I followed some of the Youtube videos recommended on here to do my own setup, which was a bit intimidating but I’m pretty confident I’ve got it down almost perfectly.
I know that I will likely need to do some work on the nut to lower the E string but that’s about it.
I have noticed that it all feels very clanky. I can’t say there’s any buzzing except when I left my fingers to mute with my left hand.
My question is: are there audio cues (aside from buzzing when fretting) that I should be aiming for?
The cues given in the video tend to be more visual/measurement based.
I’m VERY new to setups and bass as a whole.
For context, I have a Players P bass and new Dunlop Nickelwounds
I think their adjustable nut is very cool, something that comes from Warwick (with whom they have a business relationship)
Generally you can file the nut to lower a string, or use a piece of paper or business card to raise it.
As far as clank, that’s a matter of taste. Some players have a lot of clank, some don’t, no right or Wong answer. The setup should get the instrument to your tastes. If you like it it’s a great setup.
The ABM nuts are great because … brass! I like brass for my nuts
The adjustment option is cool, but you will not use it a lot. I like to play with it when I adjust the neck and bridge though, as I can easily modify action height any way I want to.
To me it feels Wong that everything can be adjusted (tuners, neck, pickups, bridge) by just screwing around, but the nut needs to be either filed (with the risk of filing too much) or modified with cheap paper (while having discussion about neck wood material or nut material in relation to sound/tone).
If you experience “noise” at non-open strings, it is either incorrect neck tension or bridge height.
If you experience “noise” at open strings it can also be that the nut height for that string is too low.
Did you setup with those four videos? In my opinion this is the best way to do it, also for a beginner:
Two things:
be really careful with adjusting the truss rod (do not use too much force!)
try to avoid filing the nut. Leave that to a specialist!
If you listen to say Geezer Butler there’s a lot of clank in his recordings. It’s a percussive element, and part of his sound. And people practice to replicate it.
It’s in a lot of recordings. Some genres make a lot of use of it. It’s a choice.
Yeah, John Carruthers is serious - unlike most other YouTube guys & gals!
Best is to watch all 4 videos without touching your bass first. Maybe do a dry run next, so you understand what you’re doing.
And then watch it again and do exactly what he says. Be prepared to pause and rewind often.
Before you file the nut at all, make sure you are doing the proper fix. If just one string is high at the nut, then filing is an option. However for the more common case of all of them being high, you should instead sand the bottom of the nut - the blank was cut and filed too high but the slots are likely fine in that case.
Oh and if your nut has a curved bottom like some old school ones, use the fretboard as a sanding block for the sandpaper. Otherwise, just lay a piece of sandpaper flat on your table and rub the nut on it a few times, then check hight, repeat. Super easy. Same goes for if the nut blank is too wide.
I’m beginning to feel like there is a limit to how much perfection I’m aiming for.
Might be getting too OCD about achieving numbers when feel matters the most (within reason) lol
IF I go through this most recent setup recommendation video and then have issues with the nut I’ll look into maybe getting a professional to take a look.
