Bass setup specs..really high!?

[jayochs]

so i bought a feeler gauge and decided to start setting my basses up correctly to spec, rather than just based on feel. so i checked g&l specs, and from everything i find, they say to have .018 to .022 relief in the neck.....that's ridiculously high action! my current action, which i love on my JB2, is really low and gets good growl from a bit of buzz, and it measures even less than .010. so my question is, why are g&l's spec'd for such high action? every one I get from the factory (tribute series) all have nice low action already, so i don't think they're going by their own standard. i haven't touched the action on this JB2 since I got it, so i'm kinda puzzled by this.

[Tooslowhand]

I've never set up bass, but relief isn't the same as action. Relief is the positive displacement of the neck measured at some pre-defined location when strung to tension. It is adjusted via the truss rod. Action is the string height above the fret when measured at some fret. It is generally adjusted at the bridge. Usually providing a bit of neck relief will allow one to lower the action without the strings buzzing. Sorry if you already knew all this. In the end you would adjust it to your liking.

[jayochs]

thanks for explaining. i always adjusted my stuff just by feel...honestly, i never knew the terms. so thank you for explaining.

so for example, how do i figure out the relief measurement (which is when i capo 1st fret and press down around 17 and measure around 7) on my JB2 and my L2000 for example? like, what exactly is the best feeler gauge size to use?

[Craig]

I've never set up bass, but relief isn't the same as action. Relief is the positive displacement of the neck measured at some pre-defined location when strung to tension. It is adjusted via the truss rod. Action is the string height above the fret when measured at some fret. It is generally adjusted at the bridge. Usually providing a bit of neck relief will allow one to lower the action without the strings buzzing. Sorry if you already knew all this. In the end you would adjust it to your liking.

I just added this post to our G&L Knowledgebase, G&L Technical Questions & Tips sub-forum: Current factory setup for G&L basses.

Hope this helps.

[Al Evans]

so i bought a feeler gauge and decided to start setting my basses up correctly to spec, rather than just based on feel. so i checked g&l specs, and from everything i find, they say to have .018 to .022 relief in the neck.....that's ridiculously high action! my current action, which i love on my JB2, is really low and gets good growl from a bit of buzz, and it measures even less than .010. so my question is, why are g&l's spec'd for such high action? every one I get from the factory (tribute series) all have nice low action already, so i don't think they're going by their own standard. i haven't touched the action on this JB2 since I got it, so i'm kinda puzzled by this.

It's been a few months, but as I recall, the setup instructions I found when I got my LB-100 specified that the relief should be .018-.021 with the strings held down at the first and *last* frets. Most specs are for strings held down at the first fret and the fret nearest the body. So it's a difference in what you're measuring.

I followed these instructions, using the .018 end of the range, set the action height with the bridge saddles, tweaked to taste (and repeated the process a few times over the first several weeks), and I'm real happy with the results.

--Al Evans

[jayochs]

I've never set up bass, but relief isn't the same as action. Relief is the positive displacement of the neck measured at some pre-defined location when strung to tension. It is adjusted via the truss rod. Action is the string height above the fret when measured at some fret. It is generally adjusted at the bridge. Usually providing a bit of neck relief will allow one to lower the action without the strings buzzing. Sorry if you already knew all this. In the end you would adjust it to your liking.

I just added this post to our G&L Knowledgebase, G&L Technical Questions & Tips sub-forum: Current factory setup for G&L basses.

Hope this helps.

sweet, thanks! i'm gonna try out ed friedland's setup specs..i don't have shims on my L2000 though, so I wonder if that'll mess it up?

[Takeshi]

Thanks for the great answers everyone is curious about this too.