Electric Bass Guitar SetUp & Maintenance Guide

Electric Bass Guitar Setup (& maintenance) Guide (from www.tunemybass.com & other sources)

What Does It Mean to Setup a Bass Guitar? The point of setting up your bass guitar is to make it play well. That means it plays in tune, it sounds good, it feels comfortable to fret and pluck the strings, and it just suits your playing style in general. Before you begin setting up your bass, I want you to understand what makes your bass play the way it does. Follow each link to get a basic understanding of each concept before you follow the bass setup tutorials below. The same things apply to doing a standard 6-string guitar setup, too. There are 6 basic things you can adjust or do on your bass : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The straightness of the neck The height of the bass strings Intonation Pickup height String the bass bass Clean the strings Cleanning the bass Bass electronics

Printable Tools You'd be best off buying real, precise gauges from a guitar repair supply place. If you're impatient or broke, these'll do ok.

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1. Bass Neck Relief The The Straightness of the Bass Neck The straightness of the bass guitar's neck is commonly called relief. The neck bends upwards (called upbow), or it can be straight, or it can bend backwards (called back-bow). Two things cause the neck to bend: 1. the tension of the strings pulling the neck upward 2. the truss rod pulling the neck backward The bass strings put many pounds of tension on the neck of your bass guitar. Think of it like a bow as in bow and arrow. The truss rod is a metal rod inside the neck of your bass. The rod can be tightened or loosened. As it is tightened, it exerts more pressure on the neck forcing it to bend backward in the opposite direction of the string tension. When loosened, the truss rod relieves the pressure adding relief (up-bow). Always be careful making truss rod adjustments. If you over-tighten it, you can make it snap and ruin your bass neck! You can sight your neck by holding the body of your bass and looking from the bridge toward the nut. (See picture.) Sighting your neck will give you a quick idea of how much relief is in your neck.

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Your neck needs at least a slight amount of relief so that the strings don’t buzz against the frets. Strings vibrate in an elliptical pattern. That is, they vibrate more widely in the center of their length. So, a little relief is needed for them to not hit the frets. If your neck is straight or back-bowed, the strings may rattle against the frets causing unpleasant fret buzz. Adjusting Bass Guitar Neck Relief First, choose the gauge of bass strings you plan to use. Different string gauges have different amounts of tension. When you change gauges, you may have to readjust your bass guitar. So find a gauge you like and stick with it. Make sure you’ve installed your strings correctly. Tune your bass strings accurately to your preferred tuning. You want the string tension to be the same as when you play. You’ll want to get your bass neck as straight as possible before the point where the strings start buzzing. This will depend on how hard you play the strings. There’s not one right answer. Find the truss rod nut. Typically, it will be a hexagonal nut on one end of your bass neck. It may be covered by a plate on the headstock. Or, it may be hidden by your pickguard. On some basses you may be required to remove the neck, adjust it, put it back on and then tune the strings up again. If it’s not right, you’ll have to do it all over again. (What a pain!)

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Using a pencil, make a mark on the truss rod nut so you know where you started and as a general reference point. It doesn’t take much turning of the truss rod to adjust the neck. Never force anything! Expect to maybe do a quarter-turn or a half-turn. Use the correct size hex key so you don’t strip the truss rod nut. Your bass may have come with the hex key you need. To avoid breaking the truss rod, first loosen it by turning it to the left (lefty-loosey). Now, start tightening the truss rod by turning it to the right (rightytighty). You may find the strings to be in the way of turning the truss rod. If they are, detune/loosen them and move them out of the way while you turn the truss rod. Tune the string(s) back to pitch to check the straightness of the neck. You can check the straightness with a straight edge of some sort. Or, you can use your bass strings as a straight edge. Fret the 1st fret and the 15th fret of your lowest string. You should be able to see how much relief is in your neck by checking the space between the bottom of the string and the tops of the frets. You’ll probably need just a tiny bit of relief. Don’t be surprised if it takes several days for your adjustments to settle in. You may have it perfect one day only to find it has moved the next day!

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2. Bass Guitar String Height String Height How high or low the strings are above the fretboard is called action. You may hear someone say, “My action is too high.” String height, or action, can be adjusted in two places — at the nut, and at the bridge. Hopefully the nut came cut correctly from the factory. I say hopefully because it can be tricky to make any modifications to it. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you should leave any nut adjustments or repairs to a guitar repair shop. At the bridge end you can raise or lower the string height of each string using the height screws on the saddle. Fretboard Radius The shape of your fretboard has a slight arc to it. This arc, or curve, is called fretboard radius. (see last picture) Think of it as a small segment of a large circle. The radius of that large circle is measured in inches. The height of the saddles should form an arc to match the curvature of the fretboard, or fretboard radius. When you set the string height, you can use a radius gauge (radius gauge PDF), or you can eyeball it. The radius gauge has a bunch of common radii used on basses and guitars.

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Adjusting Bass Guitar String Height Once you’ve adjusted your neck relief, you can raise or lower each string’s height with their saddles. Depending on your playing style, you may want the strings higher or lower. Experiment. Adjust the height of your lowest string so you don’t get any string buzz. Check the open string and all the frets up and down the neck for buzz. A little string buzz is normal. Use a radius gauge (radius gauge PDF) to identify the radius of your fretboard. If you don’t want to remove your strings, cut notches out of the radius gauge where your strings fall. Then you can set it on the fretboard without removing the strings. Once you know your fretboard radius, set the radius gauge on top of your saddles and adjust the heights of the other strings to match the fretboard radius. You can also attempt to just eyeball the radius. Make it feel right and balanced.

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3. Intonation Set/Adjust Guitar or Bass Guitar Intonation Intonation One of the most common things that guitarists or bassists overlook about their instrument is the intonation. I'm going to cover this topic here so you too can have your guitar or bass be in tune as much as possible - anywhere on the neck. I won't bore you with all the theory behind fretted instruments and such, so don't be afraid to read on. This is an instructional article on how to set your bass or guitar intonation. I'll provide you with a little background information, but jump right to the methods you should use for setting, checking and adjusting your bass or guitar's intonation properly. I'll also provide you with some common factors that may cause poor intonation. What Is Guitar Intonation? Intonation is the accuracy in which a guitar or bass guitar can produce a fretted note. Setting the intonation is the act of adjusting the length of the strings (by moving the bridge saddles) to compensate for the stretching of a string due to pushing it down to the fret board to produce a note. To adjust the intonation of your guitar or bass, you move the bridge saddles toward or away from the fret board until the 12th fret octave and its harmonic are equal and the same open-string note is exactly one octave below those. Accurate intonation is critical to sound quality. When a guitar or bass guitar has an inaccurate intonation setting, you may notice that chords played at the bottom of the neck sound correct, but the same chord played higher up the fret board have some notes that become out of tune, making the chords sound more like noise than music. An example is that you may play an open A on the 5th (or 3rd) string together with the same note on the 6th (or 4th) string to add depth. If these notes aren't exactly the same, you may think that your instrument is out of tune. That is what this article will try to help you correct.

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Check Your Guitar or Bass Intonation Checking intonation is easy, especially if you have a digital tuner. The best tuners to use for this task are the ones with a meter readout rather than LEDs since it is much easier to see how much adjustment may need to be done. You must also be sure that your strings are new, but you should check your intonation periodically just to be sure that it is correct. First, you must tune your guitar to your desired tuning. Each time you change strings or tunings, your strings' tension or height may change slightly, which may unset your intonation. With your instrument in the same position as you normally play (playing position), not lying on a table, check the tuning of the natural harmonic at the 12th fret (gently touching the string above the 12th fret while picking). This should be exactly equal to the tuning if you were to push the string down to the fret. If they are the same and you still have intonation problems, check the open strings and the other fretted notes. If particular frets are out of tune while others are in tune across each string, the frets on your instrument may be worn to the point where the string is not contacting the centers of the frets. If that is the case, you may need to grind and polish or replace the worn frets to cure this problem. If the intonation starts out bad on the first few frets and gets progressively better going up to the 12th fret, your guitar may have a misplaced nut. This would throw the entire scale of your guitar or bass guitar off. It is suggested that you have an instrument repair person replace the nut to ensure that it is in the correct position. If you do have the nut replaced by a repair person, be sure to check their job thoroughly before leaving the shop - even if you have to completely set the intonation right there! If the problem still exists, be sure to explain it to the repair person (you may want to explain the problem before repairs are done as well). Some cheaply made guitars may never be able to correct this problem, but if you are paying to have the nut replaced, be sure what they have done the best job possible - before handing over your hard-earned cash.

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Adjust Your Guitar Or Bass Guitar Intonation Intonation Because adjustments such as action (the height of the strings from the fret board), truss rod tightness, string thickness or material and the magnetic pull of your pickups can effect an instrument's intonation, adjustments must be performed as the last step in setting up your guitar or bass guitar. When you are checking the intonation of your instrument, it must be done in your normal playing position in order to correctly account for any neck flex which effects the string height (action). Adjusting an instrument's intonation consists of setting the bridge saddles to produce the note at the 12th fret exactly an octave higher than that of the open string. With the aid of an electronic or digital tuner, compare either the open string or the octave harmonic at the 12th fret with the fretted octave at the 12th fret. Use slight finger pressure, as any extra pressure ("articulation") will disrupt the accuracy of the adjustment. If the fretted note is sharp, move the saddle away from the pickups and fret board; if it is flat, move the saddle toward the pickups and fret board. If you periodically check your intonation, adjustments should rarely take more than a few minutes, provided you stick with the same tuning, action and string gauges. Check the intonation every time you change your strings, especially if you are changing tunings, gauges, or even brands. Even the slightest differences between sets of strings can make a noticeable difference. If your bridge does not provide you with enough adjustment, it may be necessary to have a repair person take a look. Sometimes it may be as simple as the saddle needs to be turned around and re-slotted. In some more extreme cases, the entire bridge may need to be moved. Factors Causing Inaccurate Or Poor Intonation On A Guitar Guitar Or Bass Guitar If your guitar or bass guitar has poor intonation, you may want to check factors such as your action, bridge saddles or worn frets. The action of your instrument may cause your intonation to be sharp - the higher the action is, the more the strings need to be stretched in order to

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fret a note. If your bridge saddles are worn or leaning, that may effect the action of your instrument as well as the shorten a string's life. One other factor that has come up much more often in the last few years involves low tunings. Guitars and bass guitars are made to handle a range of string thicknesses. These string gauges can only produce a certain number of notes. Lower notes will not only loosen the string, but may require you to raise your action to prevent fret buzz. In doing so, you will also make your intonation sharper, possibly causing your bridge saddles to run out of adjustment room. If this is the case, you may (though it is not recommended) need to move your entire bridge away from the nut in order to gain the additional adjustment room required to set your intonation. Before you consider moving the bridge, try a thicker gauge string (I know many guitarists that use a bass string in place of their low string). If this still doesn't work for you, get a new instrument that can support what you want. For instance, spend the cash to get a 5string bass or a baritone or 7-string guitar if you have to. After all, homemade, custom-built guitars don't always have an accurate scale, and may cost just as much as a new mass-produced guitar by the time you buy all the pieces. (Trust me, I know this from experience!) How to Intonate Intonation is how in-tune something is. That is, how accurately something hits the correct pitch. This can be said of singers, “Her intonation is spectacular. She nailed every note!” Or, of instruments, “I need to adjust my bass guitar’s intonation. It plays so out of tune even the drummer can tell!” Intonation is how in-tune something is. That is, how accurately something hits the correct pitch. This can be said of singers, “Her intonation is spectacular. She nailed every note!” Or, of instruments, “I need to adjust my bass guitar’s intonation. It plays so out of tune even the drummer can tell!”

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Notes occur at exact points up and down the string. Setting your intonation means matching, or lining up, where the notes occur on the string to where the frets are on the fretboard. If they are not lined up correctly, your bass guitar will play out of tune. As it will seen below, to adjust your bass intonation you will move the saddle forward or backward. By moving the saddle, you change the length of the string from the bridge to the nut. Changing the string's length shifts where the notes fall on the string. Setting Intonation To set the intonation of your bass guitar, you must lengthen or shorten the string by moving the string’s saddle backward or forward. You do this by tightening or loosening the intonation screws at the back of the bridge.

How to Set Your Intonation: Using an electronic tuner, tune all the open strings to their correct pitches. Starting with your lowest string, fret the string at the 12th fret. Make sure you press the string straight down. You want this fretted note to be in tune. It should be the same note as the open string. Check the electronic bass tuner to see if you are flat (too low) or sharp (too high).

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If you are flat, you need to shorten the string by moving the saddle forward. If you are sharp, you need to add length to the string by moving the saddle backward. After you adjust the saddle, double check the open string is still in tune. Do the same for each string. You will discover that it is impossible to get every single fret perfectly in tune. This is normal. Fretted instruments have a natural flaw where they can’t be perfectly intonated. You can just get really close. If you’re interested in why, look up “equal temperament” or “just intonation” in a music dictionary.

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4. Setting Bass Pickup Height Pickup Height The higher your bass pickups are set, the louder the output of your bass. You want to adjust your pickup height so that the strings don’t clack against them and that the output isn’t too hot (loud). Also, the magnets may pull on your strings if the pickups get too close.

Don’t set the pickups too low or else you won’t get enough volume out of your bass. Setting Bass Pickup Height You can set the height of your bass pickups by tightening or loosening the screws around the outside of the pickup. Some brands of basses put foam underneath to push the pickups upward. If the foam is breaking down, you can put some springs under the pickup on the shaft of the screws to push them up instead. Keep in mind you can set the pickups at an angle. They don’t have to be level. If you want more output from the treble side, raise that side of the pickup. On some basses you can raise or lower the pole pieces individually. The pole pieces are the round, magnetic poles under the strings. On some pickups they are exposed; on others they are covered.

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5. How to String a Bass Guitar Learn to string a bass guitar correctly! Although it is not that hard to string a bass, there are some important things you need to get right in order to get a good sound, stay in tune and keep your bass guitar in good working order. Read through the entire string changing tutorial before you restring your bass.

Step 11- Know Thy Bass

The headstock headstock is where most of the string changing action takes place.

On the headstock there are tuning posts around which you will wrap the strings.

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Each tuning post has a little string hole in the center. As you will see, the end of the string is placed in the string hole.

A tuning key is connected to each tuning post. Turning the key one way tightens the string (making the pitch go higher); turning the key the other way loosens the string (making the pitch go lower). The direction depnds on your bass and how it is strung. You need to listen for which way is which.

On some headstock designs string trees help hold the strings at the proper height. Some string trees look more tree-like than the one pictured above. They often look like a disc or button.

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The nut is the part located between the headstock and the fretboard. The nut holds the strings at the proper height over the fretboard and keeps the strings spaced correctly.

There are a couple of common headstock designs. There is the straight headstock found on Fenders, Fender knock-offs and others. These headstocks go straight in line with the neck.

Then there is the angleback headstock found on most modern designs. The angleback headstock angles away from the straight line of the neck. The angle of the headstock helps pull the strings tightly over the nut. On straight headstocks the string tree helps pull the strings tightly over the nut.

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The bridge is the metal plate that is bolted to the body of your bass.

For each string there is a saddle on which the string rides (yee-haw!). The string saddles hold the strings at the proper height and spacing on the other end of your bass. They are adjustable with screwdrivers and hex keys, but I don’t recommend adjusting them unless you know what you are doing. There’s a lot more to adjusting the height of the strings than you may realize at this point.

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Step 22- Tools and Supplies for Changing Your Bass Strings Several things are needed to help replace your bass strings.

New Bass Strings – obviously you’ll be replacing the old bass strings with something. Bass Guitar String Winder – this is not necessary, but highly recommended! Basically it is a little crank used to turn the tuning key more quickly. It is a great timesaver. Make sure you get one for bass tuning keys, not guitar. The bass winders fit over the larger tuning keys of the bass more easily. Any music store will have these. Wire Cutters – You will need to cut the new bass strings. Don’t use the best cutters you have. Bass strings chew through them quite easily. Actually, I recommend getting the combination bass string winder/clipper if you can find it (shown above). It’s very handy. Soft Cloth – a cloth to use for cleaning. Don’t use your mom’s favorite pillow case! Mechanical Pencil – (optional) a pencil with a very thin graphite “lead”. All pencils use graphite now, with lead being poisonous and all. Electronic Bass Tuner – (optional) this will help you tune up your new strings to the correct pitch.

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Step 33- Look Before You Leap Before you begin to string a bass, look at how the bass strings are already installed on the bass. Notice how the strings are wrapped around each post. Pay attention! The most common mistake people make when stringing

a bass is wrapping the bass string around the wrong side of the post.

Each string should run in a straight line all the way from the bridge to the tuning post (green arrows good). The string must not angle away from the nut (red arrows bad, very bad). If your strings angle away from the nut, you may break your nut or cause tuning problems! So pay attention to which side of the post each string is wrapped. Keep in mind it is not necessarily the same for all the posts. It depends on the design of your headstock and where each post is. Don’t try to make all the keys turn the same way; make the strings run straight when you put them on.

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Also notice how many wraps you can get on each post. The fatter the strings, the fewer wraps you can fit on to the post. You don’t want the string to wrap on top of other wraps. It should only wrap on the post. This keeps the string from shifting around on the post which will cause tuning problems. The picture above shows three and a half wraps around the E-string post. You probably want at least two and a half wraps on each post. More wraps can’t hurt as long as they’re not on top of each other. (I find getting many wraps evenly on the post oddly satisfying. I'm a weirdo!)

Finally, examine how the bass strings are at the bridge end. Look at how each string sits in its saddle. Again it should be a straight line from one end of the string to the other.

Look where the ball end of the string is held in place. Most likely it is somewhere at the back of the bridge, but sometimes the strings go through the body from the back side of the body.

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If you have a hole for each string on the backside of your bass body, the strings can run through the body out to the front. This helps add sustain to your bass notes. Experiment with stringing through the body or stringing through the bridge holes. You may find your tone is different.

Step 44- Relax, Unwind, Take Your Strings Off

You need to take off your old strings. Do not cut your strings off! Unwind them. You need to remember there is a lot of tension placed on your neck by the strings. Think of it as a bow (as in bow and arrow) with the strings pulling hard from both ends. If you suddenly cut the strings off you are giving your bass neck a jolt by releasing all of that tension. No need to jolt your neck.

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Once the string is unwrapped from the post, it may be necessary to cut off the coiled up end of the string to take it out of the bridge. This is only necessary if your strings run through a closed hole on your bridge rather than an open slot. If this is your first time to string a bass, you may want to keep your string uncut so you can estimate where to cut the new strings. In that case, you may need to annoyingly try to straighten out the string and pull it out through the bridge hole if it doesn't have an open slot to remove the string. Tip: Keep your old strings as spares in case you ever have a string break. Take off all your strings in the same way. Some people like to take one off and replace it, then they do the same for each string. It's up to you. With all of them off you have better access to clean...

Step 55- Clean Up Your Fretboard

After you have removed your bass strings it’s a good idea to wipe down your fretboard and your frets since you have easy access to them. Rub

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the gunk off of each fret. It can get pretty gross around the frets. You can also dust off all the other usually inaccessible places. Slippery String Slots

This is optional, but I always like to do it when I string a bass. Using a graphite pencil, rub a little graphite around each string slot. Graphite is a very slippery substance. This will allow your string to glide up and down the slot smoothly and avoid some bass tuning issues.

Step 66- First Strings First

When I string a bass I like to replace the bass strings from lowest to highest. The order in which you replace your bass strings doesn't really matter. Just keep track of which string is which. Put the E-string (or whatever your lowest string is) through the appropriate bridge hole or slot the same way the old one was. Keep tension on the string as you put it on so it doesn’t slip out of the slot and stays in the groove of the saddle. Just be careful to not weaken the string by bending it at too sharp of an angle anywhere.

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The string is longer than it needs to be and so needs to be cut. The worst thing you can do is cut the string too short! If you do, you’re heading back to the music store to get another string. Always err on the side of cutting it too long. If you have wide diameter tuning posts as on Fender models, you’ll be able to wrap more string around them. Skinnier posts don’t allow for as much string to be wrapped around them.

Cut the string a couple of inches past the post to which the string will be wrapped. Leave a little more for wider posts and less for skinny posts. If you are worried you will cut it too short, match it to the length to your old string. That way you will be sure of the length.

Step 77- Getting Wound Up In this step of how to string a bass guitar, you will wind the strings on the post.

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Place the cut end of the bass string all the way straight down into the hole in the center of the tuning post.

Bend the string at a right angle.

Begin winding the bass string on to the post. Keep tension on the string with one hand as you wind the string so you get tight wraps around the post and the string doesn’t slip out of the bridge. Make sure you are winding it on the correct side of the post! It shouldn’t angle off the nut. Did I mention this already?

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Each successive wrap should go under the previous one, that is, closer to the headstock. Downward wraps pull the strings more tightly over the nut. This is important because the string/nut contact point is where some of your tone comes from. Wind the string tight enough to keep it in place on the bridge and nut, but don’t waste your time tuning it up yet. As you add more strings you will increase the tension placed on the neck which will change the pitch of the strings. Wait to tune after all your strings are in place.

Tip: Turn all the keys perpendicular to the headstock to keep them out of the way as you wind each string on to your bass.

Step 88- Just a Few More The rest of stringing a bass follows pretty much the same procedure. The only differences will be: Skinnier strings can be cut longer since they can wrap around the post more times.

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To string a bass correctly, this is extremely important: The side of the post to which you wind the string may be different. The bass string must run in a stright line from bridge to post. Make sure to run the strings under any string trees under which they belong. Make sure you run the strings straight under the string trees, too. No angles!

Important if you have a straightstraight-style headstock! Be sure to get enough wraps around each post that doesn't have a string tree for it. This is something I've seen as a problem on Fender models. Without enough wraps to pull the string close to the headstock, the open A-string (and sometimes E-string) may sound dead or muffled because there is not enough string pressure against the nut.

Step 99- Tune Up This is where you want to be careful. If you tighten the strings way too much they may snap. Bass Guitar Tuning Notes Tune each string to its appropriate pitch. From lowest pitch to highest, a 4-string bass is tuned E A D G. 5-string basses are usually tuned B E A D G. After you string your bass, it may take a day or more for your new strings to stretch out, but you can help them along.

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Once you are tuned to pitch, hold each string around the 12th fret and gently pull on it to stretch it out some. Then tune it up again. Usually it doesn’t need to be done more than twice on each string. If you’ve followed everything in this how to string a bass tutorial, your bass strings should be on correctly and will stay in tune pretty well. Hopefully you've avoided causing any major injuries to you or your loved ones throughout the bass string changing process. A couple other bass string tips: Always tune up to the right pitch. This way the bass tuner is less likely to loosen on its own and go out of tune. To add life to your strings try wiping them down after each time you play. You can also clean your bass strings periodically.

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6. How to Clean Bass Strings Bass String Cleaning Cleaning Solution By far the best method to clean bass strings is to soak them in denatured alcohol. You will be amazed at how well cleaning your bass strings this way works. In some parts of the world denatured alcohol is called methylated spirits. CAUTION! Let me stress that denatured alcohol is poisonous! DO NOT DRINK DENATURED ALCOHOL!!! Denatured basically means poisoned. They add poison to pure wood alcohol so they don’t have to pay hefty liquor taxes and it can be sold at hardware stores. So, keep your drummer away from it. They're hard enough to find! Not only is this stuff poisonous, but it is also very flammable. flammable Don’t use or store it near any heat source – cigarettes, water heaters, fireplaces, etc. Use it in a well-ventilated area or outside because the fumes stink and can be irritating. Also avoid skin and eye contact with it. Use some rubber gloves and protective goggles. Don’t be scared to use it. It’s not dangerous to use if you follow simple safety precautions. Don't Substitute Anything Else to Clean Clean Your Bass Strings Denatured alcohol, or methylated spirits, has no water in it. You don’t want to put water on your bass strings some strings may rust as a result. Rubbing alcohol, as from a drugstore, has water mixed in it. So, don’t use rubbing alcohol as a substitute. Just use denatured alcohol from your local hardware/home improvement store. It can be found next to the paint thinner products. How To Clean Your Bass Guitar Strings Just soak your bass strings for 12-24 hours in the denatured alcohol, wipe them off and they’re like new. You can clean them as often as you like. Each time they are like new. Over time they will wear out from frets chewing into them. If you do a lot of popping, you will also wear

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out/weaken your bass strings more quickly. On a fretless bass you can use the same set of bass strings seemingly forever. © www.TuneMyBass.com 20042004-2008 All Rights Reserved.

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7. Cleanning Your Bass Cleaning your bass guitar is the most basic of maintenance jobs, and the first step is to wash your hands. No, really! The finish on the wood and hardware shows every fingerprint. So the least you should do is keep those fingerprints clean The next few sections walk you through cleaning the various parts of your bass, one by one.

The body and neck Cleaning the body of your bass is just like cleaning your favorite antique furniture: You need to do it very carefully. You can polish the finish with a cloth (such as an old sweatshirt), but use guitar polish (available in a spray bottle at any music store) instead of furniture polish. Guitar polish gets dust and dirt off your instrument and leaves your bass looking well cared for. Apply a squirt or two of the polish to the cloth and work it into the fabric. Then rub your bass down — work on the body (front and back) and the back of the neck. Your bass will love it. Keep the polish away from the strings and the fingerboard, though.

The hardware The hardware consists of all the brass and metal parts attached to the wood, with the exception of the frets and pickups. The tuning heads, bridge, and strap pins are all considered hardware. Rubbing the hardware down with a dust cloth helps keep it shiny. If too much dirt builds up on the hardware, you can use a mild brass polish from the supermarket to clean the metal. Make sure that the polish isn't abrasive and that it doesn't get onto the wood, because it will mar the wood.

The pickups When it comes to cleaning your bass, the pickups are in a category all by themselves. A lot of dust accumulates where the wood meets the metal of the pickups.

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Whatever you do, don't use any liquids. Pickups are magnetic, and they can't deal with liquid. The liquid can cause them to short out, making it necessary to replace them. Of course, getting new pickups every four weeks is one way to keep them clean. Otherwise, use cotton swabs to clean the area where your pickups meet the wood.

The fingerboard The fingerboard consists of two major parts: •

The long wooden strip on the front of the neck

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The metal frets embedded in the long wooden strip

These two parts are made of very different materials, and each needs to be cleaned in its own special way. You can clean them only after removing your old strings and before restringing. The wood Because the wood on your fingerboard is normally exposed, it's prone to drying out. To restore the wood to its original luster, use a dry cloth to get rid of the dirt, and then place a few drops (no more than five or so) of fingerboard oil (which you can get from your local music store) on a clean cotton cloth and work it into the wood. Let the oil dry thoroughly before rubbing down the fingerboard again to remove any excess oil. Apply oil to the wood every other time you change the strings. The wood absorbs fingerboard oil easily. The frets You can use a jewelry polishing cloth that has polish already soaked into it (available in any supermarket) to polish the frets. The cloth is inexpensive, and your frets will sparkle with joy (maybe not as bright as diamonds, but you never know). When polishing the frets, don't use an abrasive jewelry polish that you have to pour out of a bottle. That stuff is rough on the wood of the fingerboard.

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The strings Yes, the strings need to be cleaned, as well. After all, they take the most abuse. You can simply wipe the strings with a dry cotton cloth after you're done playing. But using a couple drops of rubbing alcohol (available in any pharmacy) on a cotton cloth is even better. Let the alcohol sink into the cloth for a few seconds. Then put a moist section of the cloth between your index finger and thumb and pinch one string at a time, rubbing the cloth up and down along the string's length. Don't get any of the alcohol on the wood; it'll dry it out.

Check out Figure 1 for the proper method for cleaning bass strings.

Figure 1: Cleaning the strings.

Copyright © 2008 & Trademark by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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All rights reserved.

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8. Bass Guitar Electronics The term electronics refers to the pickups and general electronic circuitry used in a bass guitar. Electronics are needed to transmit the sound of the bass guitar to the bass guitar amp. What are Bass Guitar Pickups? Bass guitar pickups are the rectangular black boxes you see on the bass guitar body beneath the strings. Inside the pickups are magnets. These magnets pickup the vibrations of the metal bass strings. The pickup magnets create a magnetic field around the bass strings. An electronic signal is produced when bass string vibrations disturb that magnetic field. That electronic signal is then sent to a bass amp and translated into sound. The pickups are probably the most influential part on a bass guitar’s tone. The way the pickups are designed to translate the sound of your bass is the final say in how your bass is going to sound. The good news is pickups are fairly easy to exchange. As long as you buy a wellconstructed bass, you can always drop some new, good-quality pickups in for under $200.

Active and Passive Bass Pickups Types of of Bass Guitar Pickups Pickups can be split into two categories: passive pickups and active pickups. pickups The difference between passive pickups and active pickups is active ones are battery-powered while passive pickups are not. Each type has its own sound and advantages/disadvantages. Passive Pickups The first pickups to be used in bass guitars were passive. When you listen to classic recordings such as Motown hits with James Jamerson, The Beatles, and Cream, you are hearing passive pickups. Passive 39

pickups tend to have a warm, full, round, dynamic tone. Their fat, punchy tone is their appeal. Passive pickups do not give you much control over their tone. Basses have bass and treble controls much like your stereo system. On passive pickups you can only turn down (cut) these bass and treble frequencies. That means you can only take away treble or bass from the tone of the pickups. That’s not necessarily bad. You just have fewer options for shaping the tone of passive pickups. Passive pickups use larger magnets and can pick up more noise and interference than active pickups. Active Pickups Active pickups use a pre-amplifier, or pre-amp. The pre-amp is powered by a 9-volt battery (or sometimes 2 – an 18-volt system). The pre-amp allows you to both cut and boost frequencies. This gives you more control over the tone coming out of your bass. How much control you have will depend on the features of the pre-amp. Some pre-amps simply have a bass and treble control while others have mid-range controls and other extras. If the battery dies, many active pickup systems will stop working. You will need to remember to carry spares and put in fresh batteries before those important gigs. Depending on the bass and how much you play, batteries may last from 6 weeks to a year. Always remember to unplug active basses when not in use to avoid draining the battery. Active pickups have a hotter (louder) output than passive pickups. There is less signal loss on the way to the bass amp. Active pickups tend to be bright, clear and snappy sounding. Active pickups use smaller magnets and pickup less external noise and interference. But, some pre-amps can be noisy especially when you boost the treble. You may hear a lot of hiss. It’s hard to generalize the sonic differences between active and passive pickups. A good active pickup may sound warmer than a poor passive

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pickup. You will need to hear and experience the difference and try many basses and pickup systems. If you are buying your first bass, you will probably be fine choosing either passive or active pickups. On cheaper basses, the quality of the electronics is usually not that great anyway. But, you can easily replace them if you like the rest of the bass.

Types of Bass Guitar Pickups Now that we’ve established the difference between active and passive pickups, let’s look at different types of pickups that can fall into either the active or passive category. Pickups consist of a magnet around which a copper wire is coiled. When the vibrations of a bass string disturb the magnetic field of the magnet, small voltage fluctuations in the copper coil are produced. These fluctuations are then transmitted to the bass amp, amplified and translated into sound. There are two prominent pickup designs based on the number of coils used in a pickup’s construction – single-coil and double-coil. SingleSingle-Coil Pickups SingleSingle-coil pickups have one coil wrapped around the pickup’s magnet. Single-coil pickups are often bright and clear sounding. A drawback is they can pickup external noise and give off a humming sound. Radio waves, computer monitors, and florescent lighting can all cause this humming/buzzing. If two single-coil pickups are used (as on a Fender Jazz bass) and the pickup volumes are set equally, the noise will get cancelled out. If you just use one of the pickups, you may pickup some noise.

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DoubleDouble-Coil - Humbuckers Just as two single-coil pickups can be put together to cancel hum, a double-coil pickup can be created to cancel the hum within one pickup. These pickups are often called humbuckers or humbucking pickups for their humreducing qualities. Humbuckers tend to roll off some of the tonal highs when they cancel the hum and they usually have more output than single-coils.

SplitSplit-Coil Pickups SplitSplit-coil pickups are basically double coil pickups split apart. This is what you see on Fender Precision basses. Instead of one doublecoil underneath all 4 strings, the pickups are split in two — each under one pair of strings.

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Piezo Pickups Piezo pickups are less common on electric basses, but you may run into them. A piezo pickup senses the actual vibration of the string through contact with the string at the bridge contact point. These are often found in acoustic bass guitars. Since piezos don’t rely on magnets it is possible to use non-metal strings such as nylon strings. Piezos, without the right kind of pre-amp, can sound brittle and thin. Optical Pickups The newest kind of pickup available is the optical pickup. Optical pickups use light to sense the vibrations of the strings instead of magnets. These are still very uncommon, but may catch on. Other Pickup Terminology: Soapbar pickups refers to the shape of the pickup housing. They look like bars of black soap. Often found on 5- and 6-string bass guitars. An MMMM-style pickup refers to pickups created by and used on MusicMan basses.

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Bass Pickup Placement Where the pickup is located along the length of the string plays an important role in the tonal characteristics of the pickup. As you get closer to the bridge, a string’s sound is thinner and brighter. As you near the neck, the tone is fuller and warmer. The tone put out by each pickup depends a lot on where the pickup is located beneath the bass strings. Number of Pickups Some basses, like the Fender Precision bass, have only one pickup. Many bass guitars have two pickups. With two pickups, the pickup nearest the neck is called the neck pickup and the one nearest the bridge is called the bridge pickup. The neck pickup gives off fatter, warmer tones while the bridge pickup has a brighter, thinner sound. You can emphasize or de-emphasize either pickup to get a wide range of tones. Bass Pickup Summary If you are buying your first bass, I would suggest getting a P-J pickup configuration. This means one humbucking P-bass (Precision bass) style pickup near the neck and one J-bass (Jazz bass) style pickup near the bridge. This way you get a wide variety of tones and you can get an idea of the sonic qualities of each type of pickup. If you don’t want a P-J setup, at least be sure to get something with two pickups. You want the tonal variety that will give you.

Knobs and Switches The controls on a bass are much like that of a stereo system. There are knobs for volume and tone – bass, treble and sometimes mid.

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Volume Knobs Bass guitars either have a master volume for all pickups, or two separate volume knobs – one for each pickup. With a master volume knob there is a separate knob that blends or balances the two pickups. A master volume is a little easier to control and set. A few basses may have a pickup selector switch. A 3-way pickup selector switch has 3 settings: both pickups on, the bridge pickup on, or the neck pickup on. Having one volume knob, two volume knobs, or a switch basically give you all the same options. Tone Knobs All basses have at least one tone knob. This allows you to adjust the amount of bass or treble frequencies output by the bass. Passive basses often have just one tone knob that cuts the treble frequencies. Active bass guitars have more tone knobs. An active bass will have at least a treble knob and a bass knob. These will allow you to both cut and boost the treble and bass frequencies. Some basses will have a mid-range knob. This allows you to cut or boost those frequencies that fall between the bass and treble knobs’ frequencies. Some basses feature a sweepable mid-range. This allows you to choose from a spectrum of mid-range frequencies you wish to cut or boost. Otherwise the frequency is set for you as it is on the bass and treble knobs. You may come across terms like 3-band EQ. Each frequency is a band. Three-band means bass, mid, and treble. A 2-band EQ would mean just bass and treble. Having more knobs is convenient, but don’t forget you can do a lot with the EQ settings on the bass amp. And, the amp’s electronics generally sound better. With the knobs it’s nice to be able to adjust

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your tone right on your bass. Or, if you record your bass directly rather than through a bass amp, you can shape your tone a bit more.

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