SERIOUS ELECTRIC BASS, The Bass Player's Complete Guide to Scales and Chords By Joel Di Bartolo. TAB.
12 Chapter 1- Set-up and Adjustment Guide
Section 4: Adjusting The Tilt (Angle) Of The Neck
The angle of the neck may be adjusted only on basses with bolt-on necks. Having worked your way
through the previous 7 1/2 pages, you would think that your bass would be in perfect playing condition
by now. But there are times when no amount of truss rod adjusting or string lowering or raising
will create a smooth, even feel all over the neck. Usually when this happens, the notes above
the octave on any string (the upper register) are a bit harder to play than those below the octave.
Adjusting the tilt of the neck should solve the problem.
If you own a bass with a "through-the-body" design (neck and body are one piece) and you have
this problem, only very fine adjustments of both the truss rod and string height can solve it. For
you bolt-on neck owners, this adjustment may be done in one of two ways.
IF your bass has a neck-tilting screw built in:
A newer Fender, an old Music Man, or any other bass that has a small hole in the neck mounting
plate found on the back of the instrument, has a neck-tilting screw built in. Basses with this
feature usually have three rather than four screws holding the neck onto the body.
1. Lower the pitch of the strings so they flop on the fingerboard. Loosen the neck mounting
screws two or three full turns.
2. Insert yet another size allen wrench. The wrench that just fits into the hole is, more often
than not, the correct size. (If your instrument requires a particular size allen wrench to
adjust the truss rod and another size to raise or lower the strings, this is the third size allen
wrench you will need. Buy a whole set.) While standing the bass up on a table or on your
lap, use one hand to press the neck into the body. The screws will stick out of the back of the
bass. With your other hand, slowly turn the screw clockwise until you feel resistance. Turn
the wrench another one-half turn and you should see the neck raise slightly.
3. Remove the allen wrench, tighten the screws, bring the bass back up to pitch and check to
see if the problem has been solved. If not, repeat the procedure.
4. If you have gone too far, lower the strings, loosen the neck and turn the screw a bit in the
opposite direction. Tighten everything up and check it again. Things should be OK this
time.
Your bass does not have a neck-tilting screw built in:
Unfortunately, most basses don't have that neat little hole in the neck mounting plate. So...
1. Loosen the strings (you don't have to take them off of the pegs) and remove the neck from
the bass. When removing the neck, just turn the screws far enough to get the neck off.
(Leaving the screws in the body of the bass will make re-attaching the neck easier.)
2. Find a book of matches and cut off a quarter of the cover. Place the piece of matchbook
cover in the bottom of the neck slot.
3. Screw the neck back on, making sure that the torque on each screw is about the same. Bring
the string up to pitch and check out the feel of the neck in the upper register. If it feels
good 'our job is done.
Intonating the Bridge 5
5. Compare the two pitches (fingered note and harmonic) again. Although their points on the
meter may have changed, you will notice that the difference between the two pitches has
decreased. Continue in this manner until both the fingered note and the harmonic give
matching readings on the tuner. During this process, it doesn't matter if the tuner isn't reading
0 or 440. As long as the two notes give the same reading, you are all right. By applying
this procedure to each string, each string should be fairly well in tune with itself.
Fine Tuning Your Bass
To truly fine tune your bass, especially one with a two-octave neck, you should intonate each string
at the octave and a fifth (high D on the G string) as well as at the octave. Mter you have intonated
the octave and its harmonic to your satisfaction, move up to the octave and a fifth (19th fret), and
repeat the process.
Now, return to the octave fret and if those notes still match, move on to the next string. If they
don't, repeat the process at the octave, and recheck the octave and a fifth. Continue in this manner
until the notes match at both points on the neck.
If it isn't possible to get the two points to match, one of two things could be wrong. The string
itself could be untrue (loose or uneven windings), or the frets of your bass might be slightly off. In
either case, try to find an average between the two, and move on to the next string.
N.B. 2: Often, your tuner will measure the octave and a fifth fingered note as being sharper
than the octave fingered note. As long as the octave and a fifth fingered note is the
same as its harmonic and the octave fingered note does the same, you are OK
This procedure may seem rather involved; but as with changing strings, the more you do it the
faster and easier it becomes. There is nothing worse than playing an exposed line high up on the
bass and having it be out of tune. "But Ijust tuned my bass!," you say. This "two-point" intonating
procedure will not only bring the upper register of your instrument into perfect tune with the rest
of the fingerboard, but it will also benefit your low strings a lot.
The upper register of the E string, or the B string on a 5-string bass, usually sounds flabby; that is,
the notes just don't seem to center in. Using the two-point intonating method usually cures this
problem, allowing you to play notes high up on low strings that sound clear and well-centered.
N.B. 3: This section has dealt with Fender-style bridges only (i.e., those bridges with
the adjustment screws located at the end of the bridge assembly). If your bass has an
intonating procedure that requires you to remove the string from the saddle, loosen an
allen screw, move the saddle by hand, tighten the allen screw, bring the string up to
pitch, and only then check its intonation, or if the bass requires some other equally
ingenious (read "tedious") method, check with your dealer or repair shop if you aren't
sure how to do it. The Fender-style bridge is the most common one on the market.
Although this section can't begin to cover every bass bridge ever made, the remarks
concerning matching fingered notes and harmonics on your tuner do apply to all types
of bridges.
N.B. 4: This section is pretty involved. Be sure you understand all of it before moving ahead.
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