I’ll be diving into a full on setup on my own soon so thanks for sharing this!!!
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Glad it might be helpful. The Elixir vids are gold.
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You really only have to worry about the nut if there is a blatant problem with either…
- action really high and you can’t get do a reasonable spec
- action too low from nut being abused over time, leading to buzzing no matter how you set it up.
You can fine tune a nut and dial in action a bit more and more, but if it ain’t broke…
For me, buying used/vintage, nut work is generally filling and refiling slots that are too low vs. too high.
Lower end new bassess generally have higher nut slots to avoid any buzzing issues.
Until you learn where you really like your action and feel (takes time, took me about a year to dial in) nut work is kinda useless. Once you know what you like you may add nut work to improve overall feel.
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Thanks. That’s exactly the feedback I was looking for.
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Nut work is also much easier than you think and doesn’t require any special tools, files, etc. Just sandpaper and a $5 set of small diamond files work perfectly.
Nut too high? Just sand the bottom by rubbing it on a sanding block until it is the right height.
String too big for slot? Gently file the slot sides with the diamond files until the string fits.
Nut too low? Shim under nut with some business card stock until it’s high enough.
Not hard at all.
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How about your opinions on set-up to manufacturer specs vs one-size-fits-all specs like John Carruthers uses in the Elixir videos?
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Until I learned to do it on my own, I took my basses to my local guy. For $50.00 each he set them up. However, I always found myself tweaking his set-ups to my own preference. After the second time of having him set one up, then tweaking it to ME, I just started doing it myself. I did buy some Music Nomad tools from Sweetwater to help along the way, but truth is, you really don’t even need to do anything like that to do a basic set up. I just lowered my action, tweaked the truss rods until it felt and sounded perfect to me. It is all about what feels good to you. A guitar tech can set one up to manufacturers specs but those specs may be wrong for you and your playing style.
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I got a couple of Music Nomad tool sets just for the convenience of it. I do hand woodworking and gunsmithing, and I love to take intricate things apart and put them back together. Always have. I even have tools to work on my tools! 
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I think I have just about everything they offer. Great tools and built for such specific purposes. I love the little bitty .050 hex that I needed to adjust my bridge on my Warmoth P/J. Nothing else even came close to working.
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My Mayones was delivered beautifully set up from the get-go. The only thing I need to do is lower the string heights at the bridge a tad. I’ve been playing up to the 24th fret, and the strings are just a little higher than I’d like them to be. I’ve got the hex wrench for the saddles, but I prefer the Music Nomad screwdriver set for stuff like that. Plus, I love tools.
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Your Mayones is beautiful. I would expect nothing less than a perfect set-up from those guys.
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Thanks a lot, Eddie. It is my go-to, for absolute sure. I seldom, if ever, pick up my other basses. I’m going to put a few up for sale soon 'cause they should be played.
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Which ones? You know I cannot control my GAS
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I’m going to let go of my short scales: Sire U5 and SBMM StingRay. They both play like butter and they are as new-in-the-box mint as anything could be.
The U5 has a custom Albridge bell-bronze saddle bridge and Hipshot Mini Clover USA-made Ultralite tuners. It’s the first bass I bought for doing B2B, 6 months ago.
The SBMM is stock, Oly White with a parchment pickguard and Rosewood fingerboard. I bought it specifically for slap and the StingRay tone. It is a great bass.
Next on the block is my blonde Sire M5. Great, great bass. It was my go-to before the Mayones. It’s only about 3 months old and pristine.
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I use the Sadowsky low-med-high specs (depending on bass and what I’m doing with it) as the starting point and then tweak for feel or neck issues or straightness (higher or lower respectively).
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The music nomad screwdriver tool set is pretty handy. Most of what you need.
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@MikeC, got a pic posted?
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Hum hum … I got dibs on the Cutlas! 
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