Get a PROFESSIONAL Setup on Your Bass Guitar in 30 Minutes
I’m excited to share some tips on doing your own, professional bass setup that’s personally tailored to your playing style. We’ll cover everything you need to know from filing the nut, setting your neck relief and action to adjusting the intonation. I’ve added a bonus section at the end that includes a hack for setting your pickup height for even string volume across both pickups.
@stewmac
Nut files:
https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-nuts-and-saddles/gauged-nut-slotting-file-set-for-bass/
Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/daveporterband
Website:
https://daveporterband.com
Timecodes
0:00 Intro
0:28 Setup
0:48 Filing the Nut
2:04 Neck Relief
3:43 Action or String Height
4:27 Lower Action Secret Sauce
6:14 Intonation
8:39 Pickup Height
9:11 Pickup Height Hack
10:39 Outro
#daveplaysbass #bass #basssetup
#PROFESSIONAL #Setup #Bass #Guitar #Minutes
Originally posted by UCHwa0ixBPmyiZUsgRHh1dXg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K_LrbuEEvE
2:04 Crystal clear!
Hello, congrats on your video. Just one question.. The neck adjust shouldn’t be the first thing to adjust? Image the scenario were we need to relieve the neck and the gap between the string and the fret increase, in this case we need to adjust the nut again. Once again thanks for the tutorial.
Thank you for this video!
You adjust the length of the open strings while the bass is lying on the table. In this case, the weight of the neck and the tuning mechanism bend the neck towards the ground, which changes the height of strings above the neck, and therefore the tension of the string when pressing frets. In case the neck is lying on a special stand, then the neck bends in the middle. In any case, you include gravity in the tuning, but then this force will act differently when you bring the guitar to play. I have always believed that I need to adjust a string scale in the position in which I will play on stage and on recording. I will be glad to see your comment about this.
Brilliant explanation!! ????????????????????
Thank you so much!!
Thanks Dave. Clear video and instruction, no nonsense. I'm a full time drummer, bought a bass in 2006 and got it out today and will set it up again properly this week. Fingers crossed.
Great to see so many positive comments and further help from you!
Very informative and humble video, no useless ego flashing, just the facts and how-to infos. Thank you very much ????
This is the first setup I've ever seen that starts with the nut. Wouldn't relief adjustments in the next change this distance? I was always under the impression you want to do the neck first.
I'm having trouble with fret buzz on 4th string at 6th fret. Nowhere else buzzes, just that. Tried measuring the fret bars on each side, but looks the same. I'm visually impaired, so it's really difficult to see what it might be. I thought it'd be the fret bars, because no other notes are affected. Should I leave the nut and bridge alone then?
Thank you so much for this video. This is really going to help me at church. My bass was so out of whack and I didn't know what to do but thanks to this video, it is fine now, even better than before. Thank you again and May God bless you!
I got a problem, I set up two basses, and when I plug both into an amp it sounds like the amps speaker is about to blow out, like there’s a distorted tone, is that due to the pick up height?
Thanks! ????
You could go thru this process several times if your frets aren't leveled first
I watched your video, maybe my YouTube app is problematic, but I think at 3:25 the video skipped. So the truss rod adjustment part wasn't completed yet, it jumped abruptly to the action settings part. I didn't get the part about the neck relief measurements that people talked in the comment section. Maybe it is in the place where the video skipped. Can you check your video?
You didn't mention it but should you tune the bass first before you make any adjustments? If a bass isn't inntonated and you know it will need adjustments does it make a difference?
This was an extremely clear and concise step by step process- the best I've come across. It would be helpful for me if a future video discussed "back buzz." I am unclear if this can be tamed with normal setup procedure or if it requires a particular repair. My '75 Gibson Grabber seems much better after following this procedure to the letter. However, I cannot lower my action anywhere near the specified level without frets buzzing at the top of the neck. Using a straight edge, it does not appear that any one fret is higher than the others- it seems to be an across-the-board phenomenon. Even so, it plays better than it ever has, by far. So thank you!
HolyMolly man! 0,75 to 1 mm is a very HUGE amount of neck relief!
Are you sure about that? That’s like bow with arrows. 0.3 mm is standard, but you can easily go with less
I bought a supercheap bass a while back to try and get back into playing. But the setup is so far off it's almost unplayable. Doesn't feel too bad near the nut, but at the bottom of the neck you can almost fit a finger under the strings. I don't know if I can lower the bridge enough to fix it. Would this require shimming the neck?
Hi Dave! I have a buzz only on the 12th fret, what could be the cause? Especially the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fret. My tuning is B-F#-B-E and im using 55-110
Thanks
Lots of talking and little else.
Check out Vinnyg NY's channel for a detailed walk-through of a bass setup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E2_ogo77U4
Lots of talking and little else.
Check out Vinnyg NY's channel for a detailed walk-through of a bass setup.
(vid link in reply to avoid main comment removal).
Thanks for the info Dave, I just got an Evil Twin-5 a couple of days ago, and I was curious about the setup. I really lucked out finding this expert video. Great content as always.
Great hack at the end. I usually use my ears but the meter is more accurate. Thanks.