I think I’ve finally cracked the setup on the Jazz bass. I picked it up last weekend and took some measurements. The neck relief was about 12 thou. The string heights were around 6/64s to just under 5. I wanted to know what I might get out of an even straighter neck. So I loosened the strings and gave the truss rod one little crank. Maybe an eight of a turn, if that.
Neck relief went to about 8 thou. And the string height – without adjusting a single saddle – dropped to about 5/64s on the B sloping down to just above 3 on the G. And the buzz situation has not changed one iota. I can do runs up and down each string without finding single note that won’t ring true. I can, however, hit a hard D note on the B string and, if I let it ring, will give me some rattle. So you have to play with care. But i don’t mind that.
Finally the Jazz bass has the kind of action I want. The kind of action I have on my Warwick.
And I just put it, the Jazz, up for sale on Craig’s List and at Talkbass.com. I’m asking $500 for locals, $550 shipped CONUS. If someone buys it, I’ll be out no money. If no one wants it, I’ll still have one great bass guitar on my hands. Why sell it at all? I feel like I just have too many dollars tied up in equipment right now. I’d sell this bass and happy replace it with a $300 Stingray SUB. We’ll see.