Thanks for the tips, Dave. I went through and did all this, and realized that my pickup height was wayyyy off, and it made all the difference in my tone. Much obliged, and glad to see your posts. To you it might be a goofy hobby, but I for one get a much needed escape from my own boring life!
You hoser! Beauty way to go eh?🇨🇦 Thank you for sharing these informative videos. Under your tutelage I have graduated to a full toolkit allowing fret dress , cutting/slotting nuts, intonation (for the nation) and I just did my first acoustic neck reset. You’re an inspiration Dave. Take off eh??
Yeah I dig that Dave does things by the book but for myself I went with what sorted the problem out and what felt good and sounded good with no buzz on the neck. My jazz after about 6 or 7 years or so of playing gigs etc. Needed a few adjustments due to different experimentation on strings and maybe just the change in atmosphere etc.. after the 12th fret it was buzzing and I knew it wasnt right so I gave it a few turns on the truss rod to straighten the neck and got a new high mass bridge and intonated it and set my action in a curvature like Dave does but without anything to measure. I got things feeling how I want it with trial and error and kept checking the intonation as I went. I used dunlop lemon oil on the rosewood neck and what a difference. It now plays and feels in my mind as it should and better than it ever was. It's been a learning experience but totally satisfying. Thanks for the tips Dave. You taught me to not go crazy with truss adjustments etc.
I agree with Amanda on this. The truss rod is the foundational adjustment on this. It has to come first because all the other adjustments depend on the truss rod being adjusted correctly.
floouk perhaps better approach is to move everything into right place around the truss rod, (fit and tune strings, set action, set intonation...) to better see if the trussrod actually needs adjustment.... it’s the most invasive adjustment and least likely to change (strings are most likely factor to change - another reason to start with the strings)
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff - I just followed along with this video and set up my Fender 70's Jazz Bass following your instructions. Plays great now! You even gave me the courage to replace the stripped bullet truss rod nut with a new one - no more Gooched bass! I Always enjoy your videos - keep 'em comin'! - Wayne from Texas
you saved my bacon pal!! I got a J-bass a few days ago and I was having minor issues with getting the thing set up since I don't have radius gauges... I just go by measurements... and thanks to you (yet again) I now have 1/8" on E and G and havethe whole thing balanced perfectly with about a paper's width on the relief... and it sounds amazing :D
Dave saved mine as well on some P-bass neck & pick up switching surgery I did. "This is not a how to do it movie, it's a how I do it movie..." It's like watching your dad changing spark plugs, cussing and all.
Tony DeCicco that's true... also... Dave's way is Dave's way... and it works well :D you can always adapt the things you see in Dave's vids and make your own setup on a guitar... works well for me anyway :D
I have a late 90s USA Fender Jazz bass that I also keep in "D-standard" (D-G-C-F) I have D'Addario Chrome flatwounds 105-50 which seem to me as the perfect string for that lowered tuning.
After you set the action on the E and G, you should be checking the radius on the underside of the strings, where they're supposed to match the neck radius. The thickness of each string will make the measurements different for the top side of the strings.
I have a jazz fretless and figured out how to adjust the string height to avoid buzzing. Im not sure about the truss rod yet. But Im going to figure it out if the neck warps. It saves alot of money doing it yourself.
Vincent M You'll probably need to adjust it slightly a time or two per year to make it play its best, due to seasonal changes in heat/humidity (depending on your local climate, of course). Neck relief can be sort of a trial and error thing with fretless, depending on how much 'buzz', usually referred to as 'growl' or 'mwah', you want, but usually .005-.008" is what I find works best for me (that's measured with a feeler gauge, press or capo at the first fret position and the point at which the neck meets the body, I think 17th on a Fender?, then check the relief at the halfway point, I think the 8th? with your feeler gauge).
Great stuff but you poor Yanks still using the archaic imperial scale & talking in fractions when the rest of the planet has moved on...egad, 6/64ths?! Stewmac makes a metric version btw.
Davey, it would be much appreciated if you could please share with us those dimensions in metric units too. These vids are helpful of course but they'd be even better that way imo :O Thanks!
I should say what could be causing this? The action is low and it plays great. I have thought about trimming the spring or looking for a shorter one. Just wondering if it might be a small truss rod adjustment that is needed.
Dave! Been a while. Belated Happy New Year. Question for ya. I got a Fender Hwy.1 Jazz. Played nice, and strung to standard pitch, it has slight releif, but I'm a little concerned.Wanted to give it a good setup, so pulled the strings. with the tension off, the neck backbows a bit. (compared to my guitars which don't) Is it normal given the heavier tension on a bass? Does the t-rod on a J really work that much harder with the skinny neck? Can't remember what gauge it came with. new:45-100
Hey Dave, I have a Sterling Ray 34 (4) string bass and I've been trying to get the bass set up the correct way ever since I bought it. I'm trying to get the action as close to the neck as possible. is it true if you shim the neck you can get better action? I need you help. I got it set act a recommended guitar shop, but I swear the action looks like you can shoot a bow with it. is there some way i can send you a photo of it and can you give some advice on how to correct it?
Hi, I have run into a small issue setting the intonation on my six string bass. The low B and E are still a little sharp at the 12th but I cant turn the screw any further. What is causing this issue?
Cool Davey, I'm more than likely going to buy a bass next weekend a Jaguar Bass Modern Player, Crafted in China, no less. So I'll be off to the shop with my set of calipers and feeler gauges. But I played it today and felt pretty good. Was thinking of a Squire vintage modified before but didn't like it. Neck like a banana and a matte finish which I hate. Anyway slightly off topic, do you have any recommendation for a decent bass practice amp that won't break me.
That's a nice jazz bass. I have a "P J" JACKSON and one of the p pickups is gooched as you say. so the bass is going into the shop for an over haul. i try to set my guitars same as yours more or less.
I could never figure out why Fender did not radius the pickups. It makes no sense to have a curved neck and strings with a totally flat pickup source. At least some threaded pole pieces would have helped (as on a humbucker.)
Is there any specific tips you could give for setting up a MM Stingray (Ernie Ballsack aside) ie anything I should know about the electronics or anything special about the neck?
Dave I got a brand new jazz bass and set it up perfectly I have always done all my own set ups and friends set ups but I cant get a low action on the bass with out frett buzz on the high frets what should I look for
quick question, is is normal for Fender Jazz basses to get a "banana" in the neck if left fully tuned without being played for a while, and in order to straighten the neck does the Truss rod have be tightened? should the strings be loosened to removed whilst tightening or losening the truss rod?
I know its a late reply but yes its normal, when the weather changes (temprature, humidity etc) the wood expands or contracts. If the neck has too much relief you need to tighten the truss rod, if it has a back bow you need to loosen it. You dont have to take of the strings for this.
hey Dave, i have a MIM jazz bass and i recently put on EB 55 gauge strings and my A and D string buzz all over the fret board like literally every fret but my E and G dont start buzzing until after the 12th fret. Do i just need to keep playing with the neck or do oyu think it could be something with the nut or saddles?
i like my strings much lower than that.. I straighten the HELL outta the neck, drop my string gauge to 40-100 lower the saddles till the strings buzz and lift them by little cracks till they don't. Intonate it and go! No fancy gauges but 30 years of playing bass tells me what it needs to feel like. Most luthier's can barely play. Don't know why people trust them with their guitars.... Thoughts?
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
Hey Davey, my Geddy Lee Jazz has sharp fret ends and it occasionally scratches my hands/fingers when I play, how should I deal with that? Should I file them down a bit?
Davey, i have a Peavy t-40 bass and it only has a kill switch. the other switch is missing. what should i do? I Would like to have the switch replaced but i cant find a reference and cant get out to a specialist anytime soon
My bass is a Yamaha RBX170. The Truss rod is too tight to turn but there's still a very visible upbow. The guitar was manufactured with 105-45's, should I consider moving to 100-40's or a string with less tension to counteract the neck??
Hi Dave Merry Christmas When you measure at the 17th fret you are telling that the measure should be 3/32 Could you convert that to milimeter. For us europeans it would be a great help Thanks for your great vids Roar
Click the microphone next to the word google... and say out loud “convert three thirty secondths to millimetres” ....... I promise google will not laugh at you.
Hi Davey. I have a quick question for you. Just got a Fender Jazz, Crafted in China. I've noticed the G string literally dives under the string tree and up again to go on the machine head. Is that normal? I'm thinking the string should be flatter from the string tree to the machine head. Don't know just looks weird.
Yeah. Thanks Dave. It seems fine with strings on....a little releif. Just never really worked on J basses, and was surprised at the back bow with the strings off. Must be a crapload more tension with a bass, and the fact that the neck is pretty skinny compared to the guitar necks I'm used too. Is 45-100 a good gauge? What do you recommend? always appreciate your vids. Thanks again man!
ehm, this may have been mentioned, but won't you get string volume inconsistencies if you use that radius tool to set string heigth? Minor, probably unnoticeable usually, but still. I set up my basses in any way I end up liking it, and just go by feel and ear. Never measured anything, and just fiddled around until I like what I hear basically. But I think I do tend to set the strings 'level'; as in the strings are all pretty much the same distance from the pups. (Am I just being paranoid lol?)
Thanks, very nice video! Just some friendly advices from me, really. Just when you say: "set the action", show us how to do that! You forgot that :) And please clean your cam, your viewer will appreciate it.
So I recently started using radius gauges: set the E and G with a ruler and the A and D string with the radius gauge. Now, I see you are using the radius gauge on top of the strings which doesn't make much sense to me. Since the strings have different thickness, adjusting them from the top wouldn't make for as good of a set up as adjusting them with the gauge from the bottom of the string, right (I hope this sentence makes sense)? Also, what's the best spot to place the radius gauge? Isn't it as close as possible to the bridge? Thanks for any replies.
This was my question too as soon as I saw measurements of the top of the strings I thought: errrrrr Houston we have a problem lol. And since I’m typing on the internet, I will try to contribute something: I agree with the order of action first before truss rod... you can only adjust the truss rod when the action is right (since they affect each other)... lowering the action lets the neck back, if you tighten the rod then lower the action the neck would likely go back too far. Get to the parking lot, then find a space :-) (and if you’re my wife, park and repark 3x lol)
Thanks for the great videos....would u point out a video of yrs that touches on pickup height. Also what site u found yr radius gauges, string height gauge on. Again I appreciate the time u put in on the videos...they helped me alot...im not great yet but getting better!!!!
If you watch the videos Dave says he like straight necks for himself. If that's what you want then that's what you ask the tech for. If you go in and tell him "I never measure and do it right every time!" he can then write down a question mark in his notes and send you back the fender or otherwise spec'd set up. Of course they set it up different when you don't know what you want. I set my Jazz 4 up with 12 thou 1st to 20th and 4/64th. Not spec but a tech can set it up exactly the same every time. My five somewhat different but I have measurements to at least know where I'm at. Lastly I have met very few techs who don't play and many more than one instrument. Unfortunately there is no mind reading course they can take.
Can you raise the action without throwing the intonation out of whack? I got my bass set up and it probably would be fine for normal people but it's too low for my style of playing.
I thought the intonation check was comparing 12th fret harmonic to the fretted note? . . and why are you checking under AND over the strings for the radius? . . they cant be the same due to differences in the thickness of the strings . . . . surely its one or the other?
Adjust the intonation last.for final adjustment***. setting action or truss rod will lengthen or shorten the strings which will effect the intonation **so do all your adjustments then tune up and set and recheck your intonation.***DR KEL
before i dig into something i may screw up, are the chrome covers on Gibson humbuckers glued on or do you just remove the screws, a little advise please ,thanks
Well its a good "Basic" setup for a starting point. Not everyone will like this setup. Just because its in a book and says its so. It is very dependent on the player and what they play. Lower action is more snappy and poppy sounding for slap play. Higher is better for cleaner and more mellow styles or also if you play metal music and use a pick . Same goes for pickups. Not all types of pickups sound best at these distances. It is why guitar and bass players should learn how to do this stuff them self and set the instrument up for there style of play. But over all is a very good starting point .
Are all the radius the same? jazz bass 7.25? you have measured the two outside string heights, what about the second and third? I don't have all those cool tool's.
+bob robinson you can measure from the top of the frets to the bottom of each string. In theory if each string is 6/64th's or 3/32nd's from the fret tops it should be about right. If you lift the string up just a little and let it down you'll be able to see where it sits against you're ruler. You should get a metal 6 inch ruler with 64th from the hardware store. I don't have radius gauges but I find this technique satisfactory.
Is it possible to just plop a jazz bass pickguard and pups onto a precision bass body? A friend painted a body as a gift for me, and I'm too assed to switch to a precision bass. I'd check myself but I'm at college right now. Don't care too much about making screw holes.
Hey Dave, since you refer to Ernie Ball as "Ernie Ballsack", does that mean you're not a fan of the strings or do you say that as a joke? It's funny, but I'm just curious why you call them that. Maybe if you don't like the string brand, you should do a video on your recommendations of strings. :-) I'm sure many of your other fans would appreciate that.
There are a million sites that will make the conversion. Just google 'x" in mm'. Dave works in America, and probably 90% of his viewers are familiar with inches. I'm in the UK, and I still don't expect metric conversions to be automatic.
What is the recommended pup height for a p-bass (in mm, if possible)? I'm about to replace the original 2008 Am Std Fender P-Bass pups (they lack character...) with Seymour Duncan SPB-3s and have no idea about the proper height adjustment. Thanks!
Видеоклипы
Love your channel man. Just got into soldering this weekend and I'm addicted love the information you make available. Please keep up great work!
Thanks for the tips, Dave. I went through and did all this, and realized that my pickup height was wayyyy off, and it made all the difference in my tone. Much obliged, and glad to see your posts. To you it might be a goofy hobby, but I for one get a much needed escape from my own boring life!
I can't describe the feeling of having someone look directly into the camera and say "You probably can't see me." It's weird XD
You hoser! Beauty way to go eh?🇨🇦
Thank you for sharing these informative videos. Under your tutelage I have graduated to a full toolkit allowing fret dress , cutting/slotting nuts, intonation (for the nation) and I just did my first acoustic neck reset. You’re an inspiration Dave.
Take off eh??
Yeah I dig that Dave does things by the book but for myself I went with what sorted the problem out and what felt good and sounded good with no buzz on the neck. My jazz after about 6 or 7 years or so of playing gigs etc. Needed a few adjustments due to different experimentation on strings and maybe just the change in atmosphere etc.. after the 12th fret it was buzzing and I knew it wasnt right so I gave it a few turns on the truss rod to straighten the neck and got a new high mass bridge and intonated it and set my action in a curvature like Dave does but without anything to measure. I got things feeling how I want it with trial and error and kept checking the intonation as I went. I used dunlop lemon oil on the rosewood neck and what a difference. It now plays and feels in my mind as it should and better than it ever was. It's been a learning experience but totally satisfying. Thanks for the tips Dave. You taught me to not go crazy with truss adjustments etc.
Thanks for that, I'm already familiar with fenders and it puts me at ease that I don't have to take anything special into account
Love your work and the left handed comments 👍
I agree with Amanda on this. The truss rod is the foundational adjustment on this. It has to come first because all the other adjustments depend on the truss rod being adjusted correctly.
floouk perhaps better approach is to move everything into right place around the truss rod, (fit and tune strings, set action, set intonation...) to better see if the trussrod actually needs adjustment.... it’s the most invasive adjustment and least likely to change (strings are most likely factor to change - another reason to start with the strings)
T.R.A.I.N
Truss
Rod
Action
Intonation
Noodle
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff - I just followed along with this video and set up my Fender 70's Jazz Bass following your instructions. Plays great now! You even gave me the courage to replace the stripped bullet truss rod nut with a new one - no more Gooched bass! I Always enjoy your videos - keep 'em comin'!
- Wayne from Texas
Sounds indeed like strong nerve needed for that stripped nut job...
Just subscribed Dave, lot's of good info.
love your basic setups
you saved my bacon pal!! I got a J-bass a few days ago and I was having minor issues with getting the thing set up since I don't have radius gauges... I just go by measurements... and thanks to you (yet again) I now have 1/8" on E and G and havethe whole thing balanced perfectly with about a paper's width on the relief... and it sounds amazing :D
Dave saved mine as well on some P-bass neck & pick up switching surgery I did. "This is not a how to do it movie, it's a how I do it movie..." It's like watching your dad changing spark plugs, cussing and all.
Tony DeCicco that's true... also... Dave's way is Dave's way... and it works well :D you can always adapt the things you see in Dave's vids and make your own setup on a guitar... works well for me anyway :D
I have a late 90s USA Fender Jazz bass that I also keep in "D-standard" (D-G-C-F) I have D'Addario Chrome flatwounds 105-50 which seem to me as the perfect string for that lowered tuning.
After you set the action on the E and G, you should be checking the radius on the underside of the strings, where they're supposed to match the neck radius. The thickness of each string will make the measurements different for the top side of the strings.
Me too. Am I doing this wrong? I thought the string to fret height was the important dimension.
I have a jazz fretless and figured out how to adjust the string height to avoid buzzing. Im not sure about the truss rod yet. But Im going to figure it out if the neck warps. It saves alot of money doing it yourself.
Vincent M You'll probably need to adjust it slightly a time or two per year to make it play its best, due to seasonal changes in heat/humidity (depending on your local climate, of course).
Neck relief can be sort of a trial and error thing with fretless, depending on how much 'buzz', usually referred to as 'growl' or 'mwah', you want, but usually .005-.008" is what I find works best for me (that's measured with a feeler gauge, press or capo at the first fret position and the point at which the neck meets the body, I think 17th on a Fender?, then check the relief at the halfway point, I think the 8th? with your feeler gauge).
Bass side of pickups or top should be slightly farther than the treble side because thicker strings have more mass.
great tool and skill about this, i saw it the first time, it´´s wonderful to hear, the strings sounds without noise on the frets ;)
Great stuff but you poor Yanks still using the archaic imperial scale & talking in fractions when the rest of the planet has moved on...egad, 6/64ths?!
Stewmac makes a metric version btw.
Davey, it would be much appreciated if you could please share with us those dimensions in metric units too. These vids are helpful of course but they'd be even better that way imo :O Thanks!
I have the same bass except that she is lefty and 50 th Anniversary 1996. i love it
I should say what could be causing this? The action is low and it plays great. I have thought about trimming the spring or looking for a shorter one. Just wondering if it might be a small truss rod adjustment that is needed.
That’s some fun stuff 😀
Dave! I think this is the base you just did a setup on a few days ago! ✌️😎👍
Thank you mister
thanks for the vid man.....any idea on how to remove little rust spots from chrome pup covers?
Im still waiting what you jam the bass
Nice vid dude, you kind of remind me of Zappa ; )
Dave! Been a while. Belated Happy New Year. Question for ya. I got a Fender Hwy.1 Jazz. Played nice, and strung to standard pitch, it has slight releif, but I'm a little concerned.Wanted to give it a good setup, so pulled the strings. with the tension off, the neck backbows a bit. (compared to my guitars which don't) Is it normal given the heavier tension on a bass? Does the t-rod on a J really work that much harder with the skinny neck? Can't remember what gauge it came with. new:45-100
Hey Dave, I have a Sterling Ray 34 (4) string bass and I've been trying to get the bass set up the correct way ever since I bought it. I'm trying to get the action as close to the neck as possible. is it true if you shim the neck you can get better action? I need you help.
I got it set act a recommended guitar shop, but I swear the action looks like you can shoot a bow with it. is there some way i can send you a photo of it and can you give some advice on how to correct it?
can you please post a video of how to fully setup any bass and can you please mention the tools you used and the steps you did.
Thank you
cool I'll check it out.
thank you
Hi, I have run into a small issue setting the intonation on my six string bass. The low B and E are still a little sharp at the 12th but I cant turn the screw any further. What is causing this issue?
Cool Davey, I'm more than likely going to buy a bass next weekend a Jaguar Bass Modern Player, Crafted in China, no less. So I'll be off to the shop with my set of calipers and feeler gauges. But I played it today and felt pretty good. Was thinking of a Squire vintage modified before but didn't like it. Neck like a banana and a matte finish which I hate. Anyway slightly off topic, do you have any recommendation for a decent bass practice amp that won't break me.
Hi Dave; So I loosened the strings and the neck seems to have straightened it itself out, is that normal and do I still to do a Truss Rod adjustment?
That's a nice jazz bass. I have a "P J" JACKSON and one of the p pickups is gooched as you say. so the bass is going into the shop for an over haul. i try to set my guitars same as yours more or less.
I could never figure out why Fender did not radius the pickups. It makes no sense to have a curved neck and strings with a totally flat pickup source. At least some threaded pole pieces would have helped (as on a humbucker.)
Is there any specific tips you could give for setting up a MM Stingray (Ernie Ballsack aside) ie anything I should know about the electronics or anything special about the neck?
Could you do a 5 string jazz bass tutorial?
The capo is throwing me off .was it used at the very beginning.
Did you have a CAPO on first fret when you measure the E string at 17th fret which measures to 6/64"?
Yep its in the video
where can I buy these tools? the card and tee, and feeler guage
?
nice work. You remind me of Liam Neeson.
didnt know that , thanks , better to ask before digging in , does it change the sound (noticeably), just wanna do it for the look
Dave I got a brand new jazz bass and set it up perfectly I have always done all my own set ups and friends set ups but I cant get a low action on the bass with out frett buzz on the high frets what should I look for
. I'm having the same problem with the neck replacement on a Squire P body.
Note: if you don't have a fret rocker** so can use wood scrapers, they work just good as high price fret rocker from Stewmac***DR KEL
quick question, is is normal for Fender Jazz basses to get a "banana" in the neck if left fully tuned without being played for a while, and in order to straighten the neck does the Truss rod have be tightened? should the strings be loosened to removed whilst tightening or losening the truss rod?
I know its a late reply but yes its normal, when the weather changes (temprature, humidity etc) the wood expands or contracts.
If the neck has too much relief you need to tighten the truss rod, if it has a back bow you need to loosen it.
You dont have to take of the strings for this.
hey Dave, i have a MIM jazz bass and i recently put on EB 55 gauge strings and my A and D string buzz all over the fret board like literally every fret but my E and G dont start buzzing until after the 12th fret. Do i just need to keep playing with the neck or do oyu think it could be something with the nut or saddles?
Hi dave my jazz has great action at the nut but is just dreadful at the dusty end what can i do?
Ya compound radius
also chambered
I like my old one fine
never tried a new one
what did he adjust to lower it?
dave is too cool for skool !!! Another great vid dave, ignore the haters man...they ll crawl back under there rock with the rest of the molluscs
What do you think I should use? Sandpaper? Or would a regular nail file work?
So you straigthen the neck when the old strings are still on or do you straigthen it without strings?
i like my strings much lower than that.. I straighten the HELL outta the neck, drop my string gauge to 40-100 lower the saddles till the strings buzz and lift them by little cracks till they don't. Intonate it and go! No fancy gauges but 30 years of playing bass tells me what it needs to feel like. Most luthier's can barely play. Don't know why people trust them with their guitars.... Thoughts?
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff fenders recommendations are awful. Look how they ship their guitars?!? I used to use gauges and always ended up stupid high action. Search billy Sheehan set up on here. It makes sense. No measuring can make up for what feels good in your hands. How long is a piece of string? Right? Exactly
Hey Davey, my Geddy Lee Jazz has sharp fret ends and it occasionally scratches my hands/fingers when I play, how should I deal with that? Should I file them down a bit?
Davey, i have a Peavy t-40 bass and it only has a kill switch. the other switch is missing. what should i do? I Would like to have the switch replaced but i cant find a reference and cant get out to a specialist anytime soon
My bass is a Yamaha RBX170. The Truss rod is too tight to turn but there's still a very visible upbow. The guitar was manufactured with 105-45's, should I consider moving to 100-40's or a string with less tension to counteract the neck??
Are you measuring at about the 18th fret?
Hi Dave
Merry Christmas
When you measure at the 17th fret you are telling that the measure should be 3/32
Could you convert that to milimeter.
For us europeans it would be a great help
Thanks for your great vids
Roar
Click the microphone next to the word google... and say out loud “convert three thirty secondths to millimetres” ....... I promise google will not laugh at you.
The bridge pickup must be higher than neck pickup in jazz bass?
Hi Davey. I have a quick question for you. Just got a Fender Jazz, Crafted in China. I've noticed the G string literally dives under the string tree and up again to go on the machine head. Is that normal? I'm thinking the string should be flatter from the string tree to the machine head. Don't know just looks weird.
what's with all the d-standard recently?
The pickup height of 1/8.
Does that apply to all pickup heights or just for a J?
Yeah. Thanks Dave. It seems fine with strings on....a little releif. Just never really worked on J basses, and was surprised at the back bow with the strings off. Must be a crapload more tension with a bass, and the fact that the neck is pretty skinny compared to the guitar necks I'm used too. Is 45-100 a good gauge? What do you recommend? always appreciate your vids. Thanks again man!
I use 45-100. Nice twangy sound on a Jazz bass.
ehm, this may have been mentioned, but won't you get string volume inconsistencies if you use that radius tool to set string heigth? Minor, probably unnoticeable usually, but still. I set up my basses in any way I end up liking it, and just go by feel and ear. Never measured anything, and just fiddled around until I like what I hear basically. But I think I do tend to set the strings 'level'; as in the strings are all pretty much the same distance from the pups. (Am I just being paranoid lol?)
Thanks, very nice video!
Just some friendly advices from me, really.
Just when you say: "set the action", show us how to do that! You forgot that :)
And please clean your cam, your viewer will appreciate it.
So I recently started using radius gauges: set the E and G with a ruler and the A and D string with the radius gauge. Now, I see you are using the radius gauge on top of the strings which doesn't make much sense to me. Since the strings have different thickness, adjusting them from the top wouldn't make for as good of a set up as adjusting them with the gauge from the bottom of the string, right (I hope this sentence makes sense)? Also, what's the best spot to place the radius gauge? Isn't it as close as possible to the bridge? Thanks for any replies.
This was my question too as soon as I saw measurements of the top of the strings I thought: errrrrr Houston we have a problem lol. And since I’m typing on the internet, I will try to contribute something: I agree with the order of action first before truss rod... you can only adjust the truss rod when the action is right (since they affect each other)... lowering the action lets the neck back, if you tighten the rod then lower the action the neck would likely go back too far. Get to the parking lot, then find a space :-) (and if you’re my wife, park and repark 3x lol)
Thanks for the great videos....would u point out a video of yrs that touches on pickup height. Also what site u found yr radius gauges, string height gauge on. Again I appreciate the time u put in on the videos...they helped me alot...im not great yet but getting better!!!!
If you watch the videos Dave says he like straight necks for himself. If that's what you want then that's what you ask the tech for. If you go in and tell him "I never measure and do it right every time!" he can then write down a question mark in his notes and send you back the fender or otherwise spec'd set up. Of course they set it up different when you don't know what you want. I set my Jazz 4 up with 12 thou 1st to 20th and 4/64th. Not spec but a tech can set it up exactly the same every time. My five somewhat different but I have measurements to at least know where I'm at. Lastly I have met very few techs who don't play and many more than one instrument. Unfortunately there is no mind reading course they can take.
Across the tops of the strings? I always thought the undersides of the strings. Geeze, have I been doing it wrong all these years?
Can you raise the action without throwing the intonation out of whack? I got my bass set up and it probably would be fine for normal people but it's too low for my style of playing.
Mr Davey4557 u have a tips for a fender Startocaster
i never thought setting up a bass is this much...even for my guitar i always go for the "feel" and what sounds good for me
does anyone know what string gauge is recommended for the jazz bass. I've just got mine and I think my strings are way too light
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff thankyou
Shouldn't you check the radius of the strings UNDER the strings, taking the diameter of the strings out of the equation?
I thought the intonation check was comparing 12th fret harmonic to the fretted note? . . and why are you checking under AND over the strings for the radius? . . they cant be the same due to differences in the thickness of the strings . . . . surely its one or the other?
It is not compared to a fretted note*it;s compared to open string tuning.
check for second harmonic or second octave at the 12 th fret **DR KEL
Hi sir just want to ask what is the purpose of measuring in 1:21? Thanks :)
And sir can i ask all the name of the measurement u used?
So now you no longer use the radius gauge....?
Adjust the intonation last.for final adjustment***. setting action or truss rod will lengthen or shorten the strings which will effect the intonation **so do all your adjustments then tune up and set and recheck your intonation.***DR KEL
before i dig into something i may screw up, are the chrome covers on Gibson humbuckers glued on or do you just remove the screws, a little advise please ,thanks
Should be soldered on.
Are you from Wisconsin?
Well its a good "Basic" setup for a starting point. Not everyone will like this setup. Just because its in a book and says its so. It is very dependent on the player and what they play. Lower action is more snappy and poppy sounding for slap play. Higher is better for cleaner and more mellow styles or also if you play metal music and use a pick . Same goes for pickups. Not all types of pickups sound best at these distances. It is why guitar and bass players should learn how to do this stuff them self and set the instrument up for there style of play. But over all is a very good starting point .
How many inchs on the pick ups? Is the last part of the video. I couldn't understand
google it it's called specifications
snooor
Demo, man demo. I like to watch how you play.
Are all the radius the same? jazz bass 7.25? you have measured the two outside string heights, what about the second and third? I don't have all those cool tool's.
+bob robinson you can measure from the top of the frets to the bottom of each string. In theory if each string is 6/64th's or 3/32nd's from the fret tops it should be about right. If you lift the string up just a little and let it down you'll be able to see where it sits against you're ruler. You should get a metal 6 inch ruler with 64th from the hardware store. I don't have radius gauges but I find this technique satisfactory.
bom demais
Nice...i noticed you didnt check the space between each string Dave.The E string seems to close to the A string watch the video.
+Dave's World of Fun Stuff I think that is the next exploration I might try, maybe it will work to get my slap a little more usable.
Is it possible to just plop a jazz bass pickguard and pups onto a precision bass body? A friend painted a body as a gift for me, and I'm too assed to switch to a precision bass. I'd check myself but I'm at college right now. Don't care too much about making screw holes.
Alright. Thanks, Dave.
You can do it with a router. It's best to use templates but I would have an experienced luthier do it.
Hey Dave, since you refer to Ernie Ball as "Ernie Ballsack", does that mean you're not a fan of the strings or do you say that as a joke? It's funny, but I'm just curious why you call them that. Maybe if you don't like the string brand, you should do a video on your recommendations of strings. :-) I'm sure many of your other fans would appreciate that.
+Rantes James Escher Joke,,, It's funny. He uses them all the time.
You don't check intonation by comparing the 12th fret harmonic with the 12th fret fretted? I hear that's more accurate.
Omg..!Why do you not tell the stringhigh in "mm"..please😃
Here in Europe we need mm'ters!!
Thankx..peace🤟🎸
There are a million sites that will make the conversion. Just google 'x" in mm'. Dave works in America, and probably 90% of his viewers are familiar with inches. I'm in the UK, and I still don't expect metric conversions to be automatic.
Example of that would be 'too loud' G string playing/filling on an otherwise balanced sounding and playing bass. I'm sure you know what I mean :)
is there an issue if the string action is higher?
It can be more difficult to play fast and complex basslines if you have a high action.
Mmmm J bass, thems the basses
a Machinist's grade metaL ruLer
in either "SAE" or Metric .
Depending on the country of manufacture of the instrument .
Whose straight edge are you using?
Thanks ever so. BTW: I'm now signed up as a patron. All of your videos are outstanding; I have learned so much!
If im sharp at the 12th fret. Should I lengthen the strings?
yes
The adjustments happen off camera. :-(
What is the recommended pup height for a p-bass (in mm, if possible)? I'm about to replace the original 2008 Am Std Fender P-Bass pups (they lack character...) with Seymour Duncan SPB-3s and have no idea about the proper height adjustment. Thanks!
you needed to show how you did it adjusted bridge thanks