Setup issue (Neck)

[Brian18242]

I have a slight issue with one of my basses. The strings are sitting right on the frets from the 24th fret right up to the nut. I'm in no way an expert but looking for options to resolve. Possible truss rod adjustment? 

[Doctor J]

Ok, first problem, and it's a big one, is that the D and G strings are not held down by the string tree. This will change the attitude of the strings over the nut on a Fender style bass where the headstock doesn't lean back. Take care of that first. You should get a little more clearance over the first fret from the D and G. It's important, that's why the string tree is there.

 

Second. It's time for truss rod to be taken out of the "setup" discussion. The truss rod is there to align the neck to your preference and counteract the effect of seasonal changes on the neck. It's not really part of a setup discussion. Ideally, your neck should never move but it's wood, so it does, and that's why there's a truss rod. There's an ideal way your neck shoud really conform to and that's what the truss rod is for. It shouldn't be part of the setup discussion, in my mind.

 

So, what does this mean for you? Let's do some basic steps.

 

1. Hold down the E string at the first fret and the last fret. The strings, under tension, are pretty much a straight line and can be used as a guide to see the state of your neck. With the strings held down as described, you should see a small gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 8th fret. This gap should be about the width of a business card. Less than 1mm. Have a look at the G side too. There may be slight differences. Adjust the truss rod in whatever way it takes to make this happen iwth a happy medium on both sides. Do this before you do anything else. This is the most important step. Get it right. Take your time. Looking at your video, I think you need to loosen the truss rod a bit. Do this but bear in mind that your final adjustment should be, like tuning, tightening up, so you'll need to go too far the other way and come back, if you know what I mean.

 

2. Once the neck is in shape, you can worry about the setup.

 

3. Setup is nowhere as complicated as people make out. Adjust the action to your taste and playing style. There is no right way. It's entirely personal. Me? I like quite a low action but I know lots of people who are the opposite. I don't measure, I go by feel. I like a little bit of fret grind. However, you know best how you play. Set the height of the strings to how you like it. Easy peasy.

 

4. Adjust the intonation. Depending on how you set the action, the length of the string, relative to scale, when open and when fretted can differ. That's where intonation adjustments come in. Get a good tuner. Play the open string and tune to pitch. Play the string at the 12th fret, if the note is sharp, adjust the saddle so you lengthen the distance of the string from the bridge to the 12th fret. If you're flat, shorten that distance. Easy peasy. You're best doing this with new strings but, even with old strings, this is worth doing.

 

5. If you do 1-4 correctly, you should never need to set up your bass ever again if you keep the same type of strings. All you'll need to do is tweak the truss rod twice a year. Once in the Winter and once in the Summer, to align it as in step 1. Once the neck is aligned, your setup should never really need to change.

[Brian18242]

Many thanks for the detailed response 

[Andyjr1515]

Yes - as @Doctor J says, start with popping the treble strings under the string tree to get the correct break angle of the strings over the nut, and then check the neck relief.  That is, checking that there is a tangible gap under the 7th or 8th fret when you hold down the string at the 1st and (I would personally pick the 15th) last frets simultaneously, but that the gap is no more than a mm.  This check should be done under full string tension.

 

Once you know that the neck relief is OK then, as @Doctor J says, you can forget about the truss rod for the rest of the setup.

 

Next, adjust the action with the saddle set screws to your preferred action height.  If you run out of adjustment, then the neck may need a shim to slightly change the neck angle - if this is the case, let us know and we can take you through how to do that.  But if there is enough saddle height adjustment, then great.

 

Lastly, once the action height is set, you can then adjust the intonation as @Doctor J describes. 

 

 

[tauzero]

Just a little additional note - holding down the strings at the 1st fret and the last fret and taking measurements isn't easy [1]. Get a cheap guitar capo and use that to hold the strings down at the first fret, then holding the string down above the last fret is easy and you have one hand free to use feeler gauges, business cards, etc.

 

[1] My emergency system for doing it is left hand finger (any) holding string at first fret, right elbow on string above last fret, use finger of right hand to tap on string and see if it is just a bit above the fretboard. But that's only if I haven't got a capo.