electric bass question

[ken k]

Howdy fellow tubenetters,
Here is a question for any bass players out there in tubenetland.

I am not a bass player. i own a bass and occasionally I will play in church. the music director will ask me to accompany the youth choir or himself on a prelude or something and I will practice the music a few days before and be able to play it OK but not great. (I would not play the bass in public anywhere except for church. I figure there st least I am forgiven for any mistakes I make!)

Anyway it seems the neck on my bass is bowing. I did not relax the tension on the strings after the last time i played it and it sat in its soft case on the bass stand for a few weeks/months. I am assuming the tension on the strings pulled the top of the neck down slightly. I notice the gap between the strings and the frets increases ever so slightly as you go up the fingerboard. I am guessing that is not a good thing. FYI, it is only a cheap chinese Crate starter bass. Is there anyway to fx it? is it worth fixing? i will probably lower the strings at the bottom (don't know the technical name for the place where the strings are attached at the bottom of the bass). but that will not help with the bow on the neck.

ken k

[jacojdm]

Take it in to your local luthier and have he or she adjust the truss rod. In all likelihood, that's the issue. The truss rod is a metal rod that runs through the neck and keeps the neck straight (a very slight bow is desirable).
I don't recommend adjusting the string saddles on your own as you can throw off the intonation of your bass.
I'd guess your local tech will do this for $20 or less, or, a full setup including strings, for $40-50.

[The Jackson]

Jacojdm has it right. Go and see if it's the truss rod. I wouldn't mess with the bridge at all, either.

[MartyNeilan]

I forget what part of the country you live in, but in some areas there are "summer" and "winter" truss rod adjustments. 2x a year seems to be the absolute minimum for adjustment.

[ken k]

ah yes the truss rod. I forgot all about that. I am sure that will do the trick.
Marty I live in southeastern PA
Thanks ken k

[iiipopes]

When you have the truss rod adjusted, you might still need to adjust both the height and intonation of the bridge saddles, as the entire instrument is interactive with the stretch of the bass string, albeit ever so small, in fretting a note. But any competent luthier who knows how to adjust your truss rod will be able to make the adjustments at the bridge as well so it plays in tune and in good tone with itself.

Being a very inexpensive bass, I would also have him check the nut slots to make sure they are not too narrow so the strings get caught and hard to tune, or so the nut slots have the right slope backwards to the tuners so you have a good "witness point" on the slot for the string to vibrate against and not rattle, and that they are deep enough to hold the string and not cause excessive string stretch so the notes fretted on the first 3 or 4 frets don't go sharp.

The neck screws should be snug, but not overtightened.

The pickup heights are the last thing to check after you've reset the neck truss rod and the bridge to make sure they are not too loose or too tight. If you bass is a copy of a "famous" maker, you can pretty much consult that maker's owners manual on line to get an idea of how high to set the pickups for optimum tone.

Usually, if something shifts noticeably, like the neck bow, it is a good idea to go over the instrument completely to make sure all the other adjustments come together for a good setup.

Just the highlights of my 33+ years of tinkering with electric guitars and basses, including designing and building (though subcontracting out the neck, as I don't have a proper neck lathe or fretting tools) my custom instruments per my signature.

Be confident. I'm sure you're as fine a bass player as you are a tuba player. Especially in church in contributing to worship, that confidence (or lack thereof) comes across much more as an integral aspect of worship than does a missed note here or there, and the confidence in and of itself is the greatest aid to facilitating the worship and focus of the congregation.