strings are plucked very gently.

Does anyone here set their necks very flat?

[gjones]

I have in the past but be aware that at this time of year, with the extremes of temperatures, the neck can expand and contract and lead to notes choking. So the moral is.......always carry an allen key just in case you need to do adjustments, on the fly, before a gig.

[BassBus]

That'swhy it's always worth experimenting, you might just find a new setting you like. If it works for you, go with it. And heed gjones' advice too.

[Annoying Twit]

On this bass, and on some other instruments, I have the truss rod cover removed permanently, and allen keys to the ready at all times. I've noticed that one day it might play well, and the next day, play like turds. Advice being heeded!

Edited December 16, 2013 by Annoying Twit

[FlatEric]

Does anybody here remember the old Doris Stokes gag. . . . .
a "Happy Medium"

I do like mine set [i]almost [/i]flat and set it - leave the cover off for
a week and if OK, put the cover on.
All my stuff is either in the warm and dry, in transit (LDV actually! )
or being played at a gig or rehearsal, so no extrmes of temp or humidity.

I very rarely touch them again - if ever.
A change of string brand or gauge may require a tweek but only then.

Try and keep 'em cosy - you may not have to be always fine tuning.

Cheers.

[Annoying Twit]

I'm enjoying fine tuning

One of my early experiments was to give my Rockbass 5-er to a local bass technician to have it set up. When I got it back, it was certainly different, but I hated it. It sat at work for quite some time not being used. I was very hesitant to change the set-up on it as, well, I'd paid some money for the setup. Tonight, I finally gave up and did everything from scratch. I now think it plays much better, and that I've done a better job than he did.

For anyone who enjoys fine-tuning, a Warwick Just-a-nut is brilliant. I found that the D and G strings were buzzing madly at one point. A few turns on the nut's high string end allen key adustment, and it was fine. So easy. Off to see if it's possible to buy a Just-a-nut for my Shine!

One general question though. When I set up the Shine and the Rockbass, if I take the action down as low as I can get it, not too far down yet, the strings feel very 'soft'. But, I've played basses that have both lower action than I'm getting, but also a firm feel. How do you achieve that?

[Paul S]

I'm too heavy handed. I recently bought a bass (Squier Deluxe Jazz) that had been set up like that with a really straight neck and the lowest action I have ever seen. As soon as I started thumping away on it I buzzed all over the place and had to bow the neck a bit more and raise the action.

[Annoying Twit]

I loaned my Rockbass in its previous setup condition to someone who had a really attacking style. The buzzing and rattling could be heard across a crowded room. When I offered him another go on it some time later, he told me no thanks.

The Rockbass might benefit from a neck shim, and I'm wondering if I should try a thicker shim on the Shine. Both of them have an action that rises progressively down the neck. I'd be able to get the action lower with a shimmed neck, but would I just have to raise the action at the bridge and the nut to compensate so that I'm back where I started?

While the Rockbass has been for a while been the bass that I liked the least (apologies if the member who sold it to me is still on here), I think it has promise. There's nothing on it that feels really wrong, and the shape and finish of the neck feels very nice. I'm getting better at extracting better tone from it, showing myself how much tone is in the fingers. And the sound is mellowing as the strings get older. The bass does have the same hardware as a real Warwick of the same vintage, albeit a Streamer Standard. I wonder if the pine body of the Rockbass will be a limitation in the long run, compared to the more exotic woods on the real Warwick.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Annoying Twit

[gjones]

That [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Just-a-nut looks like a great idea.[/font][/color]

[Annoying Twit]

I've never adjusted it before, and it was just so easy. It even uses the same size allen key as the saddles on the bridge. I had a look to see how much one would cost for my Shine, but could only find the new brass one for sale. That would be about the same price as the whole bass cost me in the first place.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Annoying Twit

[geoffbyrne]

You adjust the relief via the truss rod.

You adjust the action by raising or lowering the bridges and by getting the nut at the right height.

The salient point is where & if the strings start hitting the frets when lowered.

If the strings are hitting the frets right down at the dusty end, there is probably too much relief & the bridges are too low in an attempt to compensate.

If the strings are hitting the frets near the nut - say 5th fret - then there's a backbow - to get over this you have to raise the bridges very high.

My fretless took a while to get right. The Bass Doc put a fretless fingerboard on my neck & it took a period of time for it to adapt to string tension & get the truss rod right.

There was a bit of choking around where the 9th fret would be. It took a few goes with the Allan key & about 8-9 days of settlement before I got the fingerboard/neck flat. I had to cut the nut down a bit & only then did I adjust the bridges to see how low I could get the action, now that the strings weren't choking on the fingerboard.

I now have a nice low-ish action which plays cleanly with my fingers & I can get mwah when I use my thumb. I could cut the nut down more yet.

I've found I don't like a *very* low action.

To me, when a neck is straight or *almost* straight (as recommended by Dan Erlwine in his book), there is a different feel - difficult to express, but the neck feels much more stable/stronger to me than with a noticable relief.

Get the neck almost straight (again, Erlewine quotes Fender that at the 17th fret there should be 3/32" ±1/64" string height above the fret), then get the nut height correct - again, Erlwine recommends that when the string is stopped down between the 3rd & 4th frets, there should be about .01" between the string & the 1st fret - roughly .02" ±.002 unstopped , then you can follow up by adjusting the bridge heights to taste.

Of course, all this depends on the fact that the frets are all level!!!! It's amazing the difference a decent fret job can make to getting a decent action. Also, the bottom frets wear with constant playing & the dusty frets stay the same, resulting in the bridges being progressively raised & the action getting higher.

G.

Edited December 16, 2013 by geoffbyrne