Professional set up. Worth it?

#22
1bassplayinfool said:
Learn how to do it yourself, it ain't rocket science. I only take mine to a tech for fret work because I don't have the necessary tools to do that.
A pro setup is worth the money, but you may still need to tweak it for your own personal taste... my .02
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I’m actually quite good at it, stated that in my OP. But even an expert can learn, so I’m looking to see if it can be done better.
 
#23
A pro doesn’t know how you want your bass to feel... If you can set intonation and string height, why go to a tech?

My only reason would be for file work. Getting fretwork done or having a nut filed is about it for me. If you don’t have any major fret buzz issues, you should be fine. Save your money.
 
#24
More important than the setup itself which any trained monkey can learn to do is starting with LEVEL FRETS! In terms of how level is needed I will only respond by saying "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades". It is easy to assume frets are level when your setup is close to what you want. I've set up a ton of Strats, Teles, LP's (those are guitars for the unfamiliar :) ). I even thought I had a "decent" setup with my Squier VM Jazz...

... Being new to serious bass I took my bass (only bass at the time) to my local Chicago shop as I wanted to see what was causing a dead spot on one note. Little did I know this is a common condition. However they did spot that the frets weren't *quite* level and talked me into level/crown and for a few dollars more- the setup. Also the nut needed a tweak or two hear and there, something I'll never touch as I don't have the tools or experience. Believe me when I tell you the difference in the feel play and sound was night and day.

I don't care how expensive your instrument is it can have unlevel frets. I had a $4000 Taylor acoustic just out of the box that had a couple high frets. I've had two brand new Fender Strats with some minor fret issues that needed attention. My MexiJazz5 needed a fret level- and got a setup at the same time.

But as your going to be doing studio work, if you're going to change your setup do it far in advance of the studio date as you don't want to be thinking about your bass as you're trying to play music and record.

JMO
 
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