WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS LUTHIER

Bass Setups of the Rich & Famous by Scott Malandrone

is too straight, it’ll buzz in the first can shim up the nut from the bot- position.” To adjust the relief, Sa- tom.” dowsky slowly loosens the truss rod After adjusting the neck relief an eighth of a turn at a time until and nut height, the action at the the first position plays cleanly. bridge can be set by raising or low- “Once the relief is set,” says Roger, ering the string saddles. “The ac- “the proper adjustments can be tion adjustment depends on how made to the action.” hard the bassist plays,” says Sadow- Although a poorly cut nut can sky. “Someone with a light touch affect the action, Sadowsky warns can take a lower action than some- that the nut affects mainly the open one who digs in.” To adjust the ac- strings. “As soon as you fret a tion, Roger depresses the string at string, the nut plays no role at all,” the 1st fret (with his finger or a he says. “If a nut’s too high, though, capo); this takes the string height the strings feel stiff in the first po- at the nut out of the measurement. sition, and the intonation is thrown He then uses a 6" rule graduated in off because you need to depress the 32nds and 64ths and measures from strings harder. On the other hand, the top of the 12th fret to the bot- if a string buzzes when played open tom of the string. Roger defines low but doesn’t buzz when fretted on the action as 1/16" on the G string and 1st fret, the string slot is too low. 3/32" on the E string. High action Both situations can be fixed. If the specs are around 3/32" (G) and 1/ nut is too high, we can cut the slots 8" (E). To set the height of the A deeper. If the slots are too low, we and D strings, he radiuses them to PHOTOS BY EBET ROBERTS

The backbone of Sadowsky Guitars 1 (L to R): luthiers Norio Imai, Ken 1. Sighting the neck relief Fallon, and Roger Sadowsky 2 2. Adjusting If you type www.sadowsky.com when it’s humid and front-bow in the truss rod on an Internet-connected com- the winter when it’s dry. A setup puter, you’ll see why Roger Sadow- includes adjusting the relief on the 3. Measuring sky is one of the world’s greatest neck, tweaking the action at the nut the string bass builders. His high-perfor- and bridge, cleaning the finger- height at mance Fender-inspired instruments board, fine-tuning the intonation, the 12th fret are some of the most sought-after setting the height of the pickups, axes in the industry. (Just try find- and checking the electronics. It’s 4. Adjusting the ing one of these beauties on the like having your car tuned up.” height of the used-bass market—they don’t ex- Step one is adjusting the relief, bridge saddles ist there.) Located in the heart of which is the amount of curvature New York’s Times Square, Sadow- in the neck. (You can see how much sky Guitars is regularly visited by relief a neck has by sighting down 4 3 such bass celebrities as Will Lee, the fingerboard from the head- Marcus Miller, and Darryl Jones, all stock.) Sadowsky says most people of whom rely on Roger for custom assume you can tweak the action instruments and setup work. by manipulating the neck’s truss “Instruments need to be set up a rod, but that’s not true. “The only few times a year, mainly due to sea- reason to adjust the truss rod is to sonal changes,” says Sadowsky. “A make the neck properly straight,” neck will back-bow [curve away he says, “which is almost straight from the strings] in the summer but with a bit of relief. If the neck Roger Sadowsky continued

the fingerboard based on the G-string and up? “Marcus [Miller] and Will [Lee] have E-string specs. “If the G is at 1/16" and gone in opposite directions in terms of the E is at 3/32" , the A and D need to be setup,” says Sadowsky. “In the early ’80s, in between—around 5/64" each,” he says. Marcus had an amazingly low action of Setting the intonation involves com- 1/16" (G) to 3/32" (E), but he realized paring the pitch of the harmonic and fret- the bass didn’t ‘speak’ very well that way. ted notes at the 12th fret and moving the Going to a slightly higher setup has given string’s bridge saddle forward or back- him a wider range of articulation. Ten ward as needed. (For more on adjusting years ago Will, who plays more aggres- intonation, see Rick Turner’s Bass Tech sively, had one of the highest actions of column in Sept/Oct ’96.) Again, attack anybody I’ve worked with; his setup was and finger pressure are important factors. 1/8" on the G and 5/32" on the E. Even at “The harder you squeeze a note,” says that height, though, he’d complain his Sadowsky, “the sharper the instrument basses buzzed too much!” Now, Will has plays—so if a player has a light touch, I more reasonable specs of 3/32" (G) to intonate with a light touch to simulate the 1/ 8" (E). attack.” Roger’s newest big-name client is Although every instrument is differ- Metallica’s Jason Newsted, who recently ent, Roger says there’s a typical intona- ordered seven Sadowsky basses: four 4- tion pattern. “On a bass with full-wound strings and three 5-strings. “Jason’s a very strings, the G-string saddle is closest to sophisticated bass player,” says Roger. the neck, the D behind that, the A behind “He’s sensitive to the smallest adjust- the D, and the E the closest to the rear.” ments in action. Jason likes his instru- The B saddle on a 5-string goes be- ments set up on the low side—5/64" to hind the E as long as the B has a full set 3/32".” of windings at the saddle—but if it has Are you interested in what a Sadow- tapered windings or an exposed core, it sky setup can do for your bass? The shop tends to be one of the forward-most charges $75 plus the cost of strings; for saddles. more information, call (212) 586-3960 or Good strings also play an important write to 1600 Broadway, Room 1000, part in the intonation process. “If a string New York, NY 10019. Roger cautions, intonates out of proportion to the other though, that you should not be tempted saddles—let’s say the A saddle has to be by the idea of duplicating a particular all the way toward the front of the pro’s setup. “It doesn’t matter how other bridge—it could be a sign of a bad string. players set up their basses,” he says. It’s common to have a setup affected by “What matters is how you need your bass a faulty string.” set up for your style.” How do the pros like their basses set ?

BASS PLAYER MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 1996