neck setup / relief

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Terry Atkinson

Setting the action up from the bridge I get. But for neck relief (i.e. the concave curvature of the neck), the guidance for bass seems to be "as straight as possible without buzzing". I wanted to check and see what Ken does on factory setups.

I am primarily a guitarist and on most guitars, some relief is always recommended. I guess bass and guitar are different.

So, board straight it is. Thnx for your response.

Terry

?board straight it is?.. No, not in my book. The string needs room to breathe. Every bass is slightly different. I do them by feel. I press down the outer strings (lower first) between the 1st and about the 15th freat and look at the space from under the string to the top of tyhe fret about mid way. Say about from a 32nd" to a 16th" relief at the least and or so on the low side. More if needed. The eyeballed measurement means less than the feel. We play the bass, not measure it.

Action, if we can call it that depends on the Bass itself, the strings used and the players style/technique. Call it 3-way harmony. It must all be in tune with one another..