I’ve been trying to lower the action on my strings and I broke my G string trying to adjust my truss rod. The action was horrendous, probably about 1/4 inch off the frets at the highest point. How do I now what to adjust? Maybe a pretty dumb question, but I’m not the smartest hahaha, thanks!
If you literally broke a string adjusting the truss rod you may just need to stop right now. Truss rods usually only require small tweaking “most of the time”, the string height-action is set at the saddle, also in small increments to set to your personal preference. Permanent/expensive damage can be done messing with a truss rod if you don’t know what you’re doing.
What bass is it?
What led you to start this?
Is there a Luthier near you?
Please don’t take this as I’m talking down to you, typing can be taken in the wrong way and I am in no way talking down to you just genuinely wanting to help.
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Another question I have is if you are tuned to the correct octave, and if not then we may know why your action is too high.
It should not be possible to break a string by adjusting the truss rod.
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Truss rod is not primarily for adjusting the action. It is for adjusting the neck relief - how much “bow” is in the neck. This does affect action heigh, but it is not the primary thing it does.
Bridge saddles primarily affect action height.
To do a proper setup - first adjust neck the trust rod to get the correct amount of forward bow. This is personal. But generally, if you hold the string down at the 1st and 13th frets, there should be some space at the 7th fret when the strings are properly tuned.
Once relief is correct - then adjust action height using the small screws on the bridge saddles. These will require a very small allen key.
If the action is too high even with the bridge saddles fully lowered, you can shim the neck. I did this with a bass that has an aftermarket neck. Something like these that goes between the neck and the body and adds a slight angle. A little bit goes a LONG way on a bass. (My “way too high” action, I thought would need .5*, but it only needed .25).
But as pointed out - you really shouldn’t be able to break a string adjusting the truss rod. You might want to talk to somebody with more experience than you and get them to guide you through this hands-on.
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This really sounds like you sgould take it to a luthier, depends of course but in general around 50 bucks are well invested
Just to avoid confusion and not at all to be pedantic, I think you did something I commonly do and mistyped what you were thinking.
I believe you meant to say that adjusting the truss rod does somewhat affect string action, but is not the primary function of it.
And that bridge saddles do primarily affect string action.
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Yup. Brain fart.
Corrected.
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Hmm ok. A lot of well received feedback here. The bass in question is a $200 Jackson spectra js2, and not to sound arrogant or anything, I’m not extremely concerned in doing damage to it since it is a cheap bass. I’ll have to see what I can do with the saddle screws when my new strings come in this morning. As far as the truss rod, from my limited research(YouTube vidyas) I was under the impression it had more effect on the action than it does. being stupid doesn’t pay off haha. Anyways, once again I appreciate you all for the feedback. I’m definitely not going to mess with my Schecter when it comes in on Friday. That Bass I will take to the Luthier! Cheers!
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It absolutely effects action height, but it changes other things at the same time.
Using the truss rod to adjust action is like using the “Mids” knob on your EQ to adjust your volume.
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this 
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Ok strings came in (EB regular slinkys, 45-105), restrung the bass. Began to start tuning (E1, A1, D2, G2). and my nut slid off LOL. Not a huge issue. But I think this bass is just crappy and am going to wait till friday when my Schecter comes in.
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Fair, although I’d much rather learn how to do it right on a $200 bass than try and figure it out on one that you paid more for.
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Look here on how to do a setup.
The first video that Josh made is quite good, basically you just follow those instructions, do things in the exact order Josh does it and then you should be fine.
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Oh wow, this has been an ordeal, let’s hope it’s the bass’s fault. Please for Gods sake,( and I’m kinda laughing as I say this) DONT MESS WITH THAT SCHECTER lol. Seriously, it should be close out of the box, I’ve bought two brand new this year that needed VERY LITTLE adjustments. I’m looking forward to you getting it tomorrow. Please post pics as I’m a big Schecter fan. Which one did you buy?
RC.
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I picked up the Stiletto Extreme-4 in “See Thru Black”. I’ve never owned a Schecter but from reviews I’ve read everyone loves them and says they punch above their level. I’m excited for it to come in. Here’s the photos Sweetwater sends after your purchase, I’ll post more when it’s delivered!
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Man that is BEAUTIFUL. You will love it. I have the stealth 4 and a studio 5. IMO schechter is highly underrated/ disregarded as they play so nice and sound so good but that just MY opinion. Hearing that it’s coming from Sweetwater makes me feel better as well. I’ve never ordered from them but I hear great things about them. I happy for you that is a very very nice bass.ENJOY it.
I am kinda jealous about the inlays though🤣
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That seems to be the going sentiment. Everybody says they are super underrated and it must be true because I couldn’t find a negative review on any Schecter I looked at. It is beautiful and those inlays had a huge impact on sealing the deal for me haha! Sweetwater is an awesome place, I’ve bought a couple guitars from them and a soldano amp and marshal cab. Their customer service is second to none Oh and those Basses you got are Beautiful too!!! Your setup/practice area looks sweeeeetttt!!
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Love the Paul Reed, I have one as well, can’t play it much but it’s there when I wanna try.
The practice area was one of the bedrooms upstairs that wasn’t used, now it’s MY room lol. Wifey has the rest of the house, that’s mine.
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Sounds like a sweet deal, I also noticed your 5 string is purple! One day I will have a purple bass! Hands down the best color for bass!
The PRS plays so nice! The floating bridge took me a minute to understand when I was tuning it but I love that guitar. It’s nice to learn on when I’m not taking the B2B lessons.
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