String Height - Radius v Flat

[acidbass]

Hi All

Interested to hear opinions on this topic.

Recently I've been really enjoying tweaking my basses and setting them up precisely, I think I'm pretty close to finding what suits my playing best.

Most of my basses have a 9.5" radiused fingerboard, and yesterday for the first time I set up my string height to match the radius of the board (e.g. 9.5" at the bridge saddles)

Well it may just be my imagination, but the bass just plays so much better! A nice even response across the neck.

Does anyone else do this as standard?

D

[CamdenRob]

I've always done this

Works for me

... I should add not with gauges, just by eye.

Edited June 6, 2017 by CamdenRob

[Lozz196]

I set mine by eye rather than using gauges etc but always try to match the radius of the neck.

[Guest Jecklin]

Interesting. I set my strings to get gradually higher as the gauge increases to accommodate the larger vibration.

Ie if my G is 1mm, my D is 1.2, my A 1.4 and my E 1.7 (these figures are fiction, but I do play with low action and a light touch).

If I set my E height the same as my G it is too easy to damp it on the fingerboard.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Jecklin

[grandad]

The best action of my 4 Basses is on my 1981 Aria CSB380. Never adjusted, the neck is superb. I don't know what flat-wound strings are on it but the silk is red and the tension is quite high and the tone fairly growly and bright. The action is low all the way to the top fret.

My others all have lower tensions, (various flats), and slightly higher actions but still lowish. Recently set up my Violin bass using my Tesco clubcard for string height. Managed to get a reasonable action and intonation after several attempts, those floating bridges can be a fiddle.

Edited June 6, 2017 by grandad

[jassthebass]

I too have set up using radius gauges - in general I use the Fender height settings for the E & G strings, then use the gauge for the D & A.
To me it makes a great deal of difference

[markorbit]

I always try and match the radius of the fingerboard. I do this mainly by how it feels so that the same string attack gives the same results on each string. This does mean that the radius slightly lifts with the thicker strings which require a little more room to vibrate.

[Twincam]

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1496706961' post='3313385']
Hi All

Interested to hear opinions on this topic.

Recently I've been really enjoying tweaking my basses and setting them up precisely, I think I'm pretty close to finding what suits my playing best.

Most of my basses have a 9.5" radiused fingerboard, and yesterday for the first time I set up my string height to match the radius of the board (e.g. 9.5" at the bridge saddles)

Well it may just be my imagination, but the bass just plays so much better! A nice even response across the neck.

Does anyone else do this as standard?

D
[/quote]

I'm not sure I follow. Unless you have all your strings the exact same height from the fret or board which is how any stringed instrument should be setup, your not following the exact radius.
You don't really set string height via a radius.
And you don't need a radius gauge just setup the string height from a fret or the board of fretless and you get that radius.
And what do you mean by flat? Unless you set up the bass in a weird and totally wrong way you can't get a flat radius unless of course your fret board has no radius and you like the strings all the same height.
To set up a flat radius on a bass with a radius you would have to set the e and g the same height and have the a and d lower, that is in relation to the fretboard.

In practice most people prefer strings being different heights higher to lower, E to G. As you know. And with any different string heights your not follow the exact radius anyhow.
However since the strings are setup from the fret which is also the neck radius then you will get close. Unless you like a wild variation in your string height.

After setting up many many basses and guitars I would definetly say setting the string height from the 17th fret gets the best results and the radius of the strings while not perfect will match any radius well enough.

One thing that you might be experiencing is on basses with 9.5 radius and smaller 7.5 etc, they do react better to a slightly higher setup. I'm not sure why exactly the science of that is. But every builder/manufacture also recommends higher action heights for more rounder fret boards. So maybe you've raised the action and that's why it feels better.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Twincam

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1496863847' post='3314393']
I'm not sure I follow. Unless you have all your strings the exact same height from the fret or board which is how any stringed instrument should be setup, your not following the exact radius.
You don't really set string height via a radius.
And you don't need a radius gauge just setup the string height from a fret or the board of fretless and you get that radius.
And what do you mean by flat? Unless you set up the bass in a weird and totally wrong way you can't get a flat radius unless of course your fret board has no radius and you like the strings all the same height.
To set up a flat radius on a bass with a radius you would have to set the e and g the same height and have the a and d lower, that is in relation to the fretboard.

In practice most people prefer strings being different heights higher to lower, E to G. As you know. And with any different string heights your not follow the exact radius anyhow.
However since the strings are setup from the fret which is also the neck radius then you will get close. Unless you like a wild variation in your string height.

After setting up many many basses and guitars I would definetly say setting the string height from the 17th fret gets the best results and the radius of the strings while not perfect will match any radius well enough.

One thing that you might be experiencing is on basses with 9.5 radius and smaller 7.5 etc, they do react better to a slightly higher setup. I'm not sure why exactly the science of that is. But every builder/manufacture also recommends higher action heights for more rounder fret boards. So maybe you've raised the action and that's why it feels better.
[/quote]

I'm with Twincam on this. Not sure how else you can set the strings up unless you are judging by sight and keeping the top of your strings level that way your A & D strings will be nearer the fret board tho.

puzzled

Dave

[HowieBass]

I tend to try for the Fender suggested string action heights which, since they're in relation to the frets, are close to the radius of the fretboard - in other words exactly as Twincam explains.

[EssentialTension]

I don't quite get this.

On a typical Fender style bridge, the bridge saddles are separate for each string and should be flat not radiused. Any 'radius' of the strings, which I take to mean the varied string height above the fret at the octave position, is then brought about by raising or lowering the bridge saddles individually to get the desired action.

Myself, I tend to follow the [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIzV9462xeE"]Lakland setup guide[/url] - which gives five/sixty-fourths (G string), five&quarter/sixty-fourths (D string), five&half/sixty-fourths (A string), five&three-quarter/sixty-fourths (E string) as 'medium-low' string heights. If, after setting the neck relief, the bridge saddles are adjusted to those string distances (or similar) then the strings will roughly follow the radius of the fingerboard but it's not achieved by radiussing the bridge saddles - which ought to remain flat but be set at appropriate heights for the desired string action at the twelfth fret.

In millimetres that's roughly 2mm - 2.1mm - 2.2mm - 2.3mm

Edited June 7, 2017 by EssentialTension

[bazzbass]

I too do it by eye, just a slight raising of the A and D saddles

[HowieBass]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1496868903' post='3314453']
I don't quite get this.

On a typical Fender style bridge, the bridge saddles are separate for each string and should be flat not radiused. Any 'radius' of the strings, which I take to mean the varied string height above the fret at the octave position, is then brought about by raising or lowering the bridge saddles individually to get the desired action.

[/quote]

Probably lack of detail in how others are describing their approach - and yes indeed saddles should remain level but the individual strings closely follow the fretboard radius, typically with a variance of around 0.5 millimetres across the neck (say 2.5 mm string height for the E and 2mm for the G with the A and D intermediate between those).

[Grangur]

I usually set the height of each string by using an allen key as a guage between the string and the highest fret on the fretboard. This way they're all the same distance from the frets, but they follow the radius.

[LITTLEWING]

[quote name='markorbit' timestamp='1496787630' post='3313909']
I always try and match the radius of the fingerboard. I do this mainly by how it feels so that the same string attack gives the same results on each string. This does mean that the radius slightly lifts with the thicker strings which require a little more room to vibrate.
[/quote]
This. Totally.