Help with First Adjustment on my stingray

[IvanHardy]

ok so im taking my first attempt to setup my stealth slo stingray for more comfortable for me. i want to straighten the neck out and lower the action since im playing power slinky's on it and the action is pretty high. i was comfortable with the neck on my ray 34 so all i did was lower the action and raise the pickup a bit. I want to learn how to setup my bass myself but im a little scared to turn the truss rod much yet until im more comfortable with what im doing.

I've been watching videos on youtube for the past 2 days trying to learn visually first before i start my attempt. now i stand by the E string side. in order to straighten the neck (the neck looks a little bowed and maybe its just me but i'd like it a little straighter just so it could look fine to me and i start playing it more again. i doubt posting pics would help.

i tried turning it a bit forward standing from the E string side. now maybe its me but when i look at the bass while holding if i was playing it looks as if the neck was twisting. i just got my bass in december so idoubt it would be warped. it sorta feels that way because it doesnt feel that way on my ray 34. Do i turn the tross rod slightly until maybe it feels better or what? Any fellow Ball players in NYC who could help a new guy at this out? because i really dont want to mess anything up.

 

[Steamthief]

Just turn the wheel, a little bit at a time, clockwise to take relief out of the neck. Let it sit for a day, check if it's to your liking. If not, lather, rinse, repeat.

I doubt the neck is warping. Stingrays are built tough.

 

[IvanHardy]

a guy at GC did the setup for me. all is well so far. for fututre reference do i really have to wait a day though before turning the truss rod? thats a little long to wait to then check and redo it to my liking before i can play it again.

 

[douglasspears]

you don't have to wait a day before playing....I believe he's just saying that you want to give the adjustment some time to "settle in" before adjsting further. You should be fine playing it immediately after adjusting.

You do need to be careful, but once you understand what you're doing, it's not a big deal to adjust the neck.

 

[kevins]

the reason they say wait a day is because sections of the neck may still buzz until the wood catches up to the truss rod adjustment. im sure you've heard the old business card thickness thing to make sure the neck has proper relief, if you have a heavy touch this should be enough relief on there.


once the neck is straight for sure to you, then if its still too high to you, you adjust the bridge saddles. they have specifications in the faq, you may want them lower or higher depending on your liking. remember if you do lower them lower than the factory specifications make sure you do it all in equal incriments accross the strings and make sure you adjust the pickup height accordingly. the factory settings are pretty low allready so you shouldnt really want to go any lower IMO


a lot of people will say ALL action adjustments should be done by truss rod only. thats sillyness. its true though that 99.9% of the time the truss rod is the problem because its the most succeptable to humidity change but over time the saddles will change or shift or if you bought it new at a store, a store technician may mess with them.

 

[IvanHardy]

i understand. i believe now though on letting it settle. i havent played my stingray in 2 days after turning the truss rod a bit more. when i played it today i couldnt believe how straight the neck was. it was perfect when i held it. and the action is really low but enough that i worked on my touch from aggressive to moderate touch. so it only has a little fret buzz but it doesnt bother me. the only thing is its taking me time to get used to the coated regular slinky's. they're really trebly sounding and probably contributed to what i thought was fret buzz before.