String Height

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ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261

a Q to all you bassy type peeples..

what sort of string height [over the 12th fret I guess] is considered to be a good / fast setup for a bass...

being a shredder, I measure my action by the number of atoms that'll fit between the string and 12th fret.. which in my case is about 11..

but on a bass, it look like everything is measured in meters..

so... how many meters [or yards in old money] from string to fret should I be looking for???

play every note as if it were your first
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Comments

  • MayneheadMaynehead Frets: 1782
    edited June 2015
    About 4/64" on high string and 6/64" low string should be about right.
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261

    thanks matey... I'll check it out....

    it's action is quite high... last night I shimmed its neck.. which improved things a lot.. but it still seems a bit high to me.. when I drop the action low, it's unplayable above the 12th fret cos it gets really buzzy and some strings choke.. I'm not expecting that to be normal so I'm guessing that it has a couple of high frets that need stoning..

    play every note as if it were your first
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  • MayneheadMaynehead Frets: 1782
    If it's buzzing on the high frets that sounds symptomatic of too much neck relief. Should be around 0.012" under the 7th fret with the 1st and 17th held down. If it's more than that you might need to tighten the truss rod by a quarter turn.

    With a straighter neck you can raise the action at the bridge more and avoid fret buzz on that end of the neck.
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    thanks… I'll check for that… cheers matey..
    play every note as if it were your first
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    thinking on it.. I wonder if he's got a big ol' string gauge on it that's pulling the neck more than the strings that it come with..
    I'll check that too
    play every note as if it were your first
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    Maynehead said:
    If it's buzzing on the high frets that sounds symptomatic of too much neck relief. Should be around 0.012" under the 7th fret with the 1st and 17th held down. If it's more than that you might need to tighten the truss rod by a quarter turn.

    With a straighter neck you can raise the action at the bridge more and avoid fret buzz on that end of the neck.
    @Maynehead awesome call…
    the bass is proper sorted…
    thanks matey..
    play every note as if it were your first
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  • MayneheadMaynehead Frets: 1782
    edited July 2015
    Glad to be of service. Nothing beats a perfectly set up instrument!
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    one of my students is a bassist…
    and when we were working on some of the quicker parts of a song we're working on he looked like he was struggling..
    it looked like some serious over-pressure was going on.. and he was flagging a bit more than I'd expect..
    although it is quite a tough song.. [Journey: Dead Or Alive.. fiddly and pacey]
    when I took a closer look, I realised his strings were like a mile from the fingerboard, so I offered to help sort it..
    but not being a bassist, I'm not sure what I'm looking for [distances] cos everything is so big..

    so.. I shimmed the neck and put a 1/4 turn on the truss rod then set the string height
    it's buzzy and rattly as fk acoustically, but amped it's nice and clean..
    it's like he's stepped out of a bus and into a Porsche.. 
    the difference in his playing is like night and day.. he couldn't believe the difference..

    thanks so much for your help.. this will transform his playing..

    btw - he uses Ernie Ball Super Slinky's
    are these considered to be a heavy or light gauge?
    not being a bassist, I've no idea.. cos they look huge to my lil' shredder eyes..

    play every note as if it were your first
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  • MayneheadMaynehead Frets: 1782
    I'm not a bass player either so I wouldn't take my word as gospel  :\">

    However just going by the name I would have thought those strings will be one of the slighter if not the lightest Earnie Ball sets.

    I'm still a little concerned by the "buzzy and rattly as fk" bit... it shouldn't be that bad acoustically unless he's really digging in with a pick. Did you measure the neck relief at all when you tightened the truss rod? Should be around a business card's thickness under the 7th fret with 1st and 17th held down. Also did you put the right radius on the inner 2 strings when you adjusted the height of the outer 2? If you set them to the same height as the outer stings then they will be too low due to the fretboard radius and will cause buzzing.
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    the buzzy stuff seems fine when the bass is running through an amp..
    some of my guitars can be a little buzzy acoustically but fine when amp'd too..
    when I see him again I'll check it over..

    like you, I was thinking 'super slinky' means light
    play every note as if it were your first
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  • chrispy108chrispy108 Frets: 2336
    They're 45-100, so Light but not crazy, they do a lighter set. Standard is 50-105
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    They're 45-100, so Light but not crazy, they do a lighter set. Standard is 50-105
    yeah that makes sense...
    play every note as if it were your first
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