I just did this to my Jazz bass that had a very high touch and a slight bow. The neck is straight as an arrow now and the touch is incredible. Invaluable advice here. Thanks so much!
Great to hear that man! it sounds my bass needs exactly same approach, as adjusting the truss rod hasn't done the change. will try it out in weeks once back to my tool station
It was on the DVD that accompanied Dan's book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great", and I posted it for a friend who's trying to fix a bowed bass neck.
My son picked up a 1985 MIJ Jazz Bass Special for $150. The strings were about 1.75" off the board. I was able to get the truss rid but tightened and bring back the neck to some degree but knew it needed to be straightened. Did what the video suggested and now it has incredibly low action with no fret buzz. I gave it a new set of strings and a complete set up and now it rocks. Thanks for posting.
Try putting a little pressure on the neck and help it as you tighten the truss rod. You're asking a little rod to do a lot of work. You actually have to do this with older Rickenbacker basses. It even tells you that in the manual.
@@gutbucket260 I need to fo this, but don't know where to start on equipment. I tired looking for curved cauls, and can't find anything. also not sure what kind of clamp it is he is using
I really appreciate all of Dan's videos. I bought an Eppi Les Paul about a year ago and watching Dan's video's have really helped me maintain it. Mainly the video's give me the information so I feel confident doing the different maintenance things. I live in Arizona and we go through a dry spell in the summer at times. I found out what fret sprouting is first hand. But got through smoothing the frets out from watching another of Dan's video's.
crazy smart man there! I learned guitar building and repair through him (by way of Bryan Gallop,in I think days old shop in big rapids,Michigan ). He is probably one of best luithiers around at repair,designing tools,and problem solving. If he says it,it's because he's done it many time. Thank you sir for sharing your knowledge! !
Thank you. I fixed my neck and I didn't have to put it in an oven or let it sit for days. I set just like Dan and used the trust rod to hold. A few minutes no cost and presto.
Awesome advice Dan - I just carried it out on a 1952 Precision that had tuners so stiff they felt like they were going to snap and they're perfect now!
Thank you, Dan, for putting me on the right track years ago. You were the first person to really teach on setup, way back, in the pages of Guitar Player. I hope to shake hands one day.
Dan, I always learn something very useful , from your videos.. |Bought a book of yours years ago and found it an amazing reference with the inset of some handy radius gauges that I still use today...Stewmac has a great instructor of their products. Thank you Dan
What a clean job, best truss rod adjustment on the web, only one I saw releasing the rod from doing the job with a level while turning it...really understands how materials tolerances and guitars work !
Thanks for the very informative video. I have a 2006 Fender jazz bass mex with a twisted neck and stripped hex nut. After following ur advice i got the nut to come out. Got a replacement and used a g-clamp and spirit level to get the neck to straighten. Now it works very well.
Hi Mr. Erlewine, I find you videos to be verry interesting and helpfull. Since I'm learning to setup my bass guitars, I find your tutorials to be the best ones on youtube. Keep up the good work and thanks
I spent a lot of money and time at guitar technicians trying to get my 51 p bass neck straight. They were all pretty sure that the neck was warped until I found this video and in just a few minutes I had a dead straight neck.
I'm glad that it did the trick. It's from a StewMac video, and I posted it nearly 10 years ago so a friend could watch it and straighten a couple of old Ibanez bass necks. 537736 views later...
A band mate just submitted his Fender Highway One Jazz bass for a setup with me. I am so used to the feel of my beefy telecaster bass necks, that the jazz bass just feels wrong for me. I love the simplicity of the telecaster bass.
Stewmac makes some great time saving tools. Great video as well. Time to be checking out the P to see if I can clear up some of the excess sounds it's making. Thanks Dan!!
I managed to do the same to a Peavey T45 which have a similar thick neck to those Fenders with 1.75" nut diameter, It now seems to be working just fine
Lots of those Fenders had that milky white Fullerplast under the finish, so it could have even been a sunburst. My favorite Fender burst, green & yellow! JK! I don't buy off on using a radius gauge all the way. The gap under the E should be greater than under the G. Larger string, more vibration.
+Seth B I never knew until now what that coating was. I have looked off and on for years. My '69 Jazz had a beautiful grain as a 3 tone sunburst. For a variety of valid reasons, I decided to refinish it natural and was devastated to find that coating. After about 12 hours of sanding with 80 grit paper I said "enough". I went to a finer grit and ultimately refinished it with 3 coats of an off white aerosol epoxy buffed between each layer, that has matured into a match for Olympic White. Thanks for the Fullerplast link.
+John Pick You're more than welcome, but I'm not Dan. This is from one of his videos available from Stewmac He really seems to know his stuff! I originally posted this for a friend who wanted to straighten a couple of old Ibanez necks and it worked a treat!
You're more than welcome. All I did was upload a video though. Dan's where your thanks should be directed, so maybe drop him a line at www.danerlewine.com. I'm sure that he'll be pleased to hear from you.
So I did this, brought the neck to a good upward bow, tightened the truss rod to its limit, but when I take off the clamp and tune it back to pitch, it goes back to its back bow. Should I try adding washers?
I have a neck that I can get low action with a truss adjustment, but it seems to settle just slightly higher than I want after a day. It stays well within range but it just wont stay as low (I like really low action). It was in a case for several years unplayed and probably not set up properly. Would this technique be a better way to approach the adjustment?
I do not understand what you are doing how did you get it the neck level in the vice without it being balanced in the vice was you using the level to look down it to see if it was straight or was you using the levels bubble glass to see if it was level excuse my ignorance but could you explain.....
Trying something similar on a guitar neck. In this case, there is no relief (and actually a little bit of a back bow by the head stock) despite having the truss rod completely tension free. I can do the opposite of what Dan did in this video (2 clamps at either end of the neck and a block in the middle to create some relief), but how long do I leave it that way, and how much tension do I put on the truss rod? Thanks Jim
This is only guesswork, but I'd say "until it's straight (or has a slight forward bow)". What's good for one neck may not be right for another neck because each one would be its own beast. Theoretically you should be able to pull it back with the truss rod if it's a bit too much relief. If it's already OK, then I'd say to just use enough tension so that the rod "grabs" without really doing anything. I have a guitar that's very borderline with the truss rod completely slackened off, but I went up from .009 to .010 and it's better to the point that I'm no longer contemplating what you're doing. I'm fairly comfortable with the idea but I've never had to do it.
@@jeffcookdotau Thanks. I actually did buy a set of .010s, but I'm going to try using the clamps first. It's sort of a project guitar and I'm teaching myself (well, UA-cam is teaching me) how to do set-ups on it. The frets need some work as well, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure that the buzzing is caused by high frets and not the back-bow of the neck.
Fender used ash or alder for it's P-bass bodies. If that is a late 60's Tele bass and it has previously been painted, the body would have been made of alder.....which takes a paint finish better than ash. Fender's blonde electric basses and guitars were made of ash. So by removing the paint you would not get a body that looked like an original blonde bass. Just thought I would mention this in case anyone wants to do the same thing.
Hi dan ..i learned so much from your videos..thanks you for what you do.What kind of lube do you use on tuners and what would you use to lube up a floyd rose?
I thought it might be to warn normal people that a bassist may be nearby, but the consensus seems to be that it's to prevent either scraping, slipping or the thick wire unwinding. That last one sounds good.
@@jeffcookdotau you're correct it's fabric thread pressure-wrapped to the ends to maintain the structure of each string. Without it the outer wound wire could spontaneously unwind from the core, completely destroying the string. Bass strings are 3X the cost of electric guitar strings, so it's a good feature for all the starving artist's out there.
after buying a new bass neck unfortunately it turned out to be defective. I'm going to pull the frets and make fretless bass guitar. I have a question - how to set up the anchor before i start to sandpaper leveling ? 1) loosen the anchor 2) tighten the anchor 3) adjust the neck as straight as possible? Thaks!!
To make things a bit more simple, a friend of mine pulled out the frets, cleaned up the neck and the grooves, and filled in the slots with plastic wood. The plastic wood was leveled and the basses neck was cleared of residue. Because the neck had a dark color the filler made for a great visual reference and the accuracy of the player was restored.
The truss rod in my acoustic won't tighten any further. I'm going to use some lube to see if that solves he problem. But if not, trying a couple of washers might be good but my problem is that the truss rod itself leans to one side, quite close to the side of the wood. Getting washers on might be a problem.
Thank you sir! Was the pressure from the clamp what back bowed the neck? I’ve seen others use a block as a lever and then clamp the top of the neck to the table to bow the neck. Can anyone confirm that it was the clamp squeezing the bottom of the neck causing the back bow?
Nice job! Nice to see a craftsman TCB! Can you recommend someone in the Valley here in SoCal that does quality work like you? Have a '73 P bass that needs TLC.. intonation, neck straightening.. More hills and dales than Scotland! Thank you
I did just this with a Fender neck. The rod thread at the nut seemed rusty so I but a little PB Blaster in the hole, clamped it and tightened the nut back. The neck went right back to it;s bowed state. I repeated the process and have it all bound up for now. Is it safe to assume that if the bow remains then the truss rod is rusted in place and is not moving with the neck? not allowing it to slip back and forth through the washer at the nut?
I have a Squier Affinity P-bass with the P/J pickups. It was delivered out of tune and with a bow in the neck. I had it professionally set up, but now the neck is bowing slightly again and it's buzzing badly in spots. Granted, it's a cheap bass, but is there anything I can do to fix this? Adjusting the truss rod can get rid of the buzz, but the action is too high then.
Hey dan, I need to clamp the neck of a 12 string acoustic because the truss rod is as tight as i'm brave enough to make it and the relief is to curved. How hard should I clamp it? As in, how much vertical deflection should I clamp it to, and for how long should I leave it there before it takes the new set? Thanks in advance.
Just me, but there needs to be some relief with no tension on he strings, the trick is stringing it up to standard E & the tension from the strings relieve the neck to the desirable action height. If back bow is bad, back bow is bad with or without strings tuned to proper tension. Flat, especially for a bass because the wound strings are floppier than thinner guitar strings, & those need space to move. It think DE did a decent job with the bass set up, but down tune and that bass is going to buzz like a subwoofer on a 1970's Chevy Bonneville with any more aggressive attack for the heavier strings. Since the G2 is really nothing more than a string that is the same gauge as a 9.5's-10's E2 string, that one can be set up similar to any guitar that has that gauge a string relative for the longer scale length. The new territory for me when setting up a 28.6 short scale Jackson bass was 65-85-100(105) depending upon the brand. I'm seriously contemplating the 40-60-75-90 set of strings. I don't believe those will make that big of a difference beyond the gauges not being 20th of an inch intervals ? It's probably more feel than it is tone. A note is a note that vibrates at a certain frequency. E1=E1 for an open string, would a 90 vs 100(105) just sound a little cleaner due to the imperfection of the string's movement in a nut slot ?
The Jackson Bass I just bought preowned, the relief is supposed to be .12-.14 mm at the 8th & 9th frets per Jackson factory specs. They provide that information at the website. Once I had that much relief in the neck, everything adjusted for any action height & tuning I desired to set the bass up for. I understand that extreme weather changes are going to alter the setup slightly, but when the temperature & humidity normalizes, the bass will go right back to where it was set up. All my guitars do that & have for the last 3 years. Periodically I will assess the neck to make sure nothing hasn't warped, but my home is maintained at a constant 50-55% RH with the HVAC system, temperature stays within 1-1.5 degrees F with the thermometer & hydrometer (RH %) that I have. That's a $ 3-4 item at home depot. I use it to maintain the HVAC which is way more expensive than the guitars I own. For neck relief, a piece of paper, even as low as a store receipt applies. Completely flat or back bow is never good for a neck. The strings won't pull a neck completely from end to end, where the pull up is happening is at the nut & headstock, because that's where the stings are bent over the nut to the tuning pegs. At the other end, the saddles have their bend over point, everything in between is suspended over the frets & fretboard, & until one frets a string, open it never contacts as an open string. String break angle matters too. A setup is a juggling act of getting all those points of adjustment set properly. Once that happens the guitar will play both open & fretted for intonation perfectly, assuming the scale length is right & each fret on the fretboard was located where it needs to go. The bridge location is another critical build exact tolerance that matters.
And those saddles, individual saddles that look wonky cool as uneven are wrong. Nobody ever liked crooked teeth vs a beautiful perfect smile of level & straight teeth . The bridge should look like a flawless super model beautiful for saddles. There is a reason the saddles barrel ends are flush. The only exception to saddles not being level ? When the saddle is compensating for more than 1 string (like a Telecaster 3 saddle bridges vs 6 individual saddle bridges). Every Bass player that plays that instrument will be adjusting those for the rest of their miserable lives that way. Level the individual barrels & the screws are flush against the neck plate. even tension/pressure. Wonky as they are, one screw will always vibrate eventually to be loose & free turning. Level the saddles and they stay put. The string will ride uniformly for tension against the saddle slot cuts. Strings stay put and won't have a tendency to jump the saddle slots for down tuning from standard E, even for standard E tuning. Tuning stability will improve too, intonation will be more accurate, it won't drift because the strings won't move microns side to side beyond what wear & tear the strings or saddle slots experience. Guitars are nothing more than math, lengths and tolerances. As they wear, eventually they get sloppier for tolerances. Think of it like a car that's been broken in properly for a few thousand miles in the first oil change or two vs the car that has 150-200K miles on it. Worn out is cool, harder to play because the tolerances just aren't there any more. Proper adjustments early in the process and that minimizes the wear & tear of years of guitar play.
Final thought on ball ends of the strings. I generally align those and I use a section of string that I run thru the eye's of the ball ends for top loaders. That way when playing the instrument in the playing position, the strings ball end holes align perfectly. Maybe that's not really critical, but it does look more professionally done for a new set of strings. Sometimes a manufacturer will actually cut the holes on the back of the bridge plate to orient the ball ends to fit properly. My Ovation acoustic is that way. It's the difference between the ball end seating in the string hole. With the Ovation, have seen too many wooden Rosewood bridges split because the ball end didn't seat in the string hole properly. Again, uneven tension is the problem, properly orienting the ball ends is the solution. Yeah, it takes a little more time, but at the end of the day, doing the job right takes whatever time it takes. Strings might even last longer as the ball end makes better contact evenly around that entire radius instead of on a high single spot. It may seem like OCD, but your instrument won't be fighting uneven tensions & points of contact & friction. Sorry for the long responses, but I'm explaining why I advise to do anything. If one doesn't care, that laziness shows in other areas. Take your time, you have to do it anyway. Might as well be proud of he work when your done. Handing the instrument back for the owner/player's feedback is bad customer service & relations. As techs, any of us are supposed to know what these instruments should be as brand new & perfect. If a player comes back & says I did something wrong, that's a problem. I should fix the guitar right, hand it to them and never hear from them again. And if they do come back with another guitar for a set up, once & done. I can also point out all these things to a customer and if they tell me it's wrong for them, they really don't know how to build or set up a guitar. Even the most affordable Chinese guitar should feel & play like a Fender Custom shop relative to the precision it was built & located. The Chinese guitars are really narrowing the gap on quality. The difference is really in the finish, how many coats, the amount of rubbing & buffing, because the wood is virtually indiscernible. I have $ 100 Monoprice instruments that sound incredible with a little more effort into them. I can pay $ 100 & do it myself or I can pay another $ 2-3K and expect that it was done when the box is opened. There's not much you can do about the layers of finish beyond refinishing the body & wood, but he rest of it should be so tight to tolerances that the sound should be indiscernible.
On my Sterling StingRay my action has to be high or else I’ll get fret buzz on my E or A string when fretting the first fret…..anything I can do to lower the action without the buzz?? Thanks Sir…
I'm currently clamping a bass neck that has a wee bit too much bow to ask of an unassisted truss rod, and I'd like to ask some advice from anyone who might have done this. My plan is to leave it a few days. I want to know if I should tighten the truss rod immediately after I achieve the clamped position or, let the neck acclimate to the new position and tighten the truss rod just before I remove the clamp? Or do that and leave it an additional spell of time? Thanks
I just did this to my Jazz bass that had a very high touch and a slight bow. The neck is straight as an arrow now and the touch is incredible. Invaluable advice here. Thanks so much!
Great to hear that man! it sounds my bass needs exactly same approach, as adjusting the truss rod hasn't done the change. will try it out in weeks once back to my tool station
The Gold Standard of Guitar Techs. Always learn something watching his channel.
This gentleman and his brother Michael were in the Michigan blues band The Prime Movers. Their drummer was...Iggy Pop!
YOU KIDDIN ??!!!
You wouldn't shit me , you old fart !
Robert Cook :
Nope, no joke. Their drummer was James Osterberg, a.k.a. Iggy Pop. . .
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prime_Movers_(Michigan_band)
This gentleman has earned my trust. He knows what he's doing!
Your trust rod?
I highly recommend Dan's videos to young bassist, this guy is no nonsense and informative. Thanks Dan!
Are they DVDs, or does he have a youtube channel?
Dan, if u ever read this, you dont know what you mean to guys all around the world. A master luthier and teacher. Thanks!
Always a joy to watch Dan work and explain the process involved.
It was on the DVD that accompanied Dan's book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great", and I posted it for a friend who's trying to fix a bowed bass neck.
My son picked up a 1985 MIJ Jazz Bass Special for $150.
The strings were about 1.75" off the board. I was able to get the truss rid but tightened and bring back the neck to some degree but knew it needed to be straightened.
Did what the video suggested and now it has incredibly low action with no fret buzz.
I gave it a new set of strings and a complete set up and now it rocks.
Thanks for posting.
DAMN good DEAL!!
Daniel Weston
Yes. Great deal. He has found some really good gear on our local Craigslist.
Try putting a little pressure on the neck and help it as you tighten the truss rod. You're asking a little rod to do a lot of work. You actually have to do this with older Rickenbacker basses. It even tells you that in the manual.
@@gutbucket260 I need to fo this, but don't know where to start on equipment. I tired looking for curved cauls, and can't find anything. also not sure what kind of clamp it is he is using
Keith, "strings being about 1.75" off the board" sounds impossible on an electric bass!
I really appreciate all of Dan's videos. I bought an Eppi Les Paul about a year ago and watching Dan's video's have really helped me maintain it. Mainly the video's give me the information so I feel confident doing the different maintenance things. I live in Arizona and we go through a dry spell in the summer at times. I found out what fret sprouting is first hand. But got through smoothing the frets out from watching another of Dan's video's.
crazy smart man there! I learned guitar building and repair through him (by way of Bryan Gallop,in I think days old shop in big rapids,Michigan ). He is probably one of best luithiers around at repair,designing tools,and problem solving. If he says it,it's because he's done it many time. Thank you sir for sharing your knowledge! !
Thank you. I fixed my neck and I didn't have to put it in an oven or let it sit for days. I set just like Dan and used the trust rod to hold. A few minutes no cost and presto.
Awesome advice Dan - I just carried it out on a 1952 Precision that had tuners so stiff they felt like they were going to snap and they're perfect now!
So I didn't expect to learn anything on this video, and I learned a ton! Great video! Thank you!
Thank you, Dan, for putting me on the right track years ago. You were the first person to really teach on setup, way back,
in the pages of Guitar Player. I hope to shake hands one day.
One of the most informed bass set up videos I've seen. Thank you.
God DANG old man'!! You know your stuff.. Badass. Thank you for showing me this.
Pretty sure he would appreciate your comment, you fat ugly young man...
RL R Thank you good sir.
Dan, I always learn something very useful , from your videos.. |Bought a book of yours years ago and found it an amazing reference with the inset of some handy radius gauges that I still use today...Stewmac has a great instructor of their products. Thank you Dan
Dan the man--you always get it right!
Why would you thumbs down . he's doing it right lol
Because of trollish people. Dan's one of the best out there, and as a bass player I respect his knowledge.
Maybe because they thought it meant going down?
those are bots that just down-vote everything
What a clean job, best truss rod adjustment on the web, only one I saw releasing the rod from doing the job with a level while turning it...really understands how materials tolerances and guitars work !
Thanks for the very informative video. I have a 2006 Fender jazz bass mex with a twisted neck and stripped hex nut. After following ur advice i got the nut to come out. Got a replacement and used a g-clamp and spirit level to get the neck to straighten. Now it works very well.
Hands down, THE best instructional video on the topic!! Thanks so much for posting it!!
Hi Mr. Erlewine, I find you videos to be verry interesting and helpfull. Since I'm learning to setup my bass guitars, I find your tutorials to be the best ones on youtube.
Keep up the good work and thanks
Very nice video. Beautiful basses.
That neck was completed on my 16th birthday . . . God I'm old. 😥
this man makes everything look so easy.. it's so satisfying to watch!
I spent a lot of money and time at guitar technicians trying to get my 51 p bass neck straight. They were all pretty sure that the neck was warped until I found this video and in just a few minutes I had a dead straight neck.
I'm glad that it did the trick. It's from a StewMac video, and I posted it nearly 10 years ago so a friend could watch it and straighten a couple of old Ibanez bass necks. 537736 views later...
A band mate just submitted his Fender Highway One Jazz bass for a setup with me. I am so used to the feel of my beefy telecaster bass necks, that the jazz bass just feels wrong for me. I love the simplicity of the telecaster bass.
Stewmac makes some great time saving tools. Great video as well. Time to be checking out the P to see if I can clear up some of the excess sounds it's making. Thanks Dan!!
Great tutorial I love you brother ❤ good bless You
I wish my Dad would think of me like Dan thinks of a Truss Rod. :-D
Thank you for that!
Very clear explanations.
Dan you are the man, thanks so much for your sharing your knowledge, I will be buying your string action gauge.
A masterclass in plain English! That was beautifully executed, thank you for that one. Instant sub! Where tf have I been?
I managed to do the same to a Peavey T45 which have a similar thick neck to those Fenders with 1.75" nut diameter, It now seems to be working just fine
A very informative video, thank you. However, speaking as a bassist, I would love to hear how it sounds through an amp.
hes awesome these are the kind of guys to learn from
c'est tout simplement génial , fantastic
you are a very awesome man, i wish there was a way you could fix my bass
Very clear explanation...learned a lot!
Amazingly helpful , thanks
I love my 68 tele bass, and I just got a 73 tele bass. Giving it the once over, and then a fresh set of flats.
Great teacher.
dan straight up dabbing in the thumbnail
Lots of those Fenders had that milky white Fullerplast under the finish, so it could have even been a sunburst. My favorite Fender burst, green & yellow! JK! I don't buy off on using a radius gauge all the way. The gap under the E should be greater than under the G. Larger string, more vibration.
+Seth B I never knew until now what that coating was. I have looked off and on for years. My '69 Jazz had a beautiful grain as a 3 tone sunburst. For a variety of valid reasons, I decided to refinish it natural and was devastated to find that coating. After about 12 hours of sanding with 80 grit paper I said "enough". I went to a finer grit and ultimately refinished it with 3 coats of an off white aerosol epoxy buffed between each layer, that has matured into a match for Olympic White. Thanks for the Fullerplast link.
Wish you guys posted more bass guitar videos...
Great video sir I'm a new bass player and this was some good information
Terrific video. Solid information well expressed ! : )
a jedi master!
Thank you. Now I can attempt adjusting my 1967 "P" bass.
Thanks Dan !
+John Pick You're more than welcome, but I'm not Dan. This is from one of his videos available from Stewmac He really seems to know his stuff! I originally posted this for a friend who wanted to straighten a couple of old Ibanez necks and it worked a treat!
Nicely done .. fixed !
A very good video. It helped me a lot! Thank you. :-)
you are a treasure Dan
What a great upload. Thanks so much! :)
You're more than welcome. All I did was upload a video though. Dan's where your thanks should be directed, so maybe drop him a line at www.danerlewine.com. I'm sure that he'll be pleased to hear from you.
I will certainly do that. Thanks, Jeff. :) .
Great ripoff from stewmac you mean
Very helpful!
Great skillful luthier!
Talk about knowing what your talking about.
I can't, because I have no idea what i am talking about. sorry
Talk the talk
Tell me about it!
Where can i get the wooden blocks that you use to clamp the neck?
I like the plank look of the bass.
what to do if the trussrod is tight and hard but still bowed up

what to do if the trussrod is tight and hard but still bowed up

Looking down the neck is an optical illusion like looking down rail road tracks.
Lovely work, you can work on my Fender basses, anytime !
you better learn yourself, he is not cheap
So I did this, brought the neck to a good upward bow, tightened the truss rod to its limit, but when I take off the clamp and tune it back to pitch, it goes back to its back bow. Should I try adding washers?
Where can I find a curved caul like that? Is it absolutely necessary, or can I get by with rubber pads on my C-clamp?
I have a neck that I can get low action with a truss adjustment, but it seems to settle just slightly higher than I want after a day. It stays well within range but it just wont stay as low (I like really low action). It was in a case for several years unplayed and probably not set up properly. Would this technique be a better way to approach the adjustment?
I do not understand what you are doing how did you get it the neck level in the vice without it being balanced in the vice was you using the level to look down it to see if it was straight or was you using the levels bubble glass to see if it was level excuse my ignorance but could you explain.....
Almost broke my neck watching this video. " get it. ?
Trying something similar on a guitar neck. In this case, there is no relief (and actually a little bit of a back bow by the head stock) despite having the truss rod completely tension free. I can do the opposite of what Dan did in this video (2 clamps at either end of the neck and a block in the middle to create some relief), but how long do I leave it that way, and how much tension do I put on the truss rod?
Thanks
Jim
This is only guesswork, but I'd say "until it's straight (or has a slight forward bow)". What's good for one neck may not be right for another neck because each one would be its own beast. Theoretically you should be able to pull it back with the truss rod if it's a bit too much relief. If it's already OK, then I'd say to just use enough tension so that the rod "grabs" without really doing anything. I have a guitar that's very borderline with the truss rod completely slackened off, but I went up from .009 to .010 and it's better to the point that I'm no longer contemplating what you're doing. I'm fairly comfortable with the idea but I've never had to do it.
@@jeffcookdotau Thanks. I actually did buy a set of .010s, but I'm going to try using the clamps first. It's sort of a project guitar and I'm teaching myself (well, UA-cam is teaching me) how to do set-ups on it. The frets need some work as well, but I don't want to do that until I'm sure that the buzzing is caused by high frets and not the back-bow of the neck.
To the point! Thank you.
My neck has a light twist, clockwise looking down the neck from the body. Could you make a video on how you would fix that? Love your videos!
I wish Dan were my neighbor.
the master
Fender used ash or alder for it's P-bass bodies. If that is a late 60's Tele bass and it has previously been painted, the body would have been made of alder.....which takes a paint finish better than ash. Fender's blonde electric basses and guitars were made of ash. So by removing the paint you would not get a body that looked like an original blonde bass. Just thought I would mention this in case anyone wants to do the same thing.
Where may I find that vice grip, anyone know?
Hi dan ..i learned so much from your videos..thanks you for what you do.What kind of lube do you use on tuners and what would you use to lube up a floyd rose?
Why do Bass strings always have the red on the ends? I’d like to know this.
I thought it might be to warn normal people that a bassist may be nearby, but the consensus seems to be that it's to prevent either scraping, slipping or the thick wire unwinding. That last one sounds good.
@@jeffcookdotau you're correct it's fabric thread pressure-wrapped to the ends to maintain the structure of each string. Without it the outer wound wire could spontaneously unwind from the core, completely destroying the string. Bass strings are 3X the cost of electric guitar strings, so it's a good feature for all the starving artist's out there.
The strings don't bounce and I have been loosening idk how much? need help
after buying a new bass neck unfortunately it turned out to be defective.
I'm going to pull the frets and make fretless bass guitar.
I have a question - how to set up the anchor before i start to sandpaper leveling ?
1) loosen the anchor
2) tighten the anchor
3) adjust the neck as straight as possible?
Thaks!!
To make things a bit more simple, a friend of mine pulled out the frets, cleaned up the neck and the grooves, and filled in the slots with plastic wood. The plastic wood was leveled and the basses neck was cleared of residue. Because the neck had a dark color the filler made for a great visual reference and the accuracy of the player was restored.
Hello. Are you still active.. I need some help. Thank you
The truss rod in my acoustic won't tighten any further. I'm going to use
some lube to see if that solves he problem. But if not, trying a
couple of washers might be good but my problem is that the truss rod
itself leans to one side, quite close to the side of the wood. Getting
washers on might be a problem.
Thank you sir! Was the pressure from the clamp what back bowed the neck? I’ve seen others use a block as a lever and then clamp the top of the neck to the table to bow the neck. Can anyone confirm that it was the clamp squeezing the bottom of the neck causing the back bow?
Nice job! Nice to see a craftsman TCB!
Can you recommend someone in the Valley here in SoCal that does quality work like you?
Have a '73 P bass that needs TLC.. intonation, neck straightening.. More hills and dales than Scotland!
Thank you
What if I run out of intonation adjustment
I did just this with a Fender neck. The rod thread at the nut seemed rusty so I but a little PB Blaster in the hole, clamped it and tightened the nut back. The neck went right back to it;s bowed state. I repeated the process and have it all bound up for now.
Is it safe to assume that if the bow remains then the truss rod is rusted in place and is not moving with the neck? not allowing it to slip back and forth through the washer at the nut?
Awesome
Dan, how long does the bass neck need to stay in that backbend before you can take the clamp off and put it back on the guitar? Thanks for the video!
Wish I'd seen this a month ago. Would've saved me $200!
I have a Squier Affinity P-bass with the P/J pickups. It was delivered out of tune and with a bow in the neck. I had it professionally set up, but now the neck is bowing slightly again and it's buzzing badly in spots. Granted, it's a cheap bass, but is there anything I can do to fix this? Adjusting the truss rod can get rid of the buzz, but the action is too high then.
Hey dan, I need to clamp the neck of a 12 string acoustic because the truss rod is as tight as i'm brave enough to make it and the relief is to curved. How hard should I clamp it? As in, how much vertical deflection should I clamp it to, and for how long should I leave it there before it takes the new set? Thanks in advance.
Do you clamp just under the 5th fret? Does it matter where you clamp? Thanks!
exact middle of the neck, typically around 8-9 fret
Totally wonderful thanks I’ll rescue some abandoned instruments
Just me, but there needs to be some relief with no tension on he strings, the trick is stringing it up to standard E & the tension from the strings relieve the neck to the desirable action height. If back bow is bad, back bow is bad with or without strings tuned to proper tension. Flat, especially for a bass because the wound strings are floppier than thinner guitar strings, & those need space to move. It think DE did a decent job with the bass set up, but down tune and that bass is going to buzz like a subwoofer on a 1970's Chevy Bonneville with any more aggressive attack for the heavier strings. Since the G2 is really nothing more than a string that is the same gauge as a 9.5's-10's E2 string, that one can be set up similar to any guitar that has that gauge a string relative for the longer scale length. The new territory for me when setting up a 28.6 short scale Jackson bass was 65-85-100(105) depending upon the brand. I'm seriously contemplating the 40-60-75-90 set of strings. I don't believe those will make that big of a difference beyond the gauges not being 20th of an inch intervals ? It's probably more feel than it is tone. A note is a note that vibrates at a certain frequency. E1=E1 for an open string, would a 90 vs 100(105) just sound a little cleaner due to the imperfection of the string's movement in a nut slot ?
The Jackson Bass I just bought preowned, the relief is supposed to be .12-.14 mm at the 8th & 9th frets per Jackson factory specs. They provide that information at the website. Once I had that much relief in the neck, everything adjusted for any action height & tuning I desired to set the bass up for. I understand that extreme weather changes are going to alter the setup slightly, but when the temperature & humidity normalizes, the bass will go right back to where it was set up. All my guitars do that & have for the last 3 years. Periodically I will assess the neck to make sure nothing hasn't warped, but my home is maintained at a constant 50-55% RH with the HVAC system, temperature stays within 1-1.5 degrees F with the thermometer & hydrometer (RH %) that I have. That's a $ 3-4 item at home depot. I use it to maintain the HVAC which is way more expensive than the guitars I own.
For neck relief, a piece of paper, even as low as a store receipt applies. Completely flat or back bow is never good for a neck. The strings won't pull a neck completely from end to end, where the pull up is happening is at the nut & headstock, because that's where the stings are bent over the nut to the tuning pegs. At the other end, the saddles have their bend over point, everything in between is suspended over the frets & fretboard, & until one frets a string, open it never contacts as an open string. String break angle matters too. A setup is a juggling act of getting all those points of adjustment set properly. Once that happens the guitar will play both open & fretted for intonation perfectly, assuming the scale length is right & each fret on the fretboard was located where it needs to go. The bridge location is another critical build exact tolerance that matters.
And those saddles, individual saddles that look wonky cool as uneven are wrong. Nobody ever liked crooked teeth vs a beautiful perfect smile of level & straight teeth . The bridge should look like a flawless super model beautiful for saddles. There is a reason the saddles barrel ends are flush. The only exception to saddles not being level ? When the saddle is compensating for more than 1 string (like a Telecaster 3 saddle bridges vs 6 individual saddle bridges). Every Bass player that plays that instrument will be adjusting those for the rest of their miserable lives that way. Level the individual barrels & the screws are flush against the neck plate. even tension/pressure. Wonky as they are, one screw will always vibrate eventually to be loose & free turning. Level the saddles and they stay put. The string will ride uniformly for tension against the saddle slot cuts. Strings stay put and won't have a tendency to jump the saddle slots for down tuning from standard E, even for standard E tuning. Tuning stability will improve too, intonation will be more accurate, it won't drift because the strings won't move microns side to side beyond what wear & tear the strings or saddle slots experience.
Guitars are nothing more than math, lengths and tolerances. As they wear, eventually they get sloppier for tolerances. Think of it like a car that's been broken in properly for a few thousand miles in the first oil change or two vs the car that has 150-200K miles on it. Worn out is cool, harder to play because the tolerances just aren't there any more. Proper adjustments early in the process and that minimizes the wear & tear of years of guitar play.
Final thought on ball ends of the strings. I generally align those and I use a section of string that I run thru the eye's of the ball ends for top loaders. That way when playing the instrument in the playing position, the strings ball end holes align perfectly. Maybe that's not really critical, but it does look more professionally done for a new set of strings. Sometimes a manufacturer will actually cut the holes on the back of the bridge plate to orient the ball ends to fit properly. My Ovation acoustic is that way. It's the difference between the ball end seating in the string hole. With the Ovation, have seen too many wooden Rosewood bridges split because the ball end didn't seat in the string hole properly. Again, uneven tension is the problem, properly orienting the ball ends is the solution. Yeah, it takes a little more time, but at the end of the day, doing the job right takes whatever time it takes. Strings might even last longer as the ball end makes better contact evenly around that entire radius instead of on a high single spot. It may seem like OCD, but your instrument won't be fighting uneven tensions & points of contact & friction.
Sorry for the long responses, but I'm explaining why I advise to do anything. If one doesn't care, that laziness shows in other areas. Take your time, you have to do it anyway. Might as well be proud of he work when your done. Handing the instrument back for the owner/player's feedback is bad customer service & relations. As techs, any of us are supposed to know what these instruments should be as brand new & perfect. If a player comes back & says I did something wrong, that's a problem. I should fix the guitar right, hand it to them and never hear from them again. And if they do come back with another guitar for a set up, once & done. I can also point out all these things to a customer and if they tell me it's wrong for them, they really don't know how to build or set up a guitar. Even the most affordable Chinese guitar should feel & play like a Fender Custom shop relative to the precision it was built & located. The Chinese guitars are really narrowing the gap on quality. The difference is really in the finish, how many coats, the amount of rubbing & buffing, because the wood is virtually indiscernible. I have $ 100 Monoprice instruments that sound incredible with a little more effort into them. I can pay $ 100 & do it myself or I can pay another $ 2-3K and expect that it was done when the box is opened. There's not much you can do about the layers of finish beyond refinishing the body & wood, but he rest of it should be so tight to tolerances that the sound should be indiscernible.
On my Sterling StingRay my action has to be high or else I’ll get fret buzz on my E or A string when fretting the first fret…..anything I can do to lower the action without the buzz?? Thanks Sir…
Your second fret could be too high and needs to be leveled
what about a neck thru bass?
I'm currently clamping a bass neck that has a wee bit too much bow to ask of an unassisted truss rod, and I'd like to ask some advice from anyone who might have done this. My plan is to leave it a few days. I want to know if I should tighten the truss rod immediately after I achieve the clamped position or, let the neck acclimate to the new position and tighten the truss rod just before I remove the clamp? Or do that and leave it an additional spell of time? Thanks
I have a 95 Telecaster with too much bow. Does this technique only work on bass guitars or should so try it too?
what's the name of the tool you used to adjust the action and will it work for normal electric guitars? (or will I need a different size
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