Samick Baby Bass

[mickeyj4j]

Ok I have a short scale bass guitar Samick Baby Bass. Taken it out after several years.
Here is my previous post Samick Baby Bass Setup

Several years ago I was doing this up added a set of EMG pickups. Strings 4 thickest strings from a 5 string set to get corect tension and thickness. Setup I have is
1. String with the 4 thickest strings from regular 5 string set to get correct tension (thickest string is 125mm).
2. I have adjusted the neck to remove the bow
3. The action is set as low as it can go (it needs to be lower).

Here is the setup so far?



Does it need a neck reset now to improve action? (Is this easy to do or If not I will need to take it in for a setup some time.). With the origional strings action was normal.
Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

[kiwigeo]

2. I have adjusted the neck to remove the bow

What's the current neck relief? If you adjust truss rod so fretboard is perfectly flat then there's a high chance you'll get fret buzz mid neck. A bit of relief mid neck allows for string excursion without slapping the frets. Without sounding like a smart arse....Are you sure you fully understand the purpose of the truss rod?

[sleake]

Assuming the truss rod is properly set, a quick and dirty way of lowering action is to shim the neck pocket to give a more appropriate neck angle (guessing its a bolt on neck.....) A peice of veneer, folded sandpaper, business card can all work, towards the body end of the neck pocket to kick back the neck angle and effectively 'lower' the action.

Certainly not the best way to improve resonance and tone etc etc, but it's a fast and easily undone way of getting it playable.

[mickeyj4j]

What's the current neck relief? If you adjust truss rod so fretboard is perfectly flat then there's a high chance you'll get fret buzz mid neck. A bit of relief mid neck allows for string excursion without slapping the frets.

Will check relief later when home. The neck was flat without strings on. Bowing happned when strings were on so I adjusted the neck back to flat with strings on. And that's the image I took.

Without sounding like a smart arse....

Nah all ok there, good to cover all basses (no cheesy pun intended).

Are you sure you fully understand the purpose of the truss rod?

All my knowledge from this stems from what I have gained online, Forums, Tutorials, Following luthiers on YouTube etc. And from this doing basic maintenance setup, oiling fretboard, string intonation, nut changes, polishing fretboards etc.
Truss rod adjustment sets neck relief, more or less tension on neck, for different string thickness and tension. It also helps with fine tuning at 12th fret, along with setting the nut, saddle and fret leveling.

Thanks for your help.

[kiwigeo]

Truss rod adjustment sets neck relief, more or less tension on neck, for different string thickness and tension. It also helps with fine tuning at 12th fret, along with setting the nut, saddle and fret leveling.

Neck relief will affect action etc but it's important that neck relief is set up correctly before playing with action. Don't treat your truss rod as a way of adjusting action...you'll get into all sorts of trouble. Neck relief should be adjusted with strings on and at normal tension.

[mickeyj4j]

Neck relief will affect action etc but it's important that neck relief is set up correctly before playing with action. Don't treat your truss rod as a way of adjusting action...you'll get into all sorts of trouble. Neck relief should be adjusted with strings on and at normal tension.

Ok then I am assuming I have done something wrong. I will research again how to adjust the truss rod. If it is adjusted correctly then a shim is needed. Thanks for your advice. Can you recomend any good resources oI could look at i case I missed them.

[seeaxe]

I preface all this by saying I've never built or set up a bass..but the principles are the same.

So I had a quick look. See if these help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-n2rG ... mb_rel_end

https://youtu.be/dRzPbAiR-mk

Annoyingly no one says "you need 0.25mm of relief at the xxth fret. ".. or whatever. The correct amount seems to be somewhere around "just enough".

I would suggest you set the relief at something like a business card between a straightedge (that is something like the fret board in length) and the fret in the middle of the straightedge.

Once you have done that use some form of shim/shims to get the action where you want it.

If its still buzzing after that i would check the frets with a fret rocker first and if they're ok then put a little more relief in the neck. If that works, then fine. If not maybe increase the action a little. Rinse and repeat until you have it as good as you can get it.

Its all a very fiddly iterative process but ultimately will be the difference between just playable and actually nice to play.

Good luck mate.