Bass Guitar Maintenance

[jonunders]

Apart  from changing the strings, what maintenance do you perform and how often?

[Lozz196]

Whenever I change strings I tighten all screws/nuts on bridge, tuners, neck, strap buttons. I also clean the fretboard making sure there’s no gunk left on it.

[TheGreek]

2 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I also clean the fretboard making sure there’s no gunk left on it.

This mainly...

[skankdelvar]

None, unless something's off.

Every couple of years I might scrape the gunk off the fretboard. That's if there's nothing on the telly.

[yorks5stringer]

4 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

None, unless something's off.

Every couple of years I might scrape the gunk off the fretboard. That's if there's nothing on the telly.

You get gunk on your telly....?

[Reggaebass]

If I’m changing my strings around I’ll clean the fretboard while they are off , apart from that , none 🙂

[Doctor J]

Fretboard clean and oil. Clean the frets with ultra-fine wire wool. Truss rod tweak if needed. General bio-sludge clean from neck, tuners and bridge as required.

[upside downer]

2 hours ago, jonunders said:

Apart  from changing the strings, what maintenance do you perform and how often?

What is this 'changing the strings' you speak of?

[SpondonBassed]

A quick brush off with a shaving brush to get the skin flakes out from the bridge and pick-ups.  Occasionally I'll clean up a fretboard and rub lemon oil in.

I don't do a high mileage on any of them though.

[skankdelvar]

5 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

You get gunk on your telly....?

Doesn't everyone?

Anyway, if I'm scraping stuff off the fretboard I might polish the frets if they're going a bit dull and green. But I'll only adjust the geometry if there's an issue (fret buzz, high action / relief, seriously dodgy intonation).

[Oopsdabassist]

Strap button screws checked pretty regularly as I jump about a bit 😲 Apart from that, not a lot.

[uk_lefty]

It would be good if there was an "idiot's guide to" bass maintenance somewhere. For example setting action height, I bought the special overpriced ruler but do you measure from the board to the middle of the string? The top of the fret to the bottom of the string? Etc. Would save me £60 every now and then taking my basses for a 'service' (I like to not only change strings but go for completely different gauges etc so it needs truss rod, action and intonation as well as the easy stuff) as I'm sure after a few goes on an old bass I could build up the confidence to do all sorts of stuff to my nice basses.

[Teebs]

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

It would be good if there was an "idiot's guide to" bass maintenance somewhere.

Don't worry, I'm sure Ricky or SkinnyMan will be along shortly...

Edited June 3, 2019 by Teebs

[pineweasel]

58 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

It would be good if there was an "idiot's guide to" bass maintenance somewhere. 

I always thought Fender’s guide was pretty good:

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/214343843-How-do-I-set-up-my-bass-guitar-properly-

[Skinnyman]

2 hours ago, Teebs said:

Don't worry, I'm sure Ricky or SkinnyMan will be along shortly...

Why bother when you got there first, Young Teebs?

Cheeky little barskit.....

😉😉

[Doctor J]

3 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

It would be good if there was an "idiot's guide to" bass maintenance somewhere. For example setting action height, I bought the special overpriced ruler but do you measure from the board to the middle of the string? The top of the fret to the bottom of the string? Etc. Would save me £60 every now and then taking my basses for a 'service' (I like to not only change strings but go for completely different gauges etc so it needs truss rod, action and intonation as well as the easy stuff) as I'm sure after a few goes on an old bass I could build up the confidence to do all sorts of stuff to my nice basses.

Set the action to what fits your hands. There is no right action across the board as dictated in a manual, it's what is right for your playing style and your hands. Set it to what feels best for you. I find it hard to believe people give their instrument to a stranger, who has never heard them play, to configure and then accept what they get back without personalising it in some way. It's easy to do once you think about what tweaks to each adjustable part does to the instrument as a whole. It's as personal as setting a driving position in your car, you've got to go with what feels most comfortable to you.

I don't measure anything but I know that I set my action lower than most. It suits me that way. My general setup is like this:

Start with the neck. I like the neck quite straight so it's a big deal to set the tension on the truss rod correctly. Neck relief is good when I can see a tiny bit of a gap between the bottom of the string and the top of 8th and 9th frets, when holding the string down at the first and last fret. I need to be able to push the string down at the 8th fret like that and it has enough space to perceive it move down to the fret - but it's a tiny gap, the width of a piece of paper. I really like the neck straight. A slightly bowed neck just feels messy from the 5th fret on and crappy higher up the neck.

Nut action is very important to me. I like the action at the first fret to be as if there was a zero fret, or the action at the second fret when you hold the string down on the first fret. I hate a high nut, it serves no purpose other than to make playing harder. Depending on how the nut is installed, I either file down the string slots or, preferably, take the nut out and sand down the base of the nut. This is something you do slowly and check frequently. The only way to undo is to replace the nut so do a little and then check a lot. It is, however, something you only ever need to do once.

Once the neck is set, move to the bridge. I like to hear a bit of fret grit when I play hard so I set the action of each string accordingly. I generally set the action slightly higher on the bass side than I do the treble side, I don't strictly follow the radius of the neck. It's done by feel. I don't like the notes to choke, they need to ring clear and true when I play gently, but a bit of grind when I dig in is a sound I love, so I take a bit of time to do this. Again, it's how I like it set up, not what the manual says.

Then I set the intonation, adjusting as required, then revisit the bridge action again to make sure everything is in order.

After that, pickup height. I start with the bridge pickup (if there is one) and set that to a height where it doesn't get in my way when playing and isn't so high that it's not being pushed up against the screws by whatever springs or foam are underneath. I do like the pickup to be reasonably close, though. There's a bit of funk to be had by the string really violating the magnetic field which is nice to my ears, so I usually have the bridge pickup close enough to the strings to get this, not so close that the magnetic pull is affecting the string's vibration. I then set the height of the neck pickup so that, if I switch from bridge to neck and back, there is no perceivable volume drop. The bridge pickup is a naturally thinner sound and the vibration pattern of the string isn't as great as over the neck pickup, so the neck pickup is almost always further away from the string than the bridge pickup. An even volume balance across the strings is important too, so the pickups might be slightly closer to the strings on the treble side than the bass side. It's important not to adjust pickups visually, you've got to go with what sounds best, not what looks right when holding a ruler. Most people don't factor in pickup height into a setup but, to me, it's as important a step as any other.

Then I play for a while and see how it all feels and sounds. If a string is hitting a pickup, the pickups get set lower. If the action is too low, it goes up, too high and it goes down. It's all down to how it plays and sounds to me. It's not to everyone's taste but we all come in different shapes and sizes and one size does not fit all. You don't play the bass exactly the same way as anyone else so why would I be set up the same as everyone else's? The best it is, once you get it right, if you use the same strings the only thing you'll ever need to set again is the truss rod as the neck moves, usually in Autumn and Spring.

It is easy. You just have to think about one tweak at a time and what that means to the rest of the instrument.

 

[Slappindabass]

I did a days course Here.

 

https://www.guitartechcourses.com

 

Loved it and has saved me a fortune. I am doing the fret leveling one this month.

[Twigman]

I change the battery more often than I change the strings.

[uk_lefty]

6 hours ago, Doctor J said:

I find it hard to believe people give their instrument to a stranger, who has never heard them play, to configure and then accept what they get back without personalising it in some way. 

I take it to a guy who knows what he's doing. He asks what I want, he delivers it without flipping up the instrument. I have a go on it and either say yes it's great or say hmmm maybe you could lower it a bit more? Etc. It saves me masses of time, frustration and stress that I'm wrecking a bass. Things like adjusting the truss rod aren't intuitive to me. 

[Doctor J]

48 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

I take it to a guy who knows what he's doing. He asks what I want, he delivers it without flipping up the instrument. I have a go on it and either say yes it's great or say hmmm maybe you could lower it a bit more? Etc. It saves me masses of time, frustration and stress that I'm wrecking a bass. Things like adjusting the truss rod aren't intuitive to me. 

That line reads back quite poorly. It wasn’t intended as a dig and I apologise if it came across that way. What I was trying to get at - poorly - is that there is so much information out there for every aspect of a setup there’s just no mystery out there about it anymore. It’s in everyone’s hands to be able to set up their own instrument exactly as they want it whenever they want it and all for free 🙂

[Lozz196]

19 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Doesn't everyone?

Anyway, if I'm scraping stuff off the fretboard I might polish the frets if they're going a bit dull and green. But I'll only adjust the geometry if there's an issue (fret buzz, high action / relief, seriously dodgy intonation).

What do you use for polishing the frets, Skank? Something I`ve never done, and have to admit not really needed to yet, but like to be prepared.

[skankdelvar]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

What do you use for polishing the frets, Skank? Something I`ve never done, and have to admit not really needed to yet, but like to be prepared.

 

Dursol Shine - marvellous stuff. It's like a sort of creamy paste in a fetching shade of pink. Put a tiny dab on a clean cloth and polish away. Done in seconds.

Tip: get two post-it notes and butt the sticky edges up either side of the fret. Replace with clean post-it notes every so often as you work up the neck. Much less faff than a full masking tape job, though less durable so no good for wire wool or fret-dressing.

  

Edited June 3, 2019 by skankdelvar

[Skinnyman]

11 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

 

. Replace with clean post-it notes every so often as you work up the neck.

  

Are they 7.62mm frets?

And sound advice for the newbie interrogator in his first days on the job....

 

[Lozz196]

16 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

 

Dursol Shine - marvellous stuff. It's like a sort of creamy paste in a fetching shade of pink. Put a tiny dab on a clean cloth and polish away. Done in seconds.

Tip: get two post-it notes and butt the sticky edges up either side of the fret. Replace with clean post-it notes every so often as you work up the neck. Much less faff than a full masking tape job, though less durable so no good for wire wool or fret-dressing.

  

Cheers, much appreciated 

[Guest subaudio]

I do my own set ups and minor soldering work, I'm getting more and more into repairs, I used to be a carpenter and I've become addicted to this guys repair vids,

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCOXNPo7CtnzzZ9A4GyQ6Tog

He's a bit of a character ( I think he's cool) but he's very methodical and so gets rid of the fear that it's all some dark art.

He's doing a few guitars lately as well but he's a bass player and has tons of bass vids with pretty much any repair you can think of.

Edited June 3, 2019 by subaudio