1. Before it leaves the factory.
2. If the frets become overly worn from use (usually years of use).

Many of the low cost basses I have seen over recent years have been let down on the fret dressing front – sharp edges to the side of the fretboard and uneven frets turn a bass from a joy to a torment. It is an important finishing touch, but more on that in a moment. If you followed the comments on setting string height and adjusting your action, you’ll have seen that fellow reader Sekou’s fret buzz problem was cured by a good fret dressing. It is generally the last resort in sorting out a bass, but it can become necessary after a number of years of playing. Obviously a job best left to a professional, getting it wrong will ruin your bass, but it shouldn’t be too expensive.

One manufacture that really gets it right on the set up front is Lakland. Gear wire recently toured their factory and got a great little video of their fret polishing routine…

“Part of our tour of the Lakland Bass factory included an engaging little spot on fret polishing. Julia Child would be proud of Matt the Polisher, as he makes this skilled task look so easy anyone could do it at home… given the proper tools, skills, and a nice bass neck to work on.”

Update: A follow up post on Gearwire shows the Plek machine in action. The Plek machine is a very cool computerise fret dresser used by Lakland and others: Plek Process.

Related Bass Posts

• Setting String Height – Adjusting Your Action
• Setting up a Bass Guitar
• Lakland Skyline 55-02
• Lakland Owners Group
• Daryl Stuermer Internet and Monsters of Bass Pix

Before we start, there’s no point adjusting the string height if the neck relief (the bow in the neck adjusted by the truss rod) is out. For now we’ll assume it is good, check out the upcoming post on neck relief for more on that. The neck pitch also needs to be right too, but I’ve yet to come across a bass where the neck pitch (angle of the neck to the body) is adjustable, so we don’t need to go there.

The two signs of incorrect string height are:

• Fret buzz when playing – deeply unpleasant rattling that generally doesn’t go along with more playing styles!
• Having to press the strings ‘too far’ – the strings end up a long way from the neck and the bass becomes harder to play.

The string height, or action,  is set by the bridge saddles that hold the strings. Older basses have flat head (slot) screws that enable you to adjust the setting, newer basses tend to use allen (hex) keys. Turning the screws further in raises the action, unscrewing them (anti-clockwise) lowers the action, letting the strings get closer to the frets and the pickup(s) – something to watch, you don’t want the strings too close to them!

The shape of the bass fretboard has a slight curve to it, drawn along and imaginary radius. The bridge saddles will generally follow the same arc. Severe changes to the bridge height can affect the intonation (the internal tuning if you like), but little tweaks shouldn’t be a problem. You can check the intonation later.

The super bright out there will have realised that the string height is also affected by the nut at the other end of the string. Generally the setting at the nut is fine out of the factory. Over the years the nut can wear down, which usually means time for a new one. In a few decades of bass playing I’ve never needed one, but I’ve never owned a bass older than me, so it isn’t out of the questions. The nut is not generally a do-it-yourself change. Likewise if the nut does happen to be too high, it is time to call in an expert. Some basses dispense with nut and have a so called “zero fret” where it would have been. This is personally my preferred set up, but generally only seen on higher-end basses (although it doesn’t mean that a bass is higher end).

Fret a string at the highest fret. Obviously there’s never going to be any fret buzz here (there aren’t any more frets!), but it is the point on the neck where the action is highest. Slide down and play at the 12th fret. If there’s fret buzz here, you’ll want to raise the string, just a little. Try fretting at different frets until you are reasonably buzz free. For a lower action, there will be some buzz, so don’t fret (as it were). If you get buzz in one place but not others, this is a sign of uneven fret wear. Again, time to head to an expert to have the frets refinished.

Adjust the height of each string, and don’t forget to check the open strings too. That’s it. You’re done.

Related Bass Posts

• Fret Dressing – a Proper Polishing
• Stunning String Vibrations – Slow Motion
• Setting up a Bass Guitar
• Elixir Strings – Gore-Tex Coated
• Bass Strings – Basic Design