Vox string height/setting up

Jimbo55

Just got an oldish (early '80s I think) Vox standard bass- I'm not a bassist but want to just lay a fee simple runs on some recording.

Strings are really high, say about 10mm E string 12 fret, and 6mm G string 12 fret ?

What should these be ?

Bolt on neck, don't think it has a truss rod - can it be adjusted or a lost cause ?

ICBM

Not a lost cause if it's the model I think it is - they're quite high quality, Japanese-made. It will definitely have a truss rod - if it's a bolt-on it may be at the body end and hidden in the pocket, although I thought it was on the headstock on these...

Check the relief first by holding down the G string at the first fret and the 19th with the bass in the normal playing position. Look at the gap under the string at about the 8th fret - if it's bigger than the diameter of the string then there's far too much relief. About half the string diameter is ideal usually.

If that's OK then an action of about 2mm (G) to 3mm (E) should be about right, but don't lower it to that if the neck isn't straight enough or it will just rattle at the top end of the neck and still be too high in the middle. If the saddles won't go low enough to achieve that then it may need a shim in the neck pocket.

Jimbo55

my gosh ICBM, thanks you - just done the first check holding E string down at 1 & 19 fret and the height of string over 8 fret is a whisker over the string diameter - is that OK then ???

Don't know how to attach pictures here - does the plate on the back with 4 screws actually hold the neck on, or is it just a cover that is safe to take off ?

ICBM

Jimbo55 said:

my gosh ICBM, thanks you - just done the first check holding E string down at 1 & 19 fret and the height of string over 8 fret is a whisker over the string diameter - is that OK then ???

No, much too big. Half the diameter of the G string is about right.

Jimbo55 said:

Don't know how to attach pictures here - does the plate on the back with 4 screws actually hold the neck on, or is it just a cover that is safe to take off ?

It actually holds the neck on, so don't undo them unless you've taken the strings off first .

If you do take the neck off, when you refit it make sure the screws find the old threads properly - turn them backwards until they click into the threads, then tighten. If you just drive them in and force them to cut new threads it can strip the holes.

trikelops

Ideal string height is around the thickness of two business cards, so they reckon. Is there not a small plastic cover screwed on to the head of your guitar next to the nut? That's the normal location for the truss rod adjustment. Only one I have seen different is my old Ibanez which has it at the other end of the neck accessible through a small opening in the body.

ICBM

trikelops said:

Ideal string height is around the thickness of two business cards, so they reckon.

That's *way* too low.

Unless they mean relief?

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

trikelops said:

Ideal string height is around the thickness of two business cards

That's *way* too low.

Worse, without context, that statement is meaningless.

Guide measurements ought to be stated in recognised units (i.e. Millimetres, thirty-seconds of an inch or thousandths) and at a named location. (Usually, a particular fret position.)

I do not know who "they" are but the authority lies in the data rather than the messenger. 

trikelops

ICBM said:

trikelops said:

Ideal string height is around the thickness of two business cards, so they reckon.

That's *way* too low.

Unless they mean relief?

Yes, sorry I didn't make it clearer, I was tagging on to someone else's post about fretting the string next to the nut and end of the neck and check the string height at the eighth fret. I found that method online and the guy mentioned the two business cards measurement (roughly) at the eighth fret when the string was fretted at both ends of the neck. Tried it on one of my basses and it worked just fine for me. I was getting that annoying buzz, almost like a harmonic on one fret on the E string. checked it using his method and gave the neck a smidge more relief and it worked great.