The 12th fret is the halfway point of the string 
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I know saving the money is tempting, I get self reliance and all of it. I’m a cheap ass myself lol. But spending money on a pro to intonate is worth EVERY CENT! It is just so worth it, and such a night and day difference. You can get away with only doing it every 6 months to a year if you really wanna stretch the dollar, some people do it every 3 months, or anytime right before a show or studio time. At a MINIMUM, do it the first time.
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I found a neat little Donner pedal tuner and bought it with a 9v power cable. Apparently the two items are frequently bought together so I imagine it’s all I would need to get the thing working. I watched a video of a guy who had it hooked up to his pedal board and it’s amazing with his guitar. Coincidentally the 15W amp I have is from Donner as well as the stand I put my bass on and the cable (a kinda crappy one but still functional) it came with. It’ll be a few days, maybe even more than a week before it gets in my hands but I’ll let y’all know how it goes.
Yeah, that is fine! It’s a far cry better than even the higher end clip-on tuners. You are on your way!
Just bite the bullet and take your baby in to the guitar store, I PROMISE you will thank me later (I’d get a recommendation from a local musician on WHO to bring it to in your area though, and places like guitar center are hit and miss).
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I made a video that I’m hoping someone can use as a basis for judging the intonation (or lack there of).
Hmm…hard to tell there. Would have to see the action and have to see what a tuner is reading…don’t have perfect pitch.
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Yeah I’m not too sure what steps to take because adjusting those screws at the bottom of the bridge barely moved anything 
Scott’s bass lessons has a good one for low action and if you want a little rasp (which I like). Let me see
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Intonation and action are 2 different things
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They are, though they go hand in hand. If you adjust the action it tends to throw the intonation off unless you correct for it. If you are doing it yourself you need to learn it. I believe this lesson shows how to adjust for it.
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All the different parts of the setup are close related (action, intonation, tunning).
Just pointing this out, because you mentioned it a few times already and want to avoid confusion for those that are not familiar with the concepts.
That being said, most musicians will recommend you to do your own setup for several benefits, between those, you’ll find:
- Learn more about your instrument
- Find your own numbers (action and pick-ups heigh being the most subjective)
- Learn some basic physics applied to your instrument (why you have to adjust your truss rod, why there are changes in pitch when you adjust the saddles, etc etc etc)
Even those numbers that are provided by your instrument brand (like Fender detailing the default pick-up height) are reference values.
Every musician needs to find how their own instrument feel-goods for them, nobody else could set the ‘perfect action’ for you, since they don’t know the strength you use to fret, how’s your economy of motion, which type of playstyle or which technique you use often and I can keep adding more reasons.
All in all, I’ll recommend @Jbassist284 to set it up himself.
Is not hard and could be a fulfilling experience that will help you to get closer to your instrument.
Those are my 2 cents
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Nothing wrong with learning it. I did it myself, had my lead guitarist take the rhythm guitarist in to his guy for a b-day present. This guy is an amazing guitarist and a gear freak (20 guitars, 10 different amps, 3 different pedalboards) he was definitely more experienced than us (by like 15 years of playing and gigging). So in any case he brings the Les Paul back to our rhythm, and it’s just beautiful. Feels better, switched out knobs, replaced frets, polished it up etc…and he says just take it in every 6 months or so, I take all my stuff in to them now. Given he has money, but he swore by it. Me being a cheap ass, well I stubbornly resisted. Until we got into a studio, and I just wanted it to sound and feel it’s best. I took it in and it was night and day. I converted. Nothing wrong with doing it yourself. I just won’t anymore lol.
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I’m fine with doing most stuff myself (including the electronics) but I am seriously considering having someone do the frets for me because that’s just laborious and easy to make mistakes with.
It’s a good balance. I need to adjust my action and intonation more or less monthly due to seasonal shifts (and this is on a bass with a very strong, 5-ply neck). So being good at it is clutch. Helped out a lot when I broke a nut accidentally while restringing as well.
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For sure. All things are preference anyway. I am not mechanically inclined, and get frustrated easily when tinkering. My preference is just taking it in. Whether you do it yourself, or pay someone to do it, the important thing is “get it done”! It makes a big difference.
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It matters so much to have a good setup, yeah. The difference in experience and enjoyability is huge.
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100% agree, fret leveling and nut adjustment are definitely things that need to be taken care of by a professional.
I don’t consider those 2 things as part of a setup, but more for reactive maintenance.
In case you need to do something on those topics, I won’t even recommend taking it to the ‘store guy’, I’d say it’s better to research for a luthier or someone that really knows what he’s doing, since having an unleveled fret or nut, will make your setup impossible and your playability a nightmare.
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Surprisingly doing the nut wasn’t so bad, but I already had some appropriate files and had previously done some other work on a different bass making it work for BEAD. But yeah like fretwork it’s something that involves destructively removing material from your bass, so best left to a pro unless you are pretty confident in your skills.
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Little details like that are what leave me relieved to have gotten a “new” bass. I can’t say that it’s perfect in those categories, but I haven’t had any issues 