setup and radius

I'm reposting something I posted over on Talkbass.com in the hope someone here may be able to offer advice. Although this does concern bass setup, but someone may know!


I'm having a spot of trouble getting my Yamaha RBX4-A2 setup how I want it. I like action kind of low, but the higher frets are choking out when I bend notes. As I understand it this is a result of the radius being smaller than I'm used to. It has a 10 5/8" radius compared to the much flatter 25" (?) of my Thumb BO 5. I'd ideally like to get the action as close as possible, but I don't think I'm going to be able to.

My Thumb is setup: holding down 1st fret measuring 17th fret 3/32" on the G string and 5/64" on the B string.

I've got it to about a little bit higher than the Warwick, and it's still choking, and there's still more buzzing on the higher notes (12th fret-ish and up) than I care for without any string bending.

When I was adjusting the truss rod to go flatter I felt resistance, so decided to stop before breaking anything (done that before). The neck is still has more relief than the warwick so maybe that has something to do with it?

The only thing I can think of now it to get a proper fret-dress/levelling job done. It's not exactly a high end instrument so this may help. I've done this before myself on cheaper basses, but I'm thinking this one may require more attention. I've heard that I could get the frets ground to a flatter radius which may help.

I'm pretty sure there must be a way to get the action lower than it currently is, I mean the Billy Sheehan Attitude has a 10" radius and he's always bending strings!

Or it could be that I'm trying to polish a turd, well relatively speaking comparing a sub £400 instrument with a £1200 one.

Any advice would be gratefully received before I start spending money on a set-up.

Greg

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: setup and radius
    ... Although this does concern bass setup, ... I like action kind of low, but the higher frets are choking out when I bend notes. ... As I understand it this is a result of the radius being smaller than I'm used to. ... the G string and 5/64" on the B string. ...
    (uk.music.guitar)
  • Re: G string buzz
    ... radius than the fingerboard. ... In that case I used a different saddle, ... went up one string gauge and it was perfect. ... I'll level and crown the frets. ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz)
  • Re: G string buzz
    ... radius than the fingerboard. ... In that case I used a different saddle, ... went up one string gauge and it was perfect. ... I'll level and crown the frets. ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz)
  • Re: G string buzz
    ... problem you mentioned where the saddle seemed to have a "flatter" ... radius than the fingerboard. ... went up one string gauge and it was perfect. ... I'll level and crown the frets. ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz)
  • Re: G string buzz
    ... radius than the fingerboard. ... went up one string gauge and it was perfect. ... I'll level and crown the frets. ... For instance on my own Barker guitar I can get this ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz)