Roger’s video is great and his methods are great, except, I put my action a bit higher.
I think the more skilled you are the lower the action you can use.
he is generally dealing with pretty good players for his basses, so note that for sure.
3 Likes
Pro tip. If you’re using a pick capo to check neck relief don’t forget to remove it before you set your string height. 
9 Likes
Oof 
3 Likes
At least it was an easy fix. 
6 Likes
I did a set up this week that has me a bit frustrated.
I’d done one last year after watching videos and getting specs for my bass (Sterling Stingray Ray4Hh ) and it came out pretty decent. I was good to go.
Recently I changed the strings from round wounds to EB cobalt flat wounds to experiment with a different warmer deeper tone, than the round wounds give. I forced to redo the setup as the humidity in NYC where I live ha drastically increased since my last set up.
Other than some pick up foam issues and a hard time getting them to the right height on both sides while remaining evenly parallel on both sides all is good, EXCEPT…
Once I get my action to specs or according to a lot of the videos I’ve seen from some of the old pros (3/32 for the E or 2/32 for the G) maybe a 32nd more give or take I get some fret buzz on the E but more so on the G string, but above the 13th or 14th fret and some of the rest all the way up toward the neck pick up.
I don’t really play anything down there so it’s not a huge issue other than the fact that it’s so many of them so clearly something isn’t right.
In the case of the G string it got so bad on one of my attempts to lower the action, again, to about 2 or 3/32nds like a lot or pros recommend, that in that entire higher section of the G string it was all dead notes.
This didn’t happen the last time I did my set up with the roundwounds so I’m puzzled as to why I can’t seem to get this right.
I’ve restarted the set up from beginning to end and it’s the same result.
In order to resolve the buzz issue I have to raise everything to about 4/32nds on the E and 3/32 on the G or maybe higher.
I have the tools to do it the way the guys on the videos do their setups, feeler gauges, radius gauges for the fret board and for matching that radius from underneath the bridge, etc.
The only other thing I’d heard on this regard is that if you frets buzz in this area of the bass the truss rod may need more tightening. Which would be fine except when I do the first step the feeler gauge deal is right where it needs to be. Any more tightening and the gauge is lifting the string, or it would measure lower than .5mm.
Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated as I’m stumped at this point.
1 Like
Your numbers are very normal indeed, however…
My first question would be “How are you measuring this?”
Meaning…
Are you fingering the first fret to eliminate the nut as a variable?
At what fret are you mearsuring?
Are you measuring top of the fret to bottom of the string?
These things tell a lot more than the distance alone.
If you are not measuring with the right process, the results can be a bit of a mess.
Actually, my first first question would be…“How is your truss rod set and by what measure?” Truss rod setting is key to action setting.
The trouble with talking string height specs is two fold.
One - very dependent on how you ‘measure’. How you measure is realative to only your results, not someone else’s results. What works for one does not work for others. I know what measurements and measurment process correlate to how I like a bass set up. That might not correlate to you.
Two - measuring is a starting point. Neck straightness, fret work, neck to bass body connection (shim needed, etc) can all effect what measurements will work on a particular bass. I set all mine up in one of two ways, depending on if I want to use a pick or not. But they don’t all come out with the same measurements. Some need more tweaking depending all of the above.
On measurement process, I have tried a bunch and settled on Roger Sadowski’s measuring process. He gives a high, medium and low set of values depending on how you play and a way to measure them. For me I use medium and high. More nuanced players (ie. 'old pro’s) might like or be able to take lower, but the numbers are based on Roger’s method. Your numbers above are his ‘medium’…IF you are measuring them the way he does (finger first fret, measure 12th fret, top of fret to bottom of string). Check out his video.
You can do the whole thing by feel if you know what you are feeling/listening for, take some experience though.
To answer your original question long story longer…
IF everything seems fine and measured correctly above and you still have the same sympotoms, could be a neck to body angle thing or nut height.
I have had high G buzz, I cured it by raising the string saddle a bit OR raising the nut slot a hair.
For lower E, nut might be too low, or raise the saddle up a bit.
Remember, before looking at this section (which is why I put it last) make sure your truss rod and measuring process are sound etc.
Hope some of this blathering helps you
4 Likes
I’m using one of the more standard methods I’ve seen from the likes of John Carruthers of Elixir Strings on YouTube, Roger Sadowsky, and the MusicMan or Sterling method.
I use a capo over the first fret and then depress the fret where the neck meets the body. I think the other way Sadowsky uses is also capo’ing or depressing the first fret but he uses the 12th to gauge. Finally, MusicMan does a second fret to 12th fret method.
I’ve used them all, and they all got me pretty much the same result.
This all makes perfect sense. I guess what is messing me up is that I didn’t have this issue the last time around, but now after three different attempts at getting the set up right, I have to settle for my string height being at a medium to high because I can’t for the life of me get those nasty dead spots to go away once the action is set to low using these methods.
It’s fine, I’d wanted to try a higher action anyway, but once I noticed this with my initial attempt at a low action to then go up from there and evaluate the difference I couldn’t let the issue go.
Once I raised the saddle higher while still matching the radius of the fretboard, it sounds good, no buzz or dead notes anywhere. It’s when I try go to that lower standard that the problem begins.
For now I’ll leave it be and I’ll keep working on my technique, as well as my setup skills, lol.
Maybe one day I’ll revisit this.
Thanks for the help once again, @John_E. 
3 Likes
This is for truss rod measurement, not string height. I’m assuming a typo here.
I would check your truss rod. It moves a LOT in spring and fall. And this time of year it flattens, which may be messing you up.
3 Likes
Oh sorry, you’re right.
For string height, with all frets open I measure on the 12th fret from the top of the fret to the bottom of the E string.
If I’m aiming for say 3/32nd’s, once I get it I try to get say, 2/32nd’s on the G string and kind of split the difference between the A and the D string from lowest to highest.
After that I use the bridge gauge to make sure the strings are following the natural arc of the fretboard until I dial it in.
If all is good there then I move on to intonation.
2 Likes
Fret the first fret then measure height. This takes the nut out of the measurement. This is Sadowski’s method. Then use his measurements as a guide. That little difference might be the difference you need.
4 Likes
Only time I got frustrated was tuning an old guitar with a Floyd rose bridge. Holy meatballs that was tedious. My 20 year old Warwick wasn’t easy either. It helps to put it down for a day and let the wood/strings do some work before you tweak again. Eventually you get it right.
3 Likes
Dave Renaud of “Dave’s World of Fun Stuff” uses the fretboard radius as a guide for string heights. So if he sets the E to 5/64", then he sets all the strings to 5/64". I have been doing this and it works for me.
6 Likes
That puts the G pretty darn high.
Hey, if it works for you, it works.
There are no right answers.
3 Likes
The measurement was an example 
I set my strings to 3/64 and then adjust for buzz if needed, that’s on the Peaveys. My P-bass clone is set a tad higher.
5 Likes
Yep, you can adjust accordingly from there, as necessary.
2 Likes
foolproof method to follow the fretboard radius and get a low action:
- adjust truss rod
- lower all strings until you just get fret buzz fretting the 7th-9th frets and plucking/picking at your normal strength
- raise each string 1/4-1/2 turn, the minimum amount until the buzz is where you want it. I like to leave a little buzz when I dig in, for some snappiness.
Now you have a maximally low action for your normal play style, and the strings are following the radius better than a measurement would get you. No measuring required.
10 Likes
Good method, Howard.
5 Likes
Finally learned (and worked up courage) to do a setup and thought I’d pass on my thoughts in case anyone else delays like I did for 2.5 years… Also added a few questions for the BB hivemind. I’m as handy as a snake (unless it’s lab instrumentation I’ve been trained on) so I was nervous to undertake this. But I’m also “midwest-thrifty” (read, “cheap”) and couldn’t fathom handing out $50-75 for this again (plus my Schechter came back with a broken tuning machine and terrible setup from some local “luthier” ass-hat about 18 months ago).
Impressions from my first (three) setups: Overall it was much simpler than I thought it would be. I needed a Korg plug in tuner, screwdriver, allen wrenches, small steel ruler (mm/ 32nd inches), capo and a $10 set of Craftsman feeler gauges from the local hardware store (didn’t want to pay stew-mac prices - and craftsman hand tools are still decent quality - just wipe off the machine oil carefully first). Adjusting truss rod is a bit more nerve wracking than saddle adjustments, but I was going in very slow increments - like 5 micro-adjustments to drop a few thousandths. Next time I’ll still go slowly but in much larger increments.
Bottom line: all 3 basses I setup play better. Less pressure needed, less fret buzz, somehow feel “quicker”. Glad I did it, embarrassed I waited so long.
Question: I used the incredibly helpful instructions from Elixir strings, but I only did 3 of 4 steps with truss rod, saddle height and intonation. I skipped nut slot adjustments for two reasons: 1) no properly sized files and 2) very reluctant to make permanent unchangeable alterations. So the question is - if I measure 1st fret height and it seems close but not dead-on, am I missing out on a lot by skipping the nut adjustment? I also used measurements mentioned in the Elixir videos - didn’t make any attempt to get manufacturer specs - because I would have had to try and track down 3 different sets (Shechter, SX and EBMM) - will that make a difference? (i.e. if I had gone with specific manufacturer specs would they play even better?)
Thanks all!
5 Likes
Short answer: If the instruments feel good to you, you’re done.
Congrats on your work!
3 Likes
It’s intimidating until you do it. Good job.
3 Likes