All 4 steps were perfectly presented. When adjusting the "Nut" and using a file to lower the action at the 1st,Fret string gauge is very important. If you decide to change to thinner gauge strings you can have problems,so decide what gauge strings you prefer before making this particular adjustment.
Not really, the height of the nut doesn't chg so fret 1 to bottom tangent of string also remains the same regardless if you use an ..095 or .110" E string for instance. The potential issue is if one has deviated side to side to englarge for a .110 & then try an .095 after...then you can use Bondic or the super glue/baking soda trick.
omg slapping the screwdriver on the butt so the screw goes back in was a revolutionary insight for me I LOVE YOU. i didn't want to force anything but you comforted me with your wisdom
I just wanted to say that this evening I followed this guys steps to correctly set up my Fender J and P basses. Wow. What a difference. I'd urge any players out there to buy a capo, 32nds ruler, alen keys and feeler gauges and do this job yourself! No sense paying a guitar tech £45-£80 to set up your bass when you can do it at home just as well. This has transformed my jazz bass from a buzzing mess into something I can honestly say sounds like a different bass. Thank you!
I just watched this one video because I wanted to adjust the intonation on my bass but now you’ve intrigued me enough to watch all the other videos. Thank you. Mr Jommins.
Mate, you're a champion. I just used all 4 of your video's to set up an old neglected Bass I'd been given. After stripping every piece of hardware off it and cleaning every individual item and rebuilding, I stumbled across your video's looking for set up procedures. Your video's were short and to the point and told me all the measurements I needed in just a few minutes (unlike some that go for friggin' hours!!!).
I love the fact that you are clear and concise. I am always appreciative of anyone helping others learn something, but too many will do a 20 minute vide to give you 5 minutes of actual knowledge. Thanks for the help in your bass set up series, it made me an instant follower.
i'm guessing it's a benchtop strobe tuner worth a few thousand bucks. luckily for the rest of us, peterson makes a strobostomp for a fraction of the cost.
Thank you for informing us folks who had NO idea this was important. Second, for making it easy to see exactly what you are doing to the piece, uncomplicating it for us. I am a novice player. I went out and bought the implements, and now, I have a bass I KNOW is set up correctly. I did all this w/o having to pay a music shop to do the same and still be in the dark as to how its done. I believe it makes us respect and care more for our own instruments.Thanks again, and, take care.-Glenn
Simple steps when read, but something about watching you do it made it click for me and I just set the intonation on P-bass in a couple minutes. Thanks.
THANK YOU for this tutorial! After purchasing a $7 set of feeler gauges and a $2 precision rule (less than 20% of what a typical pro setup costs) and following this series, my bass plays like a dream. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life :)
After twenty plus years of making my own adjustments (poorly), I found this four part series to be both illuminating and transformative. Added your book to my shopping cart, can't wait to learn more. Thank you for this excellent series, and thank you Elixir for putting this together!
I found this series of videos very helpful and easy to follow. Personally, I didn't mess with the nut, but after following the steps for the truss rod, bridge height, and string length, the bass plays great with no buzz whatsoever.
Thanks for this video series John. Your instructions were clear and easy to follow. I am a drummer who likes to mess with a bass now and then and these videos helped a lot.
I just watched a bunch of tutorials that beat around the bush and wouldn’t tell me what I need to hear until like halfway through the video. But bam all I needed to know is clockwise if your octave is sharp and you said it less than a minute in!! thank you so much
i seriously have been trying to find a really good bass set up all day and finally falling upon thing one. my bass is set up amazingly. much gratitude to you John Carruthers [:
I just learned what I need to know to practice adjusting my own instrument. 4 minute videos don't replace the 40 years of practice presented here, but its a start. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this, the palming-in-the-screw trick is a lifesaver. I just couldn't figure out why the saddle wouldn't move despite me turning the screw before watching the video.
Let me start by saying you’re the best person “instructing “ on how to do this. I can’t tell you how many variations 🙄 I’ve watched. Seeing you are well experienced; I was able to understand the exact formula that’ll work. I just bought my first bass and had no idea about having to “set it up “. Taking it to the shop, I don’t have any of these tools but Ty so much for a direct , concise, non rushed insight for this set up: I hope you’re an instructor cuz you’d have a full class of eager students.
Thank Q-You brought life back into my old Ibanez bass ,easy to follow videos and sound advice.I never thought I would try this,but your videos and machinist tools I already have made it fun.Thanks again!
Thank you! Very helpful. I just bought a lightly used Epiphone Embassy IV and have begun playing. I followed these instructions because I wanted to make sure it was setup correctly and I found that it was quite a bit out on several of the measurements. Thanks for your great instructions!
Cant believe I've been paying to have this done. Simple easy to understand instructions! Thank you John. Ill spend what I would spend on the setup after I do a full rebuild on the files etc Ill need and do it myself this time. You sir, are the man!
Thanks so much! Finally found the right instructions for adjusting the bridge on my bass. You're the man, man! *ahem* Mr. John Carruthers, I mean. Thanks! Love these videos and learning a lot!
Great video John - I've recently retired and without a lot of money decided to do my own setups. I've got to say your steps are easy to understand and implement and I'm not only surprised I am very happy that my guitars and bass feel great to play!
Again great information. I started out having buyers remorse, ready to sell of this used one and buy a new one. Now I have it setup and it's great. Thanks
I just wanted to take the time to say that this guide. is excellent. Iv fiddled with my new bass (My first and only bass) for a week now and just spent 35 quid on tools for this job to have it done in less than an hour. I have played guitar over 18 years and never set them up myself. so for me this was my first bass set up. I may have filed a little too much for the lowest string but it hasn't affected it thankfully. BE VERY CAREFUL AND KNOW HOW ROUGH YOUR FILE IS BEFORE YOU IN ON THAT STEP Also on that note. im using Ernie ball super slinky 100 guage strings. I'd imagine if you wanted to go up to higher gauge in the future that this filing step may cause you issues. As for me i have weak pansy fingers so ill stick with them. Thanks for the video much appreciated, thanks for taking time from your life to help us.
Great instruction...remember, always check the note at the 12th fret, NOT the harmonic. The harmonic will always be in-tune with the open string, but the 12 fret note may not be. Adjust the bridge so that both of the notes are perfectly in tune.
Thanks a lot I had given up on my bass I followed your steps but wasn't able to get the rod tight enough but close enough to make a big difference Thanks again
John this was very good information , my Fender Jazz bass needs the strings lowered.I was told to shim the neck but am afraid of taking the neck off , the only other way is filing the nut and I dont have the tools for that but be ok.The best info you gave me is turning the string around the peg by hand , Thank you very much ,
Awesome videos John! I just did this on my Fender Jazz, the action was really bugging me was too high! Adjusting the saddle height wasn't doing it.. turned out the truss rod adjustment got me to where I needed initially. Thank you so much!!
wish this video and youtube were around back in '83 when i bought my first base. had no clue that a base needed to be "set up" haha no wonder i could never get those geddy lee riffs to sound right. great vids!!!
After YEARS of watching "El Crapo", self-proclaimed, full of themselves, so-called "guitar-techs", I've finally found someone who knows what they're talking about and explains it clearly. Thank you Sir. Subscribed. (And I will be UNsubscribing from a few others...) (Is your book available as ebook?)
Lots of old posts here, back from the time TH-cam was free to everyone, your videos had to be really short, it was not owned by Google and NO ADS! The good ol' days. Anyway, this 4-part series just nails it. John knows the techniques of a master luthier and has probably developed a feel for things that modern, young techs only dream about. How many of them actually use oscilloscopes anymore?
I bought all the proper tools and followed this step by step. I'm happy to say that there are no longer any dead spots and the play feels much nicer. Only thing is, I just can't seem to get the intonation correct on the E string. Anyone have similar problems? Playing the E up higher on the neck, I can hear all sorts of off-pitch overtones and harmonics, no matter what adjustments I make. :/
I don't have a bass, but I'm a drummer looking to pick one up. (hopefully I'll at least be able to play this in time, but maybe not tune!?!) These 4 videos were very useful to understand the various adjustments that can be made. I don't think I'll look to apply them straight away, but keep them in mind while I can figure out how to annoy the neighbors with my bass cab.....
Tip, I would Loosen the the string before turning the Saddle screw! If its too tight you stand a chance of the saddle breaking/ Falling over bending the Mount screws,Yea it sucks returning it,just to loosen and move the saddle alittle more, But saves on messing up A nice guitar, expensive or Mid price, Just letting you know from experience!! I believe He did loosen each time, I noticed that after eah turn,he turned the Head Key back,,so maybe he forgot to mention this,I got files @ hobbyshop
Hi John. Great video! I have a few questions. 1. Do you use new strings before each setup? 2. Do you have to wait a while and recheck the neck bow after the truss rod adjustment? If so how long do you wait. 3. Where do you get your nut files? Do you have to go to Stewmac or can you buy them at a hardware store? (What should I look for?)
Great video. However, after moving the saddle, your action will now be a little out because of the new angle between the saddle and the frets. So best to do a fine adjustment for the action after setting intonation.
I've got the same problem on my Ibanez GSR 200. I slacked off the E string so I could wind the bridge back easier but now the top of the bridge is starting to contact the bumpy windings where the actual end of the core is and the angle to the anchor is getting steep. It's still sharp to the 12th fret harmonic. Grrr
Thanks for these videos; the clearest, most straight to the point videos I've seen on YT for setting up a bass! Can anyone recommend a kit that includes all the necessary tools to set up a Jazz Bass?
You can also intonate at the 5th fret. Tune it to standard E, fret the string next to it and it should be he same note as the open string and should play to the center zero cents of the note. For example, the E1 string fretted at the 5th fret is an A1 (open string). The A1 fretted at the 5th fret is a D2 (open string). And the D2 fretted at the 5th fret is a G2 (open string). The exception is for a 6 string electric guitar where the G3 should be fretted at the 4th fret to be the same note as a B3 )open string), the B3 fretted at the 5th fret of an electric guitar is the same note as the E4 (open string). Every string when fretted should fall on the zero mark for +/- cents flat or sharp as intonated. The 12th fret is easiest to intonate though, because it is the octave higher. E1 fretted at the 12th fret is an E2 and each string follows that octave higher. A1 fretted at the 12th is A2, D2 fretted is a D3 & G2 fretted is a G3. Tuning tip for open note strings, I always start with the fattest string & treat 1/2 of the strings as Bass & Treble sides. The string next to another affects the one next to it and even for the entire set. Older strings, if you start with the thinnest string and tune it up to tension it may be at a point where it fails and breaks because it is bearing the load that each string should be tuned for tension. The strings are a ballpark & fine tune process to tune the entire set. James Taylor tuning is to tune open strings slightly flat, so that when fretted the strings naturally tendency is to be dead on in tune. Just search James Taylor tuning for the explanation & video of that.
The intonation on the octave is off on my old Univox Lectra violin bass with one of those wooden bridges that slide all over the place. Would you consider doing a video on how to adjust that kind? Thanx, and great videos!
Muy buen video.. podrias decir cual es la distancia recomendada para colocar la altura del microfono del puente y el microfono del mastil con respecto a las cuerdas????
Done this tody and im absolutely over the moon! i moved up to a higher guage of string and had horrific frett buzz! my B sounded like complete shit. I really did'nt want to pay a tech £50 or more to do this adjustment on a bass i paid £160 for used. Just ordered the book :)
Hello, John. A girlfriend gave me her 1972 Fender Jazz Bass. It's looks brand new but the "action" is way too high. I'll follow your tutorial. Can you recommend a source to purchase the necessary tools? Great videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
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All 4 steps were perfectly presented. When adjusting the "Nut" and using a file to lower the action at the 1st,Fret string gauge is very important. If you decide to change to thinner gauge strings you can have problems,so decide what gauge strings you prefer before making this particular adjustment.
Not really, the height of the nut doesn't chg so fret 1 to bottom tangent of string also remains the same regardless if you use an ..095 or .110" E string for instance.
The potential issue is if one has deviated side to side to englarge for a .110 & then try an .095 after...then you can use Bondic or the super glue/baking soda trick.
After watching the 4 videos, I'm dying to play that bass.. I bet it feels just perfect.
omg slapping the screwdriver on the butt so the screw goes back in was a revolutionary insight for me I LOVE YOU. i didn't want to force anything but you comforted me with your wisdom
Another reason why Allen keys is just a bullshit format. I HATE Allen keys.
"On the button!" I watch these videos every time I do a set up, thank you!
Glad you like them!
Thank you! You come across as one of those gentlemen who love what they do; thanks for explaining it so simply and humble!
I just wanted to say that this evening I followed this guys steps to correctly set up my Fender J and P basses. Wow. What a difference. I'd urge any players out there to buy a capo, 32nds ruler, alen keys and feeler gauges and do this job yourself! No sense paying a guitar tech £45-£80 to set up your bass when you can do it at home just as well. This has transformed my jazz bass from a buzzing mess into something I can honestly say sounds like a different bass. Thank you!
I just watched this one video because I wanted to adjust the intonation on my bass but now you’ve intrigued me enough to watch all the other videos. Thank you. Mr Jommins.
Mate, you're a champion. I just used all 4 of your video's to set up an old neglected Bass I'd been given. After stripping every piece of hardware off it and cleaning every individual item and rebuilding, I stumbled across your video's looking for set up procedures. Your video's were short and to the point and told me all the measurements I needed in just a few minutes (unlike some that go for friggin' hours!!!).
I love the fact that you are clear and concise. I am always appreciative of anyone helping others learn something, but too many will do a 20 minute vide to give you 5 minutes of actual knowledge. Thanks for the help in your bass set up series, it made me an instant follower.
Thanks Roy! We're glad that John's series was helpful!
That tuner looks more like an oscilloscope - what a beast!
What a beast!!!😆😆
i'm guessing it's a benchtop strobe tuner worth a few thousand bucks. luckily for the rest of us, peterson makes a strobostomp for a fraction of the cost.
Thank you for informing us folks who had NO idea this was important. Second, for making it easy to see exactly what you are doing to the piece, uncomplicating it for us. I am a novice player. I went out and bought the implements, and now, I have a bass I KNOW is set up correctly. I did all this w/o having to pay a music shop to do the same and still be in the dark as to how its done. I believe it makes us respect and care more for our own instruments.Thanks again, and, take care.-Glenn
Simple steps when read, but something about watching you do it made it click for me and I just set the intonation on P-bass in a couple minutes. Thanks.
THANK YOU for this tutorial! After purchasing a $7 set of feeler gauges and a $2 precision rule (less than 20% of what a typical pro setup costs) and following this series, my bass plays like a dream. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life :)
After twenty plus years of making my own adjustments (poorly), I found this four part series to be both illuminating and transformative. Added your book to my shopping cart, can't wait to learn more.
Thank you for this excellent series, and thank you Elixir for putting this together!
Lots of clever men on TH-cam, but wise men are hard to come by. This is great stuff Sir. many thanks.
I found this series of videos very helpful and easy to follow. Personally, I didn't mess with the nut, but after following the steps for the truss rod, bridge height, and string length, the bass plays great with no buzz whatsoever.
Thanks for this video series John. Your instructions were clear and easy to follow. I am a drummer who likes to mess with a bass now and then and these videos helped a lot.
I just watched a bunch of tutorials that beat around the bush and wouldn’t tell me what I need to hear until like halfway through the video. But bam all I needed to know is clockwise if your octave is sharp and you said it less than a minute in!! thank you so much
i seriously have been trying to find a really good bass set up all day and finally falling upon thing one. my bass is set up amazingly. much gratitude to you John Carruthers [:
I just learned what I need to know to practice adjusting my own instrument. 4 minute videos don't replace the 40 years of practice presented here, but its a start. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this, the palming-in-the-screw trick is a lifesaver. I just couldn't figure out why the saddle wouldn't move despite me turning the screw before watching the video.
Let me start by saying you’re the best person “instructing “ on how to do this. I can’t tell you how many variations 🙄 I’ve watched. Seeing you are well experienced; I was able to understand the exact formula that’ll work. I just bought my first bass and had no idea about having to “set it up “. Taking it to the shop, I don’t have any of these tools but Ty so much for a direct , concise, non rushed insight for this set up: I hope you’re an instructor cuz you’d have a full class of eager students.
We're glad that the video was helpful! Mr. Carruthers is a luthier, based in Southern California.
If you get yourself a set of feller guages, your setup will improve big time.
Thank you John ! I'm setting up my bass now! and my respect for instrument design has grown much much more.
THANKS for this guide, all four steps were perfectly explained and now my cheap Yamaha TRBX174 sounds like a dream
Yes Maybe I have a TRBX174 also. LOL I’m trying to do this type of maintenance and adjustments so my $199 bass sounds like a $400 guitar. 😂😝
Thank Q-You brought life back into my old Ibanez bass ,easy to follow videos and sound advice.I never thought I would try this,but your videos and machinist tools I already have made it fun.Thanks again!
Thank you! Very helpful. I just bought a lightly used Epiphone Embassy IV and have begun playing. I followed these instructions because I wanted to make sure it was setup correctly and I found that it was quite a bit out on several of the measurements. Thanks for your great instructions!
Awesome videos! I got a pawn shop bass playing like a champ. Thanks Mr. Carruthers.
Thank you very much for your expertise! A lot of people think they know what they're talking about, you KNOW what you're talking about!
Me too, I'm only a n00b but this makes a vast difference to the sound and ease of playing. Thank you!
Thanks john,you just saved me about £45 after buying a couple of tools. Finally got rid of that fret buzz!! Now to find your book.....
Very well & concisely explained .....professionals always make it look & sound easy
Recently purchased a set of feeler guages and followed along here. My P bass is good to go!
Cant believe I've been paying to have this done. Simple easy to understand instructions! Thank you John. Ill spend what I would spend on the setup after I do a full rebuild on the files etc Ill need and do it myself this time. You sir, are the man!
Thanks so much! Finally found the right instructions for adjusting the bridge on my bass. You're the man, man! *ahem* Mr. John Carruthers, I mean. Thanks! Love these videos and learning a lot!
Great video John - I've recently retired and without a lot of money decided to do my own setups. I've got to say your steps are easy to understand and implement and I'm not only surprised I am very happy that my guitars and bass feel great to play!
Again great information. I started out having buyers remorse, ready to sell of this used one and buy a new one. Now I have it setup and it's great. Thanks
love that tunner
Thank you so much for your videos. You didn't rush thru them like some have, and explained everything clearly. They'll help a lot of people.
Nice set of videos. Nice to watch.
I just wanted to take the time to say that this guide. is excellent. Iv fiddled with my new bass (My first and only bass) for a week now and just spent 35 quid on tools for this job to have it done in less than an hour. I have played guitar over 18 years and never set them up myself. so for me this was my first bass set up.
I may have filed a little too much for the lowest string but it hasn't affected it thankfully. BE VERY CAREFUL AND KNOW HOW ROUGH YOUR FILE IS BEFORE YOU IN ON THAT STEP
Also on that note. im using Ernie ball super slinky 100 guage strings. I'd imagine if you wanted to go up to higher gauge in the future that this filing step may cause you issues. As for me i have weak pansy fingers so ill stick with them.
Thanks for the video much appreciated, thanks for taking time from your life to help us.
Great instruction...remember, always check the note at the 12th fret, NOT the harmonic. The harmonic will always be in-tune with the open string, but the 12 fret note may not be. Adjust the bridge so that both of the notes are perfectly in tune.
Duly noted
Thanks a lot I had given up on my bass I followed your steps but wasn't able to get the rod tight enough but close enough to make a big difference Thanks again
John this was very good information , my Fender Jazz bass needs the strings lowered.I was told to shim the neck but am afraid of taking the neck off , the only other way is filing the nut and I dont have the tools for that but be ok.The best info you gave me is turning the string around the peg by hand , Thank you very much ,
Super helpful! I'm buying the book.
Awesome videos John! I just did this on my Fender Jazz, the action was really bugging me was too high! Adjusting the saddle height wasn't doing it.. turned out the truss rod adjustment got me to where I needed initially.
Thank you so much!!
thank you good sir!!! your videos are very helpful, now when i get a new bass I'll know how to set it up. many thanks!!!
wish this video and youtube were around back in '83 when i bought my first base. had no clue that a base needed to be "set up" haha no wonder i could never get those geddy lee riffs to sound right. great vids!!!
Thank you sir, now I can finally enjoy my Fender Jazz bass!
Great video John, Thanks!
After YEARS of watching "El Crapo", self-proclaimed, full of themselves, so-called "guitar-techs", I've finally found someone who knows what they're talking about and explains it clearly.
Thank you Sir.
Subscribed. (And I will be UNsubscribing from a few others...)
(Is your book available as ebook?)
Yes, his book can be ordered for Kindle. (I figured after four years you deserved a reply from someone.)
I am here 5 years later , and completely agree.
Just what my bass needed. Thanks for this...very well explained!
I like this old man.
John Thank you very much I followed your instruction the bass sounds awesome.Thanks for sharing.
Thanks John, you make it look ez....Im gonna give it a try....
Lots of old posts here, back from the time TH-cam was free to everyone, your videos had to be really short, it was not owned by Google and NO ADS! The good ol' days.
Anyway, this 4-part series just nails it. John knows the techniques of a master luthier and has probably developed a feel for things that modern, young techs only dream about. How many of them actually use oscilloscopes anymore?
Google bought TH-cam 5 years before this video was uploaded. Just sayin'
Super cool cold-war style tuner! :D Russian?
Thanks for the amazing set of videos, man...I'm buying all the necessary tools on ebay
Thank you so much for this video series.
Ok, thanks for simplifying this procedure
That tuner is awesome. !!!
Great info. I'll be using this for adjusting my vintage Musicman. I dint have all the tools, but I can do some if the stuff.
Thank's for the vids. Got my bass singing beautifully now!
I bought all the proper tools and followed this step by step. I'm happy to say that there are no longer any dead spots and the play feels much nicer. Only thing is, I just can't seem to get the intonation correct on the E string. Anyone have similar problems? Playing the E up higher on the neck, I can hear all sorts of off-pitch overtones and harmonics, no matter what adjustments I make. :/
thaqnk you sir, i saw all 4 videoes,will try it on my bass
Your videos were very helpful. Thank you
beautiful tutorial great work old wise man
I don't have a bass, but I'm a drummer looking to pick one up. (hopefully I'll at least be able to play this in time, but maybe not tune!?!) These 4 videos were very useful to understand the various adjustments that can be made. I don't think I'll look to apply them straight away, but keep them in mind while I can figure out how to annoy the neighbors with my bass cab.....
2021 and I found this video super valuable, thanks a lot!
Great to hear!
Thanks for posting. Very helpful.
Tip, I would Loosen the the string before turning the Saddle screw! If its too tight you stand a chance of the saddle breaking/ Falling over bending the Mount screws,Yea it sucks returning it,just to loosen and move the saddle alittle more, But saves on messing up A nice guitar, expensive or Mid price, Just letting you know from experience!! I believe He did loosen each time, I noticed that after eah turn,he turned the Head Key back,,so maybe he forgot to mention this,I got files @ hobbyshop
thanks much ! you're a great teacher.
Great info thanks much John .
exactly what I needed, my Bass is a bit sharp on the 12th fret.
Thank you so much!! You are the best!!!
Hi John. Great video!
I have a few questions.
1. Do you use new strings before each setup?
2. Do you have to wait a while and recheck the neck bow after the truss rod adjustment? If so how long do you wait.
3. Where do you get your nut files? Do you have to go to Stewmac or can you buy them at a hardware store? (What should I look for?)
Great video. However, after moving the saddle, your action will now be a little out because of the new angle between the saddle and the frets. So best to do a fine adjustment for the action after setting intonation.
Thank you, sir, for the clear and methodical instructions. My bass is much more playable than it was.
I've got the same problem on my Ibanez GSR 200. I slacked off the E string so I could wind the bridge back easier but now the top of the bridge is starting to contact the bumpy windings where the actual end of the core is and the angle to the anchor is getting steep. It's still sharp to the 12th fret harmonic. Grrr
That's some vintage Strobe tuner!
Thanks for these videos; the clearest, most straight to the point videos I've seen on YT for setting up a bass! Can anyone recommend a kit that includes all the necessary tools to set up a Jazz Bass?
Very helpful, thanks!
Brilliant!! Thanks you so much
Who the hell gives this humble yet master luthier a "thmubs down"?
that's sone pretty high action!
awesome man!
You can also intonate at the 5th fret. Tune it to standard E, fret the string next to it and it should be he same note as the open string and should play to the center zero cents of the note. For example, the E1 string fretted at the 5th fret is an A1 (open string). The A1 fretted at the 5th fret is a D2 (open string). And the D2 fretted at the 5th fret is a G2 (open string). The exception is for a 6 string electric guitar where the G3 should be fretted at the 4th fret to be the same note as a B3 )open string), the B3 fretted at the 5th fret of an electric guitar is the same note as the E4 (open string). Every string when fretted should fall on the zero mark for +/- cents flat or sharp as intonated.
The 12th fret is easiest to intonate though, because it is the octave higher. E1 fretted at the 12th fret is an E2 and each string follows that octave higher. A1 fretted at the 12th is A2, D2 fretted is a D3 & G2 fretted is a G3.
Tuning tip for open note strings, I always start with the fattest string & treat 1/2 of the strings as Bass & Treble sides. The string next to another affects the one next to it and even for the entire set. Older strings, if you start with the thinnest string and tune it up to tension it may be at a point where it fails and breaks because it is bearing the load that each string should be tuned for tension. The strings are a ballpark & fine tune process to tune the entire set. James Taylor tuning is to tune open strings slightly flat, so that when fretted the strings naturally tendency is to be dead on in tune. Just search James Taylor tuning for the explanation & video of that.
Trusty Vault-Boy Tuner. Is this man broadcasting from the future???
The intonation on the octave is off on my old Univox Lectra violin bass with one of those wooden bridges that slide all over the place. Would you consider doing a video on how to adjust that kind? Thanx, and great videos!
Good job, thank you.
Muy buen video.. podrias decir cual es la distancia recomendada para colocar la altura del microfono del puente y el microfono del mastil con respecto a las cuerdas????
Hi John - thanks for the great videos. Just a question: don't you have to readjust the saddle heights once you lower the nut slots like that? Cheers
Done this tody and im absolutely over the moon! i moved up to a higher guage of string and had horrific frett buzz! my B sounded like complete shit.
I really did'nt want to pay a tech £50 or more to do this adjustment on a bass i paid £160 for used.
Just ordered the book :)
Depending on the bridge, change2 to the string length while under tension can cause the height adjustment screws to scratch the bridge base.
Legend thank you ❤
Thank you so much for this series! Just curious if anyone has any information on getting the proper files for the nut?
u r the greatest!!!
try either pressing down hard when sliding, or picking up your fingers off of the string when changing frets, its a pain, but it works.
Great stuff. Afraid I'll end up buying $200 worth of tools for a $200 bass lol. Thanks for this.
Hello. Thanks for your video. Could you explaine what to do with a 5 string bass? Is there much of a difference?
thanks John, but what about pick up height and position: should they be slanted to curve of strings or flat, parallel to scratch plate?
Hello, John. A girlfriend gave me her 1972 Fender Jazz Bass. It's looks brand new but the "action" is way too high. I'll follow your tutorial. Can you recommend a source to purchase the necessary tools? Great videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.