Saturday August 8, 2026. 7am. I’ve been awake since 5:30. Just one of those mornings where you want to get started early. Plus I had a task at hand. A family member and fellow bass player asked if I could set up his bass guitar. This is something that I have done hundreds of times for many bassists but have not done it in about twenty five years or so. Let’s see if I still got it…..
I usually eat breakfast at home but not today. Chick-Fil-A minis to the rescue as I did not have the desire to cook breakfast. Breakfast is finished and all tools are gathered by eight o’clock. Let the work begin.
The customer says the strings are buzzing against his fretboard when he tries to play making an undesirable sound. This should be an easy fix. However, there are several factors that can contribute to this condition of the bass. Improper neck alignment, nut adjustment or saddle height are the usual suspects. I measure the neck alignment and it seems to be fine. Next, I inspect the saddle height and determine that they are inconsistently adjusted. The C-string and G-string saddles are too low so they are raised to the appropriate height based on the manufacturers suggestions. The sound improved, but not up to my standard. So I set all strings to the manufacturers suggested height and then reinspect the neck. The pickups were then adjusted accordingly. Again, improved but not quite where I needed it to be. So…..
I inspect the nut and realize that it has been cut too low for the higher strings on the guitar. One final adjustment and I think we’re there. Now it sounds like a bass guitar should sound! My work is done and the customer is called by 10am. I think he’ll like it.
And I think I still got it……. Who’s next?
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