Does 4/32" - 8/64" seem high to anyone else?

[FortyEight]

Since ive owned my squier cv jazz im constantly comparing it to my pbass. i bought this pbass about 8 years ago at mgr and have only touched the rod once and never the height of the saddles whoever set it up, set it up in a very nice way. imho. i did actually have to tighten down one screw on my a string cuz it walked up and started to buzz. but i mean, that thing plays nice to me. i havent measured yet but im pretty sure its a lot lower than 4/32"-8/64" on the 4th string.

but my main reason for bringing that up is ive sort if struggled with the set up on my jazz bass. lately the 2nd string was buzzing on the 16, 17 and 18th fret. so i have put a fret tool to it to see if some are high and i think i have a high one way up like the 18th but in the bass side and the e string does buzz when i go low. so i sat down and reacqainted myself with a proper set up. this time it was by watching a luthier from elixer. seemed like a good proper job. plus i know that 8/64" is spec from Fenders website. i did the set up (including his way of doing neck relief, .015 on the 7th fret with first fret capo'd and holding down "where the neck meets the body") and i even have some understring radius gauges now and i had to raise the saddles on my d and a string. they were low. but man does that feel high. 4/32" on the e then 3/32" on the g. its like feels like slide guitar high to me. lol. i did lower all the saddles a bit but just enough to not really buzz on the d string up high there any more. but its still high compared to my p.

i will confirm when i get a chance but my p feels flatter than 9.5" radius. but that is the current spec. the frets must be pretty good cuz i dont get any buzzing on that one and its clearly lower than spec.

i hear people say a low action is for novices and im like whatever. to me that translates to "i must be better than u cuz i like my action high". ok whatever. i feel like theres a sweet spot for tone and feel on guitars. and too high doesnt sound and feel right to me. i do like low. i may change my opinion someday if ever get good.

The jazz works nice with the new set up and it sounds decent. i will live with it for a while. but to me my p is a smoother bass to play. and ive played basses in stores that felt more like my p.

 

[jsiddall]

Keep in mind that the factory numbers are intended to be safe, rather than ideal. I think they pick those numbers because they know that nothing they build should buzz at 8/64", so no one will complain that their bass buzzes if they set it up with the factory numbers.

Also consider that different players dig in different amounts, so really low action for a light player might be unplayable for someone who plucks really hard.

Having said all that, most people don't want action as high as the factory values, so then you get into tuning the instrument to your liking. With a good fret level/crown you can typically get down to about half the factory values. Uneven frets and/or neck flatness will be the limiting factor.

 

[FortyEight]

yeah. i feel like i play hard. i mean sometimes live im smacking the crap out of it. that being said, moving to fingers more has toned the smacking down but i like to grab pretty hard getting into it.

what i find funny is when i asked them to lower the action and talked about liking it low i got a lecture from the salesman about how the harder we play the more a string resonates. im pretty sure he was telling me i play too hard to use a low action. but im thinking, somehiw it works just fine with my p.

 

[erratick]

Most of the time I use 4/64ths on the G string to 5/64ths or sometimes 6/64ths on the E string (kind of depends on string gauge and the bass strangely).

6/64ths - That's pretty normal on a bass. 3 or 4 64ths feels low to me.

Not sure where you got 8/64ths for string height- that's usually pickup height. That's probably higher than normal.

.015 Relief is probably a little more than I do, but if you play hard sometimes you need it.

"The factory specification for appropriate neck relief for Fender® bass guitars is between .012” and .014”, measured between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret, at the 7th fret."

String height:

"The factory specification for string height for Fender® bass guitars is 6/64” on both the bass and treble sides. Before beginning, make sure your bass is tuned to proper pitch to facilitate an accurate measurement. Then, using your ruler, measure the distance between the bottom of each string and the top of the 17th fret,"

6/64th is my highest. I prefer 4/64th, but sometimes 5/64th is fine.

I can only get 4/64ths on a fretboard that has been leveled.

And then pickup height: 8/64 on bass side, and 6/64 on treble usually.

In your shoes- I'd redo or take it to a professional.

 

[erratick]

On and forgot- I probably do .010 for relief at 7th fret under tension, less than recommended, but more than others.

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10001/OM_leg_bass_2011_Owner%27s_Manual_For_Fender_Basses_English.pdf

for the factory measurements.

 

[FortyEight]

THANK YOU!!! Yeah i mustve got pup height mixed up with string height. was that measured at the 12th fret?

Had an OH WOW moment. my p bass has a 7.25" radius fretboard. here i was thinking it was flatter than my jazzes. lol. i wonder if it was some kind of vintage type model. pickguard is single ply and 7.25" radius? it was made in 1996.

 

[Ronkirn]

Umm . . . not to be a nudge, but 4/32 IS 8/64ths . . and don't use a ruler.. ever.. use your fingers sense of touch and your ears .. and don't worry, you'll get used to fretting a string with your ear...

 

[FortyEight]

Yeah I know it is... I stated it both ways in case a person knew it one way more than the other for action height.

I go a lot by feel. But I see nothing wrong with having dimensions as a starter point. I used that dimension because #1, it's stock spec, #2, my CV jazz 70's seems to only lay well when it's that high. Which is too high for me. I need to fix a few high frets to see if it will buzz less with a bit lower action.

 

[kuch]

Umm . . . not to be a nudge, but 4/32 IS 8/64ths . . and don't use a ruler.. ever.. use your fingers sense of touch and your eas .. and don't worry, you'll get used to fretting a string with your ear...

I don't know if this is standard "guitar" terminology but most people who deal with dimensions-tradesmen, engineers, etc always break down fractions to the smallest denominator as 4/32 = 1/8 or 8/64 = 1/8 .... just my thoughts....

I've been setting up guitars for over 20 years and I never measure anything. It's always eyeball and feel.... except for intonation when I use a digital tuner....

again my $0.02

 

[charlie chitlin]

8/64 seems higher than 4/32 to me

 

[Ronkirn]

tradesmen, engineers, etc always break down fractions to the smallest denominator as 4/32 = 1/8 or 8/64 = 1/8

yep. I'm with you.. it bugs me to see 4/32 .. that's 1/8th all day long... I just gave up mentioning it...

 

[Hags]

I prefer 15/128 ”
its a fine line

 

[Red Ryder]

I just measure alphabetically

 

[Killing Floor]

Why not just call it 1/8?

 

[MickM]

What ever happened to the "lowest common denominator"? I never encountered dimensions such as 2/32" 4/64",6/64" etc. From jr high thru my work with blueprints for metal and wood working drawings everything is designated with the LCD.(not counting decimals)
When I joined this forum all of a sudden the LCD went by way of the Dodo bird. Anybody know why?
Looking at some of the later posts I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to find this wrong.

 

[AAT65]

Y’all should switch to millimetres and leave all this fraction stuff behind…

 

[dsutton24]

What ever happened to the "lowest common denominator"? I never encountered dimensions such as 2/32" 4/64",6/64" etc. From jr high thru my work with blueprints for metal and wood working drawings everything is designated with the LCD.(not counting decimals)
When I joined this forum all of a sudden the LCD went by way of the Dodo bird. Anybody know why?

I've seen many discussions of this, and I think the answer boils down to a mixture of laziness and inability to deal with fractions. I think that cheap calculators and widespread use of smart phones means that a lot of young people just don't deal with fractions in school much any more.

I've often wondered, though, that if you're not adept with fractions whether you can discern the difference between 32nds and 64ths anyway.

As a side note, I finally figured out a short time ago why most of the world loves to tout the superiority of the metric system. The metric world can't deal with fractions!

The 8/64 thing bugs me, but apparently it's not my responsibility to make people do things correctly.

 

[MickM]

Y’all should switch to millimetres and leave all this fraction stuff behind…

In 1971 or 51 years ago I had a math teacher who swore that we would soon be required to know the metric system as the US change was soon approaching. To make his point he wielded a meter stick much like Patton and his riding crop. He used it as a pointer and to swat any inattentive or unruly student across the bicep leaving a bright red swatch the width of the stick.
Seems like other than a few ammunition calibers and modern vehicle engine designations (tire sizes are a combination of both systems) we are still not there.

 

[kuch]

As a side note, I finally figured out a short time ago why most of the world loves to tout the superiority of the metric system. The metric world can't deal with fractions!

The metric system doesn't have fractions but they do have:
centimeters
millimeters
micrometers
nanometers
picometers
and on and on and on.....

Not saying it's better..... it is what it is.....

 

[MickM]

8/64 seems higher than 4/32 to me

twice as big right?