what is neck relief and set up on a bass guitar and how can it be modified?

Question

here is what i read in a article realted to buying used basses:

Neck relief is crucial on any bass, especially on used ones. If you don't like the neck relief or the feel of the neck, ask the store luthier or clerk to set it up to your liking. Many jewel basses go unnoticed because of poor playing set up

can any one explain?

Answer 1

Relief is the bow in the neck of a guitar/bass. Setup is just that: How everything is setup insofar as string-related things are concerned. You don't usually want the neck of a bass to be perfectly flat, or else you'll get buzzing from the strings hitting all the metal frets when they are plucked. So you add what is called relief to the neck, give it a little bit of a bow away from the strings. This is done by turning the truss rod, a metal rod that runs the length of the neck, on the inside; All you can see of it is the adjustment screw (which is either at the end of the fingerboard, near where you pluck the strings, or at the other end, under the strings on the peghead). You use a screwdriver or allen wrench to turn the truss rod and it causes the neck to bow in one direction or the other, depending on which way you turn it. You continue with the set-up by adjusting the bridge height (which determines the height of the strings from the fingerboard) and the intonation (which ensures that the bass will play in tune all the way up and down the neck). These adjustments each affect the other, so you have to tweak them a few times. Lowering the bridge height will loosen the strings, making them out of tune, while tuning them back up can add a smidge of relief, and so on... Once you get a knack for it, it doesn't take very long to dial an instrument in. Just go slow with the truss rod at first. Usually, make a quarter-turn adjustment, then eyeball it, and adjust another quarter-turn, etc...

Answer 2

It's difficult to explain, but when you play the guitar/bass, you don't want to hear "fret buzz". This is when the vibrating string hits the fret and makes a buzzing sound. (Guitar players have such technical terms, eh?)

When a guitar is set up correctly, the strings won't do that.