This goes to show just how long I've been away from playing a Bass Guitar. Back in the 70's this technique was unheard of. However, this was an interesting "Tutorial" and it has taught me tremendously on how to set up the action on my Squier Bass. Thank You👍
I just purchased a 2020 P/J SQUIRE Affinity from a girl who played in a metal band. Her E-string string was a 130 from a 5 string! Needless to say when I removed the strings it had so much neck tension that it looked like a hockey stick curve. Thankyou for this excellent video. I threw on some Super Slinky lights 45/65/80/100 and followed your setup and it's a great playing Bass now!
Manotick StringWorks, I really enjoyed watching you set up that P/J bass, not only was it informative but the way you speak is very calming and easy to understand the details. Beautiful bass too!
Good Video, I play all types of music ( Cumbias , Salsa , funk , rock & roll ) I just purcahse a squirer Jazz Bass did i made the right choice. I did have Ibanez !!
I adjusted my Affinity as always have done kind of Fender standards, it sounds pretty nice but would like to buy the tools you used here. Where did you get those adjusting tools if you can post it here. Thank you, it's a great video
I picked one of these up a couple of years back, it had a couple of issues, the pots are junk and only work in the last 1/4 of their rotation, the other issue that really surprised me was the nut action, crazy high. If you are prepared to do a bit of work on these basses you can get a decent instrument, the sound isnt quite there compared to my Fender P but its not far off. However it did disapoint me as these are designed as beginner guitars and essentially needs a set up out of the box, how will a beginner know this when they have just got the bass for their birthday ! As always Chinese QC never fails to disapoint.
See your problem is... perfection from a 300 dollar guitar. You know how many privileged kids whose rich mom and dad bought them a high end instrument and never learned anything about playing it? It's not as easy as it looks to play an instrument and it takes a lot of dedication. That means practice practice practice and then more practice. Watching TV holding an instrument and going through scales or running the fretboard. Most people think they can learn to play by 1 lesson per week. Yeah right. 1 lesson per week and then 7 nights a week practicing that 1 lesson over and over and over again. Way more fun doing something else than practicing. Right? So why should any beginner start out with at least an 1100 dollar guitar? Especially kids? My in laws bought my nephew a 1200 Talor acoustic and asked if I would teach him. He supposedly was a guitar prodigy because he played like Elvis from a cheap kids novelty guitar from Graceland when they went. He never learned D G and C. And when people start out in tune is one thing but perfection from the guitar is not. That 1200 dollar guitar is in a case sitting in thier closet 14 years later. To be totally honest. Even being good enough to play tabs and other's songs you still have to know a little music theory and the notes along a fretboard when it come to guitar because not all tablature is correct to play with the least amount of work and the most speed as possible. Then once you learn the basics then you can learn the tones and intonation. Then perfect your playing even more. But you always should put the horse before the cart. Then it isn't just the instrument either unless it's acoustic but your Amp set up. Tube heads in a half stack or full stack cabinet. Tubes or digital heads? Natural distortion or digital distortion. Even on bass. So why would any beginner put out the money first when they may figure out playing music is not for them?
@@daveweed2765 my point was you would expect a certain level of set up, just because its a £300 bass does not excuse or make it right that Fender allow very poorly set up instruments to leave their factory, at £300 i can excuse cheap components but they still have to work and the pots didnt, they were effectively on off switches, the nut height however cannot be excused and its like this with anything produced to a budget in China the QC is non existant to the point they obviously dont care and its obvious Fender dont either or they would not allow such poorly produced products out of the factory with their name on. Out of the box this bass was bordering on unplayable and that is not acceptable at any price. I'm not expecting perfection and this is the whole point i picked it up cheap because the kid who owned it just thought its to hard to play, probably because of the ridiculous nut height, he obviously didnt have the experience to realise the bass needed adjustment as it was brand new so just gave up which is a shame. Other manufactures such as Yamaha, Aria or Sterling can make fairly well set up basic instruments so why cant Fender/Squire, the only conclusion i can think of is Fender sadly dont care about the budget stuff because they make a fortune on the high end stuff, lesser manufactureres dont have the same street cred so have to try that bit harder. Why are we all watching a basic set up for a Squire bass? The answer has to be because they are probably all badly set up and need another £200 throwing at them for a pro set up making this a £500 bass which it absolutely is not worth. Based on my experience I would never recomend a Squire instrument to a beginer.
1. I found your channel due to having just received this exact bass in the same color. 2. Just purchased your gauges because those appear superior to the blade type. 3. Great content!
I got my first bass days ago, amSquier too but jazz bass, I tried to setup like yours but I think I have a heavy right hand, so I left my g on 6/64 and my e on 7/64
That guy Dave is one strange dude. His videos are rarely as helpful as they could be if he would STFU and explain what he's doing. Also, he often turns the camera off and doesn't show everything he did.
Hello Friend, your videos are excellent. I would like to know the name of your tool to measure the height of the strings. Greetings from Costa Rica, Pura vida!!
I noticed you didn't need to adjust the neck. Very unusual for a new cheap bass. I've seen lots of new basses at Guitar Center with very high action due to bowed neck.
Sometimes the necks are set just right... might be different in the summer or when the seasons change, of course. I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
Hi there need some help :) , I have problems with the J pickup and tone pot not working at all. The P pickup is working just fine. Do you have any insight?
@@ManotickGuitarTech I had checked by visual and so far the connections are fine. I will find myself a multimeter and check the continuity. Thanks a lot man
What would you have done if the 1st fret or "nut action" as you put it was not sufficient. Would the nut need to be replaced or filled? Or are there adjustments that can be done to mitigate it. Thanks!
I bought my 2019-ish Squier Affinity PJ off craigslist for $100 with soft case! I was very happy I got such a good deal. It was like new. I think prices have gone up due to covid; EVERYTHING has gone up.
I have this exact bass. When I intonate it, the G string saddle has to be pushed almost all the way back. This happened with the bridge that came withit and with the Gotoh 201B bridge that I retro-fitted. What could cause that? Thank you!
I am selling my string and pickup height gauges now... go to www.manotickstringworks.com for more information. Check out my latest video and subscribe at the same time. Thanks!
Thank you for your previous help in the comments. I have another question for you regarding this PJ. When I turn both volume pots to max I get reduced volume and also reduction of low end frequencies. If I roll either volume knob back a little bit volume increases and low end returns. It's driving me nuts not being able to play with both P and J pickup at max volume. Was wondering if you've encountered this and have any fix for it?
Here is a good way to explain it "When you turn both volume pots all the way up, the pickups are directly parallel to each other, which means they load against each other with the lowest output impedances. As you roll one pot down, a series resistance is placed between one pickup and the output, which increases its output impedance, therefore decreasing the load on the other pickup"... it is pretty normal. Roll one back a bit and the volume will increase.
That's normal for PJ or jazz bass. I have both and the low end is noticeably louder when using the neck pickup only. Also, bridge pickup only is lower volume than neck pickup only.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
As a luthier myself, finally someone does the set up in the correct order😎, great upload 👍
Thanks, Richard.
You won the lottery with this bass. I don't think I've ever seen one from the factory that close to being to spec!
This goes to show just how long I've been away from playing a Bass Guitar. Back in the 70's this technique was unheard of. However, this was an interesting "Tutorial" and it has taught me tremendously on how to set up the action on my Squier Bass. Thank You👍
I am glad you enjoyed the video, Joe!
I just purchased a 2020 P/J SQUIRE Affinity from a girl who played in a metal band. Her E-string string was a 130 from a 5 string! Needless to say when I removed the strings it had so much neck tension that it looked like a hockey stick curve. Thankyou for this excellent video. I threw on some Super Slinky lights 45/65/80/100 and followed your setup and it's a great playing Bass now!
Awesome! A .130 E string...wow!
Thank you. Your tutorials are very practical and informative.
Manotick StringWorks, I really enjoyed watching you set up that P/J bass, not only was it informative but the way you speak is very calming and easy to understand the details. Beautiful bass too!
Thanks for your comments! Please subscribe to my channel as well, if you haven't already - I plan to keep publishing videos every few days.
@@ManotickGuitarTech , you're welcome. I believe I'm already subbed but I'll double check. I look forward to more videos.
Great video! Im in the process of setting up my son's Affinity PJ bass. This video was the perfect refresher course for setting up bass. Thank you !
At last a set up video that goes straight to the point step by step without aimless waffling chat, thanks👍
Good Video, I play all types of music ( Cumbias , Salsa , funk , rock & roll ) I just purcahse a squirer Jazz Bass did i made the right choice. I did have Ibanez !!
I adjusted my Affinity as always have done kind of Fender standards, it sounds pretty nice but would like to buy the tools you used here. Where did you get those adjusting tools if you can post it here. Thank you, it's a great video
I picked one of these up a couple of years back, it had a couple of issues, the pots are junk and only work in the last 1/4 of their rotation, the other issue that really surprised me was the nut action, crazy high. If you are prepared to do a bit of work on these basses you can get a decent instrument, the sound isnt quite there compared to my Fender P but its not far off. However it did disapoint me as these are designed as beginner guitars and essentially needs a set up out of the box, how will a beginner know this when they have just got the bass for their birthday ! As always Chinese QC never fails to disapoint.
See your problem is... perfection from a 300 dollar guitar. You know how many privileged kids whose rich mom and dad bought them a high end instrument and never learned anything about playing it? It's not as easy as it looks to play an instrument and it takes a lot of dedication. That means practice practice practice and then more practice. Watching TV holding an instrument and going through scales or running the fretboard. Most people think they can learn to play by 1 lesson per week. Yeah right. 1 lesson per week and then 7 nights a week practicing that 1 lesson over and over and over again. Way more fun doing something else than practicing. Right?
So why should any beginner start out with at least an 1100 dollar guitar? Especially kids?
My in laws bought my nephew a 1200 Talor acoustic and asked if I would teach him. He supposedly was a guitar prodigy because he played like Elvis from a cheap kids novelty guitar from Graceland when they went. He never learned D G and C. And when people start out in tune is one thing but perfection from the guitar is not. That 1200 dollar guitar is in a case sitting in thier closet 14 years later.
To be totally honest. Even being good enough to play tabs and other's songs you still have to know a little music theory and the notes along a fretboard when it come to guitar because not all tablature is correct to play with the least amount of work and the most speed as possible. Then once you learn the basics then you can learn the tones and intonation. Then perfect your playing even more. But you always should put the horse before the cart. Then it isn't just the instrument either unless it's acoustic but your Amp set up. Tube heads in a half stack or full stack cabinet. Tubes or digital heads? Natural distortion or digital distortion. Even on bass. So why would any beginner put out the money first when they may figure out playing music is not for them?
@@daveweed2765 my point was you would expect a certain level of set up, just because its a £300 bass does not excuse or make it right that Fender allow very poorly set up instruments to leave their factory, at £300 i can excuse cheap components but they still have to work and the pots didnt, they were effectively on off switches, the nut height however cannot be excused and its like this with anything produced to a budget in China the QC is non existant to the point they obviously dont care and its obvious Fender dont either or they would not allow such poorly produced products out of the factory with their name on. Out of the box this bass was bordering on unplayable and that is not acceptable at any price. I'm not expecting perfection and this is the whole point i picked it up cheap because the kid who owned it just thought its to hard to play, probably because of the ridiculous nut height, he obviously didnt have the experience to realise the bass needed adjustment as it was brand new so just gave up which is a shame. Other manufactures such as Yamaha, Aria or Sterling can make fairly well set up basic instruments so why cant Fender/Squire, the only conclusion i can think of is Fender sadly dont care about the budget stuff because they make a fortune on the high end stuff, lesser manufactureres dont have the same street cred so have to try that bit harder. Why are we all watching a basic set up for a Squire bass? The answer has to be because they are probably all badly set up and need another £200 throwing at them for a pro set up making this a £500 bass which it absolutely is not worth. Based on my experience I would never recomend a Squire instrument to a beginer.
This one was made in Indonesia. I have a MIC Squier PJ and it's fantastic.
Lots of good info. Just ordered this bass. Hope it's as good. Have had very good results with Squire. Have a Jagmaster that is truly awesome. Thanks!
You should like it - set it up when you get it and it should play well.
Awesome, very educational. And on the bass I'm about to buy. Big thank your
Glad you enjoyed it! I hope you have subbed to my channel, too?
Muito bom! Meus baixos estão bem ajustados agora. Obrigado!
thanks for sharing this was really helpful! could you recommend a set of tools/measure for maintenance/upkeep?
1. I found your channel due to having just received this exact bass in the same color.
2. Just purchased your gauges because those appear superior to the blade type.
3. Great content!
Thanks so much! I hope you have subbed to my channel too?
@@ManotickGuitarTech I did!
I got my first bass days ago, amSquier too but jazz bass, I tried to setup like yours but I think I have a heavy right hand, so I left my g on 6/64 and my e on 7/64
Whatever feels comfortable for you!
I think you've been studying Dave at Dave's world of fun stuff quite hard. Your method and delivery is almost identical !
I take that as a compliment! Lol
Certainly inspired by his videos...
Both Canadian, eh?
That guy Dave is one strange dude. His videos are rarely as helpful as they could be if he would STFU and explain what he's doing. Also, he often turns the camera off and doesn't show everything he did.
This is one of the very few sources of setup information that I endorse. So much crap advice out there on the subject. Well done.
Thanks, Scott!
Good job
Thanks! I just got one the same model and may attempt this. Where to find the gauges?
I make the gauges myself
Hello Friend, your videos are excellent. I would like to know the name of your tool to measure the height of the strings. Greetings from Costa Rica, Pura vida!!
Man, thanks! I needed this.
Glad I could help. I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
@@ManotickGuitarTech sure did. I'll be going into the past videos too. Thanks
I noticed you didn't need to adjust the neck. Very unusual for a new cheap bass. I've seen lots of new basses at Guitar Center with very high action due to bowed neck.
Sometimes the necks are set just right... might be different in the summer or when the seasons change, of course. I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
Great video, what’s the name of the tool you’re using to check the string height??
Thanks, Cliff - I hope you have subbed? I make these string height gauges myself. I Might consider selling them soon.
Hi there need some help :) , I have problems with the J pickup and tone pot not working at all. The P pickup is working just fine. Do you have any insight?
Most likely the wiring has come loose and needs to soldered again- remove the pickguard and check all the connection points.
@@ManotickGuitarTech I had checked by visual and so far the connections are fine. I will find myself a multimeter and check the continuity. Thanks a lot man
do you have a link to purchase string action tool? having a hard time reading mm the one you have gets to the point ! thank you!
I make them... might be for sale soon
@@ManotickGuitarTech let me know when. thanks
Very interesting!
Great video, thank you. Those string gauges are just what I need. I really want to order a set and what diameters are available ?
Glad you enjoyed the video- I hope you have subscribed to my channel? I am hoping to have the gauges available for sale in late September.
Great video, very informative.
Thanks, Paul -I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
@@ManotickGuitarTech subbed 👍
What would you have done if the 1st fret or "nut action" as you put it was not sufficient. Would the nut need to be replaced or filled? Or are there adjustments that can be done to mitigate it. Thanks!
If the action is too high, you can file the nut slots slightly. If it is too low, you might have to replace the nut.
How much was that bass sir? I'm just curious because I will be buying mine soon. Very informative vid 👏
It was $200 second hand- I think new they are about $379 in Canada. I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
They're sweet basses. I got one just to lay down some lines and can't put it down. Mine was $229(USD) new a couple of months back.
@@analogman9697 they are pretty good for the money and easy to modify and upgrade. I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
The new one is an excellent choice.
I bought my 2019-ish Squier Affinity PJ off craigslist for $100 with soft case! I was very happy I got such a good deal. It was like new. I think prices have gone up due to covid; EVERYTHING has gone up.
Fascinating video, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that extra video. Where can I find the tools you use???
The string height gauges? I make them myself... might sell them soon. I hope you have subbed to my channel?
@@ManotickGuitarTech Sure I did.
For the string height gauges ans also the pickup height!
What´s the turning Bars suppose to Display on the Tuning Device ?
Flat turns counterclockwise, sharp turn clockwise... like a strobe tuner
I have this exact bass. When I intonate it, the G string saddle has to be pushed almost all the way back. This happened with the bridge that came withit and with the Gotoh 201B bridge that I retro-fitted. What could cause that? Thank you!
The bridge location needs to be adjusted to 34" on the G string, then the intonation will work
Thank you!@@ManotickGuitarTech
Are you just using Allen Keys stuck in a piece of dowl?
I am selling my string and pickup height gauges now... go to www.manotickstringworks.com for more information. Check out my latest video and subscribe at the same time. Thanks!
Thank you for your previous help in the comments. I have another question for you regarding this PJ. When I turn both volume pots to max I get reduced volume and also reduction of low end frequencies. If I roll either volume knob back a little bit volume increases and low end returns. It's driving me nuts not being able to play with both P and J pickup at max volume. Was wondering if you've encountered this and have any fix for it?
Here is a good way to explain it "When you turn both volume pots all the way up, the pickups are directly parallel to each other, which means they load against each other with the lowest output impedances. As you roll one pot down, a series resistance is placed between one pickup and the output, which increases its output impedance, therefore decreasing the load on the other pickup"... it is pretty normal. Roll one back a bit and the volume will increase.
That's probably soldering issue. Re-solder with standart electronic schematic for pj config.
That's normal for PJ or jazz bass. I have both and the low end is noticeably louder when using the neck pickup only. Also, bridge pickup only is lower volume than neck pickup only.
Are you making those gauges your using in this video to sell yet? I'll buy a set of them if you'll make me some..
Very soon... I will make an announcement on my channel. Are you subscribed?
@@ManotickGuitarTech Yes sir, what can i use filler gauge wise until you come out with these?
@@DS-id6lk use allen keys of the appropriate size
16:30
I bet you go through alot cables and returns for loose input jacks....
lol - suprisingly I have been using that same jack cord for over 2 years without an issue... super cheap ones. I think the foam mat saves it.
@@ManotickGuitarTech The point is that you shouldn't put pressure on it. Or you should use a right angle plug.
I had to lower my neck pickups quite a bit to keep strings from hitting them when slapping.
Matt, are you able to give me a measurement? How low are your PUPS from the underside of the string?
@@ManotickGuitarTech I didn't measure, I just lowered until they didn't hit. Definitely lower than spec.
@@mattfoley6082 measurements are only guidelines - set them where you like them!
I unfortunately have the same problem 😮💨 wish I could keep them higher but I get the strings hitting the frets even when plucking at spec height.
@@beefyjoe try setting your string height to 6/64ths and then reset the pickups.
I became the 1K likes guy😂
Did you made those string ht handtool?
I did-i was thinking of making and selling them...is that something you think people would be interested in?
@@ManotickGuitarTech 4 Sure!
@@ManotickGuitarTech yep i'd buy some.
Great videos by the way, I followed what you did and my Bass plays a lot better.
@@tgdb4968 I am glad to hear that! I hope you have subscribed to my channel?
4:29
what would that look like in mm?
4:50
what would that look like in mm?
5:51
what would that look like in mm?
tks
you can convert inches into millimeters... there are apps for that 😁
@@ManotickGuitarTech tks man, i got it my bass it was very good!!! thank you thank you thank you
Describing a 'tag' is such nonsense, deary me!
Sometimes you find interesting information on a hang tag, John... only takes a few seconds to read.