Setting up of bass

[anonpersona]

Do you guys set up your basses or get other people to set up for you?

Know of any places that can set up bass guitars for comfort playing? How much do they normally charge?

 

[atiao]

If you're confident enough you can try to do it yourself, but I think it's best to get professionals to set the bass up for you.

I think you can get information from this previous thread.

http://soft.com.sg/forum/gear-bass/48717-best-place-get-bass-setup.html

 

[cherns]

I think it's always good to try to setup your own instrument and there's plenty of information out there on the net on how to do so.

Try it yourself first - don't worry, you won't break anything.

 

[anonpersona]

Thanks to everyone for replying.

I would like to DIY but I am not sure on how to check the action, how to check the straightness of the neck and the string heights.

Since I am still new to bass playing, I am not even sure if my bass is properly setup or it is just my nooby playing technique.

 

[Musicana77]

Setup

anonpersona:Hmm setting up your bass would be to your preferences. If your comfortable with the action and the height of the different strings then thats it. For me i have never tried adjusting my trussrod but i do my own setup in terms of intonation and action. Both of which can be done at the bridge and are independent of each other. Depending on your bridge, just grab a tool and adjust the height of the strings to your liking. But of course noting too ridiculous. As for intonation, its easy get a good tuner , a comfy chair and loads of patience is required. = ), There are numerous guides of how-to-setup your bass online. Just dive into the wonderful world of google.

 

[godchuanz]

Learn to do it yourself first. Then when you know how to do some basic things, you can get lazy and just send it to technicians everytime. I think typically the charge is around $50 - $100. After you get it back, play a bit and just do some fine-tuning if necessary.

I actually find it quite unnecessary to "measure" action. Why not just set it up, play a bit and feel if it needs changing? If it plays well, I don't care if it's 1.82mm or 1.83mm. Just use some common sense while setting it up and you should be fine.

For neck profile, press the string down at 1st and last fret. Look at the midpoint between your 2 fingers. The amount of space between the fret and the string gives you an idea of the neck profile. Again, no need to measure too accurately, I think.

The actual people who really need to measure accurately are very experienced people who already know exactly what settings they prefer best. Then, they can just pass the numbers to the tech who can set up all 10 of their guitars/basses precisely in the exact same way.

 

[cherns]

Thanks to everyone for replying.

I would like to DIY but I am not sure on how to check the action, how to check the straightness of the neck and the string heights.

Since I am still new to bass playing, I am not even sure if my bass is properly setup or it is just my nooby playing technique.

I think this question has been asked enough times to warrant a thread on it's own. Let me start one and you can refer to it for the answers you seek

 

[trowaclown]

I think this question has been asked enough times to warrant a thread on it's own. Let me start one and you can refer to it for the answers you seek

Hail cherns! Sticky sticky sticky sticky!

 

[anonpersona]

That's cool Cherns! Make it sticky as well...Yay!