No worries @Dani
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Those four videos were very informative. My question is: Are the dimensions he uses to set the string height standard for all basses or just for the Fender he is working on?
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Iām thinking it is pretty universal as he mentions working for several other companies in his career but please donāt hold me to that .
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It seems real easy to do if you have the proper tools. How many of us have feeler gauges, small round files and strobe tuners to make it simple.
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You donāt need any of those things for a basic setup. Which is why I donāt like the Carruthers video.
I like Marceloās video here a lot more.
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I think Carruthers neglects to mention tuning the bass before beginning truss rod adjustment. Tuning changes the tension on and curvature of the neck.
I personally wouldnāt be taking a file to the nut unless I really felt like I knew what I was doing. That should rarely be necessary.
His action height is high compared to how some others like it.
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Carruthersā video is great for explaining what a luthier should do to get a bass into factory spec.
The problem is, I donāt want my bass in factory spec. I want it set up so it feels right to me. For me, I like a much lower action and a bit less neck relief than factory spec. So even if I DID use a feeler gauge, it would not be the final adjustment anyway. To me the feeler gauges are pointless and I lose nothing by not using them.
Nut height is something that is nice to tune but is not going to cause much issue unless it is way out of wack. I have filed mine once though (when converting a bass to BEAD) and itās not very hard, just not strictly necessary. I will say that Warwick wins the game here though; having an allen-adjustable nut as a standard feature is super cool.
Any tuner will work for intonation, it doesnāt need to be a strobe.
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I came across this setup guide and itās free from Jerzy Drozd.
The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Bass Guitar Setup
Itās really well done and I got more out of it than any of the videos Iāve watched. Let me take that back, I probably got so much out of it because of all the videos Iāve watched.
Coupling this guide with any number of bass setup videos on youtube makes for a pretty comprehensive tutorial.
This one from Guns and Guitarsā¦
Or these two from from Marcelo Feldmanā¦
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YouTube bass setup video from Roger Sadowsky.
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Hi I had my bass set up at a guitar shop and I dont think it has been set up low enough, it looks a bit high compared to what Josh showed on his bassā¦ I talked to the guy who did the set up he wasnt a bass player he also said basses were hard to set up which is a different impression than im getting from you guys. I have ordered a ruler to see what height its set at and I have been looking to see what heights they should be just for a guideā¦on the Fender site (i have a squire I presume they are similar) it was talking about neck radius and bass and treble side and had measurements and im not really sure what all that meansā¦ I presume a bass would be the bass side how would I know what the neck raduis isā¦ I feel a bit dumb asking lol but I just want to get this rightā¦ Thanks
https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/214343843-How-do-I-set-up-my-bass-guitar-properly-
That is the fender support page
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Recommend watching the Marcelo videos in post 108 above.
Thatās all you need.
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No, donāt go there. We all started out not knowing this stuff till we learned it.
Bass side is the side with the E string and the bassier tones.
Treble side is the side with the G string and the treblier tones.
If you canāt find the neck radius, let us know what model Squier you have and Iām sure one of us can help you find it.
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You may find this topic useful:
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Thanks guys thats really helpful that should sort me out thanks
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What a revelation!
I just finished my first bass setup and who would have thought that playing bass could be done with a such a light touch. Ha! Iād always wondered why my playing looked and felt like such hard work while other playerās fingers seemed to dance across the strings. And of course Iād noticed that people were doing some adjustments to their instruments but I thought that is some kind of nerdy pro stuff I donāt need to concern myself with as a beginner. Why has nobody mentioned this to me before?! 
I even dated a guitar player for a while who always picked up my bass to show off, but never said a word about these magical screws that would make life so much easier and the sound so much better.
So to all the newbies out there: Go for it! This is really not rocket science. I probably didnāt do it to perfection but it is such an improvement nonetheless.
And to @JoshFossgreen and all of you nice people: Thank you for pointing this out in lesson 1 and all the advice youāve given in this forum! 
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Awesome - congrats!
I need to do some small adjustments on two of my basses later today as wellā¦ too warm/dry here in the house lately and that affects these beasts a little!
Hehe, maybe better to date a drummer next time 
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Iāll bear that in mind! 
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What a godsend this thread is!
I have just ordered some new strings as the ones that came with the bass just donāt sound great.
So this will be my first attempt at a setup. All feels right-ish with the bass atm apart from fret buzz on the E string. Quite noticable on the 7th and pretty bad on the 17th with a sprinkling in between.
Letās hope I donāt make things worse ,like the time I ājust needed to tighten this valveā and flooded the hallway!
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I decided it was time to invest in the few proper setup tools every bass player should need, along with all the cleaning bits to keep my investments in great shape.
I watched a zillion videos on setup technique and then decided to start with my Squire J bass and change strings to flats and reset it up vs. paying the $80 the local tech charges.
Let me tell you I learned 3 thingsā¦
- Every bass player should learn how to do this, because it isnāt too hard.
- The tech doesnāt always do the setup right.
- Knowing how to do the setup letās you experiment and find out where you really like things to play your best.
When I went to the Labella flats on the Squire, the truss rod certainly needed adjustment, so I just went for it. Although there are a lot of different ways to do setups, they are all basically trying to do the same thing, so I selected the techniques that made more sense and ended up with what I feel are the best results for me. The nice thing is once you are comfortable doing it, you can try different things and see the results.
The one thing i noticed across 2 of my basses that were set up by my tech was that the pickup height was WAY wrong. So, of course I decided I didnāt know what I was doing and he didā¦but what i found was this isnāt true.
On one bass, the foam underneath was compressed to the point where I couldnāt raise it up to where it should be. I would have preferred he told me this and replaced the foam and did it right. Instead, it appears he made it as good as he could and that was that.
On my TRBX305, one pickup screw hole was drilled on an angle at the factory, causing it to bind in the hole and against the pickup before allowing the foam to engage and āfloatā. Seemed he just got it to this point and left it vs. fixing it. This took me ~2 minutes to fix, most of which was me walking to get my drill.
Net/net, take the time and control your own destiny on setups/string changes. Or at least know how to keep your tech honest.
The next purchase will be nut files, but since they are all set at the moment on my basses I donāt see a need until I change strings that are larger/too small and need mods etc.
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I started with Billās techniques but found there are some better ways to do some things.
String height I like to do at the last fret vs. the 12th fret. Why? Seems more people spec it at last fret, so easier to translate other specs.
Relief he looks from 1st fret capo to fret at neck/body connection vs. last fret, and he uses .015 vs. .014 at 7th fret. Is there a difference? Not much, but depending on construction of bass it might. And again, more references to last fret out there.
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