How to do your own bass setups.

How to do Your Own Bass Setups
     by John Galt, aka. Doug Wellington (doug@sun1paztcn.wr.usgs.gov)

This article is an excerpt from The Bottom Line, Issue #133, February 9, 1992

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Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1992 01:44 MST
From: John Galt <JOHNGALT@CCIT.Arizona.edu>
Subject: How to do your own bass setups.

Hi folks,

I was recently asked how to adjust a bass, so I thought that I would
pass this on to the whole list.  This is the procedure that I have
gone through on all of my basses.  Feel free to adjust my method to
suit your own preferences.  The important thing is to get one system
down and stick to it so that you can duplicate what you have done.
Of course, everyone likes his or her bass setup in a different way,
so the measurements that I use may not be appropriate for your bass
and/or your playing style.  Also, your bass may or may not have all
of the adjustments that I am talking about.  For instance, not all
basses have neck tilt adjustment screws.  For that matter, some
basses don’t have bolt on necks anyway.  Expect to have to adjust
your bass every time you change string sizes, and also expect that
your bass will change with changes in the weather, unless it is made
of graphite, and then I don’t want to hear about it, you lucky dog!

I’ll start from scratch here, but you can start at any point in the
procedure.  Read the whole thing first before you actually try any of it.
You may want to thoroughly clean your bass if you have the strings off
of it.  I like to pay extra attention to the fretboard right next to the
frets.  (I couldn’t ever be like James Jamerson and not ever clean my bass,
but I do admire his playing!)  I have even taken all of my basses completely
apart at least once.  OK, so I’m an obsessive, compulsive, anal retentive
kind of guy, what can I say?  It was there, and I had to do it.

To adjust your own truss rod, neck tilt, bridge height and intonation,
get a couple tools ready.  My method requires a capo, a feeler gauge set,
a machinists 6″ steel ruler, a couple of allen wrenches and a couple
screwdrivers.  I bought a cheap capo for a couple bucks – don’t bother
with the fancy $18 ones.  I had the ruler, wrenches and screwdrivers
because I used to be a machinist.

First, loosen up the screws that hold the neck on.  Then use the allen
wrench to back off the neck tilt adjustment screw that is accessed from
the hole in the plate the neck screws go through.  After you have
loosened the tilt screw, re-tighten the neck screws.  The tilt screw
should still be completely slack after the others are tight.  Don’t
worry, we’ll come back to it later.

Next, string up the bass with the set of strings that you will be using.
Try to only have about three turns of the string on each tuning peg. Tune
up your bass to the tuning you will be using.  If the pickups look like
they are too close to the strings, use a screwdriver to lower them.  Now,
put the capo on the first fret.  We will be using the strings as a
straightedge.  To get as accurate a measurement as possible, hold the
bass in the same position as you play it.  Gravity really can change
the relief on these big thangs!  Hold down the string at the last fret
(for me, the 22nd) and measure the distance between the string and the
fret at the half-way point on the finger board (for me, the 8th).  This
will tell you how much relief the neck has.  I like to see about .014″
between the string and the fret.  I use a set of flat feeler gauges to
tell. Choose one and see if you can fit it in between the string and the
fret without lifting the string.  If the distance is less than .014″,
then you have to loosen the truss rod.  If the distance is more than
.014″, then you have to tighten the truss rod.  Only tighten or loosen
the truss rod nut about an eighth of a turn at a time, no more.  If you
have an old P-bass (I have one), you’ll have to actually remove the
neck from the body to do this properly.

Once the relief is set, take off the capo and pick up the machinists
ruler.  Hold the ruler on the last fret of the neck (closest to the
bridge) and measure the distance between the string and the fret.
This tells you how high your action is.  I like to see 5/32″ on my
low B and 4/32″ on my G string.  If the distance is more than 5/32″
then you have to lower the saddles on the bridge.  If the distance is
less than 5/32″ then you have to raise the saddles on the bridge.  Use
the correct allen wrench and adjust the screws on each saddle evenly.  I
usually turn each screw 1/2 turn and recheck the measurements.  The most
important thing to accomplish here is to make the strings be an equal
height off of the neck.  Don’t adjust the saddles so that they are bottomed
out on the face of the bridge.  If they won’t go down far enough, then
adjust them to a reasonable point and make all the strings as even as you
can, matching the lowest one.  (For me the lowest one is always the G.)

Once the strings are all even, decide if they are still too high for
your style of playing.  If they are too high, then the neck tilt
adjustment screw needs to be tightened.  Loosen the neck screws, and
tighten the neck tilt screw a little bit.  Same as the truss rod nut,
1/8 turn is a good starting point.  Now tighten the neck screws again
and recheck the measurement.  Repeat this until the height of the strings
is to your liking.  At this point, you should be comfortable with the way
the bass plays.  If not, then go back and repeat whatever is necessary of
this whole procedure to get to a happy medium.  Don’t forget, the lower
the action and the less relief the neck has, the more possibility there
is for fret noise.  On the other hand, too much relief and too high an
action can be hard to play and, in excess, can cause your neck to warp,
especially if you use heavy strings.  If you have a bass without an
adjustment screw, like my old P-bass, then you can stick a little piece
of something under the end of the neck before you bolt it on to the body.
A piece of match book cover is actually quite good.

Whoa, we’re not done yet.  Two more things.  Adjust your pickups so that
they are at a point where they won’t get sanded down from contact with
the strings, yet aren’t so far away that they lose volume.  Be careful
though, that you don’t put the pickups so close that the magnets in
them pull on the strings, damping out the sustain.  The thicker your
strings are, the closer the pickups can be because of the higher tension
that thick strings have.  My Lace Sensors are nice!  No magnetic pull,
so I just stick them up as close as I can without having them rub.

Now, last, but certainly not least is to adjust the intonation.  This is
easiest with one of the electronic tuners.  Make sure that the open strings
are in tune.  Then check the tuning at the twelfth fret.  If the twelfth
fret is sharp, then the saddle needs to be adjusted away from the nut, so
that the string is longer.  If the twelfth fret is flat, then the saddle
needs to be adjusted toward the nut, so that the string is shorter.  This
is done by adjusting the long screw that holds the saddle against the pull
of the string.  Again, like the truss rod, and the neck tilt, a little
tightening or loosening goes a long way.  You will have to retune each
string after every adjustment and then check the tuning at the twelfth fret
again.  The biggest thing that affects intonation is the height of the
string off of the neck (the “action”).  Every time you adjust the string
height, you should recheck the intonation.

Well, now you have it.  Keep records of the measurements and play your
bass for a while and see if there is something you want to change.  If
you want to change it, why not, GO FOR IT!  Only YOU really know how
you like your bass set up, so why not do it yourself.  As long as you
don’t try major surgery on your instrument, it is very hard to cause
serious damage.  The most important thing is to keep your truss rod
tightened enough that it prevents warping.  Don’t ever leave the truss
rod nut completely loosened!  You should pretty much follow the order
of the adjustments that I followed, because the subsequent ones depend
upon the previous ones to work right.  BTW, I have to give credit to
Jack Schwarz, the Fender factory guitar tech.  I learned all this stuff
from him when he was here in Tucson giving one of his tune up clinics.

For a more in depth study of setups and guitar/bass repair, I have to
recommend Dan Erlewine’s book, The Guitar Player Repair Guide.

-J