Soem questions about measuring neck relief

M

markdavid

Jun 29, 2007
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#1
Hi

Am fairly new to doing my own setups, have read some sources saying to measure neck relief to fret at the 1st and 15th fret, some that say to fret at 1st and the fret where the neck joins the body and the fender setup guide that says to fret at the 1st and last fret, they all say to measure the relief at the 8th fret.
Which one of these is correct? I have been using the 1st and 15th fret method and have about 0.2mm relief
how much relief is a good middle ground?
Thanks
 
#3
markdavid said:
Hi

Am fairly new to doing my own setups, have read some sources saying to measure neck relief to fret at the 1st and 15th fret, some that say to fret at 1st and the fret where the neck joins the body and the fender setup guide that says to fret at the 1st and last fret, they all say to measure the relief at the 8th fret.
Which one of these is correct? I have been using the 1st and 15th fret method and have about 0.2mm relief
how much relief is a good middle ground?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I press the first and last fret and measure between the 7-9th fret but I don't think it is wrong to press the first fret on the body, there won't be too much of a difference.

I would recommend reading through Jerz Drozd's guide, it is the best free resource available. I have linked it below. I don't set up basses differently based on their manufacturer, it's all the same procedure.

http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf
 
#4
I press at the first and at the body joint and measure half way between. This removes any possibility of a ski-jump adversely affecting the relief measurement. If you have a bit of a ski jump and you are fretting first and last, that extra lift from the ski jump will cause you to remove too much relief from the neck. You can't correct a ski jump by adjusting relief, so get it out of the picture.
 
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#5
My neck relief setup is press the first fret and the last fret ( Squier CV P and J) , check the relief by eye on 7th fret.
I prefer soft touch playing + flatwound string, so i could let the relief almost touch the fret.
After done, play for a while, if found fret buzz , i just set it little higher. Repeat the process until satisfied .

Have to mention is, i dint lay down the bass guitar on table for setup process, the bass is hang on my neck ,and standing to do the setup .
Why i do this? Because i found if i do it on table, when i hang the bass and found the gap between string and 7th fret is become larger. Could be my both Squier CV P and J 's neck is sxxk !?!?! :smug:

I have send the bass for Pro-Setup few time before, but i am not happy with the result. I am not a pro , just when i meet troble, i would try different way to resolve it. I am happy my setup and more comfort playing to me. Happy learning .

My2cents.
 
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