Bass Set-ups

[Bob Faulkner]

It's ebony.. Mind you I stopped at 5 minutes, but it was apparent at 5 minutes that several hours of playing would have worn a noticeable trench into the wood. Maybe that set of rounds Ken put on it then were diamond edged or something. I don't know. No other strings I've had on it have ever really worn the board at all. Even now, 5.5 years of playing with slicks later, the board looks like someone buffed it more than any real wear. At the current rate of wear, this fingerboard will outlive me without having to be redressed.

[Tim Bishop]

Originally Posted by Bob Faulkner

It's ebony.. Mind you I stopped at 5 minutes, but it was apparent at 5 minutes that several hours of playing would have worn a noticeable trench into the wood. Maybe that set of rounds Ken put on it then were diamond edged or something. I don't know. No other strings I've had on it have ever really worn the board at all. Even now, 5.5 years of playing with slicks later, the board looks like someone buffed it more than any real wear. At the current rate of wear, this fingerboard will outlive me without having to be redressed.

I've been playing mine for years with Taper Cores: Hasn't been an issue for me.

[Dennis Michaels]

For me it is Smith Custom Balanced Taper Core Mediums.
My fretless is set up with almost no relief in the truss and the strings are laying on the neck almost. This seam to really bring out the Growl factor (not that it needed any help).
My fretted has a hint of relief and are to only give me fret noise when I want it. The slap and R&B tone of this is amazing with out fretnoise. When I am rocking I want a lit bit of fret rattle because to me I don't want it to sound as pretty as Smith's sound totaly clear. It also allows me to bend the neck farther without feeling as tho the neck will go past it's limits. (see you tube video)...lol

One day I'll have a seperate fretted 4 or 5 to set up just for rock.

[Bill Doss]

I set mine by pressing the strings at the 24th fret and allowing about 3.5mm from the top of the pickups. This measurements seem to provide consistent sound between strings and pickups regardless of string height, since you are using the end of the fretboard as a refrence.

I also set my string height by measuring 6/64ths from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of my B string, 5/64ths on the E to G strings and 4/64ths on the C string of my BSR6EG. I allow a small amount of relief to avoid rattles.

Works for me!

Ken, do you have a magic formula or set up the basses by feel only?

Bill Doss
Myspace.com/EL84

[Jonny Blomgren]

A couple of weeks ago I got my BSR6GN setup with the PLEK system at Guitarlabs Scandinavia. The setup had been declining over the years by my own tampering. So after trying the PLEK system on one guitar and a fender j-bass I decided to let them do it to my precious Smith. And the results were fantastic. Or as they said "We didn't need to do much at all".
Lesson learned: I wont mess with the setup myself again.
However I got a lot of comments on how nice my bass looked and how well built it was.

I'm using Warwick stainles steel strings with a tapered B, since they're much easier to find in Sweden and in internetshops around Europe.