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Billy Sheehan on "How I setup my bass"
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- čas přidán 6. 02. 2011
- In this instructional video Billy Sheehan shows us how he sets up his own basses. This is an excerpt from his complete interview, which can be viewed by clicking the link below.
www.bassfrontiersmag.com/video-interview-billy-sheehan
I've watched a ton of Billy Sheehan interviews now and he just seems like a genuinally nice guy. I've become a fan!
Billy is SUPER NICE guy. Very patient with fans and interviewers.
Met him at least 8 times, always a nice guy. He seems so genuine and awesome and humble.
I met Billy in New York in (I think) 2007. Saw a gig he played with Niacin in Iridium on Broadway. Went up to talk to him afterwards and he was super friendly and kind - great guy. :)
I love Billy. His playing is incredible, he loves to impart knowledge, of which he has plenty, and his demeanor has a calming effect on me. Whenever I hear his voice I feel relaxed. Thanks Billy, for being such a great player/teacher/person.
David Lee I attended a bass clinic he done many moons ago in London uk at the bass centre in wapping . He is such a cool laid back guy and an amazing musician . He signed autographs at the end of the clinic and also continued to answer question well after the clinic was done. One particular moment stands out when someone in the audience asked him if could do some slap bass. Well Billy’s not really known for that style of bass playing but he was brilliant and just goes to show what a well rounded bass player he is with a broad playing technique! Love the albums he done with Dennis chambers with the group Nician. Check it out!
@@ameliopompeo5722 Oh yes, Niacin were amazing!
him and paul gilbert really makes you feel nice if they talk.....
i realize I am kind of randomly asking but does anybody know a good website to stream newly released series online?
@Zion Alexis Flixportal :)
I've been a Luthier for about 35yrs now. A big part of the set up for me, is seeing you play. Also finding out what you play, and your personal preferences. Complaints about it's current set up. When you come in to pick it up, it's important to me that you play it & we can do those fine tweaks that makes the difference between a good set up & a great one. There is no standard set up. everyone plays differently, uses different gear & plays different types of music.
I dig Sheehan..I'm a guitarist turned Bass player loving the Bass!! Thanks Billy!!
This is what I call a clean conversation with a guy that knows about what is he talking.
Great musician and best person. Thanks Billy!
A good reasoned explanation and encouragement for players to take charge of their instrument. ONE BIG POINT was not mentioned . That is that when the strings are removed , the neck will bend over backwards under the influence of the truss-rod.
Before any leveling is done the truss-rod needs to be loosened the required amount to bring the unloaded neck straight. Otherwise you will be making the fret line hollow when the strings are replaced.
+Peter Stephen It really depends. I've taken all the strings off my bass to clean the fretboard and put new ones on, and I've never needed to do anything with the truss rod, the neck always felt the same. I've only had it altered once its life, right after I bought it to lower the action. Maybe if you're putting a new gauge of string on then you might need to do so, but I've always used 45-105.
+MrMudocHD Yes , sure , if there is only cleaning or string replacement being done with the same gauge then the truss rod won't need any adjustment. My comment was that the rod will need adjusting if fret leveling is being done as suggested in Billy Sheehan's video.
Peter Stephen If I was to remove all the strings from the bass for whatever purpose (in my case just cleaning), I would still give some relief to the neck previously to the task.
If the neck is almost straight, and you remove all the strings it won't have the "weight" countereffect, and it will even bend convex.
I do not know if my reasoning is right, but I think it is safer so. At least makes sense...
Yes. When the strings are removed , the neck will bend back and may go convex as you say. My point was that if the intention is to level the frets with a straight tool,with the strings off , then the truss-rod will need adjusting (loosening) to bring the neck straight before the leveling. And re-tightened after the strings are replaced to the correct relief. For cleaning there is no need for any rod adjustment.
Peter Stephen what you mean is that you need to bring the neck straight in order to do a effective fret leveling like Billy Sheehan does (with that file which is straight). If the neck is bowed you won't make a good leveling.
Ha! He likes some buzz. So many guys are soooo afraid of buzz they'll have their action like a bow and arrow to avoid buzz. I love my strings ridiculously low.
Richard Milligan I like low action, but no buzz at all, which means I have to pay an obnoxious amount of attention to my setup and frets. It was WAY more of a pain in the ass before I started playing Music Man Sterlings (US, not the Sterling by Music Man imports- confusing), they seem to have a bit of a magic to them that makes them SUPER stable. I have to tweak my Fenders and my Lakland more and also more often.
That Yamahaha is buzzing like crazy. That would make me mental. Is he even plugged in? My p bass is too quiet for me to play when it’s not plugged in, but he’s getting some volume there.
He's absolutely great!!!! as a player and as a technical expert. Incredible musician!!
HOw many guitar / bass players have never adjusted their truss rod.... I'd guess most people don't set up their own instruments. Learning to do this stuff is an excellent investment of your time.
This guy's great, I love his resourcefulness.
Right on. I first learned the principles in a Dan Erlewine article in Guitar Player. Every player should learn to set up a bass to their personal liking.
Back in the day, it was like a secret. When you grasp the mechanics of it all, then you can always get a bass to feel right to you. Bravo.
Fucking likeable guy... I'm so happy I got to meet and hang out with him in Canada last year.
It's great to see him still so enthusiastic about setting up his own bass's after all these years.
Stick
A few guys play with some buzz. Chris Squire, Sheehan, and John Entwistle all had the humble bee on steroids sound ! Even Marcus Miller playes with a little buzz when that's part of their tone. Some bassist, many of the old school like higher action and dig in hard. With flats you need to do that, not so much with rounds.
+Vince Sun I agree.
Very good advice about the benefit of setting up your own bass. It's not hard to do and if you make the investment to get the basic tools you need and spend the time to do it right, you'll be more than amply rewarded. My Gibson Thunderbird was PLEKed at the factory and so, because of the uniform fret height, I was able to set the neck relief and string action way below spec. I play high-tension D'addario flats and with my light touch I have a very fast and easy neck to play. One of my guitar friends commented on how nice my neck feels when he tries my bass.
He loves his instrument and so do I. Great influence
Agreed. I've done a number of fret levels, and the first thing I do is loosen the truss rod until the neck is as close to dead-level as I can get it. I use a large piece of glass to make sure all the relief is out of the neck. Another good way to do it is to simulate the neck's position when it has strings which requires a rather expensive neck jig to do. Try at home but get a bit more info first. :) A lot of Billy's tips are very smart.
This man gives rock musicians a great name...
Mr Big should change their name to Mr Nice. Paul and Billy seem to be the nicest dudes in rock.
What a cool guy!
Great words of wisdom. I had to learn it the hard way, too. That's the only way my basses feel right to me.
pure respect, true bassist legend
Oh yes. I forgot to add that of course the truss-rod needs to be re-tightened apon stringing.
Billy is not a Bass Legend, HE IS A BASS MONSTER!!!!
My son and I started thinking about that a while back so far we can change out our pickups tone pots I've changed the nut on one of my bases the part that we still need to work on is the setup straining the neck which isn't too hard we're getting the string height correct the good thing is we haven't had too many instruments that needed that much adjusting
Very insightful fellow 🤓
Great guy, rock star but speaks like a friendly old farmer, IMO. (looks like one now too, haha) Very informative video.
Seriously this guy is so fuckn cool!
I love every interview
Thank you Billy.
I saw him for the first time on the "Eat em and smile"tour with David Lee Roth,I was about 12 yrs old and really never saw a bass player take a 20min solo before,well Billy was playing a bass like a piano laid on the floor.
I really never dug his music or style but his interviews and bass vids kill me.he is fucking shot,he comes out with the oddest things from left field.
His hair helmet is perfect,He and Gene Simmons should go head to head LOL! Rock on Billy your an ambassador for the bass!
Great video Billy!!
He’s amazing.
Thank you.... This was wonderful...
I have this mid eighties issue of Guitar Player magazine (Bass Player came around later) with an interview with Billy when he was still playing the Pink Yamaha bass.
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He was talking about the set up of his basses and how he would test out the tightness of a neck in pocket by snapping the neck sideways "Like a bass chiropractor." At which a disclaimer appeared stating urgently that nobody should try that at home since you could damage your instrument that way.
Seeing as how his Yamaha basses have rock solid neck to body connections, he certainly has no need to do something like that anymore, those necks aren't going anywhere.
@jlebesis Billy is well respected and known for his tone. Instantly recognisable in my book.
I just found him today, watching steve vai "I'm the hell out of here" and by the baddass bass solo I knew that in front of me there was one badass bassist
The pen goes on the metal fret, not the wooden fretboard.
Billy Sheehan is from Buffalo? I didn't know! Awesome.
Best bass player ever.
Is his bass scalloped because I see some of it on the higher frets.
He has forgotten to tell 2 important things. Before leveling the frets, you have to adjust the truss to have the neck straight, with no curve at all. And also you have to tape all the neck to protect the fingerboard, especially with maple neck.
fantastic!
They're all on that level of virtuosity where there isn't much of a difference. Wooten, Miller, Webster, Pastorius, and Sheehan- they're all at such a level where I just don't bother comparing. I simply take what I can.
his best sound yet..!!
i wasn't sure at first, but i've decided that i can listen to him talk in black and white just as well as in color
good idea but of course you'll have to do a complete setup of the bass afterward.
I grew up is southern California where the humidity is low and I never had to make a truss rod adjustment. Now I live in the mid Atlantic where the humidity fluctuates greatly and I have to make adjustments every year. Is this common?
I live in Denmark. I usually setup my guitars twice a year if possible. If I can only do it once i'll do it in the autum - I'll explain. Come spring time, around april the woods gets softer and will make the neck bow forward, so action gets high. In the autum the neck will straighten up again - and you'll get buzz, if you don't ajust. So if I have to choose only once a year, I'll set it up at autum, and then the action will be higher when spring arise, but will be ideal at autum again.
That's my experience FWIW :-)
One of the coolest guys ever. Same with Paul Gilbert.
Seems like a cool guy and 100% right. You gotta do it yourself if you want it done right.
Inlays on the bass are pretty nice
I'd let Billy Sheehan do a setup on my bass without a second of hesitation. He has forgotten more about it than the techs in any music store I've ever dealt with ever knew in the first place.
I was only joking, Perfect answer. Simply their is no best.
It's one thing to level the frets, but what if you need a re-fret? Is it any harder to do?
if you refret you then need to replace all frets, cut or sand the edges, and then check if they're all leveled
re-fret is a lot more work. Great way to screw up your bass.
Billy, I love you and all. Would love to sit down and take some lessons from you, but I am NOT letting you anywhere close to any of my basses with a bastard file.
The bow of a neck completely changes with the strings off. Professionals have special benches to deal with this.
3:35 sounds like thunder pick by MANOWAR
You missed an important step. Make sure the neck is perfectly straight first. Otherwise you end up cutting away a lot more fret material that you need. to. If you want or need relief after, adjust with the truss rod once the strings are back on. But never tackle fret leveling on a neck with relief.
The only thing he didn't really talk about was the truss rod, but yeah, great advice. Leveling and crowing frets though takes a bit of time to learn, and some skill. Don't do it on your A basses unless you've got it down. Use a piece of crap to practice on first.
for sure.
He ain’t lyin’.
It really is called a bastard file..
Yeah.. Bastard cut file!
I'd love to watch a real time video of Billy doing a fret dress.
You're using the marker on the frets themselves. Not on the fretboard.
Billy Sheehan has the fastest plucking fingers I've even seen...his solos are amazing!!!
how are his strings so low tension? is it the strings or the insane action?
Eddie Van Sheehan
For fret leveling I would recommend that people please put some masking tape on the finger board to protect the would.
LowMan Josh if you're leveling frets and hit wood you've gone way to far!!!!
Larry Arnemann true but when cleaning them up and just good practice to mask off the finger board.
Everything will be perfect only if you do it yourself!
The most important comment Sheehan makes here is learn to do it yourself. It's really not that hard if you understand the key elements and with so many videos on youtube you should be fine. The setup is about personal preference and most of the time a tech will not get it right especially if you take it to guitar center.
You have to straighten the neck with the truss rod after you remove the strings. In fact before dan erlewine's neck jig, they did it just like that. It's not gonna be PLEK accurate, but who needs that anyway....
The reason that I like high action is that I can have a much more agressive attack without any buzz.
I can help ! couple steps missing but not bad for a DIY'er
Interesting, but what works so well for Billy probably won't work for you in most playing situations regarding low action/buzz. A bass "speaks" better with some neck relief. Chris Squires bass sounded like a broken band saw, but that's just to my ears. PS: Tim Bogert(one of Billy's idols) used very high string action on his great Vanilla Fudge tracks.
Even when he`s explaining he`s not getting a note wrong :)
Check out the excellent channel of davey4557 "Dave's World of Fun Stuff" for a lot more detail on setting up bass and guitar. Funny, offensive and knowledgeable.
Those recrowning frets are handy but they're ridiculously expensive
"My name is been on on many Bastard Files but that's a different kinda Bastard File" DED
I wish I could do his magic marker trick, but I have a rosewood fretboard :/
not a fan of his playing, however his approach on bass set up is impressive,.,.
I have no idea who u are but u seem to know what your saying thanks!!
...." my name´s probably been in many bastard files ",..... LOL
You hear the buzz through the mike, but not through the amp. That's exactly the way to set it up if you want the lowest action possible.
this is the ONLY scientologist i have any respect for.
BTW, Billy is bad to the bone on da bass. And speaks so intelligently about his subject, and admits he has very little music theory in his background. ANd he's pretty damn funny.
Justin Meldal-Johnsen deserves a little respect too.
is he??
Him and Les Claypool should have a bass battle...
it's even easier now because Stew Mac has all the tools you need at a decent price....
good for you....I hope you get a reward for that....
Alan Bragg$25 isn't a bargain after you fuck up an expensive Axe dumbass.....
Alan Bragg I'm an engineer and have been playing for 40 years, that's a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because I can afford nice instruments and precision tools. It's a curse because I can tell the difference between Walmart blowmaster tools and actual machinists tools and I can also tell when a guitar has been setup with them. If saving $25 is more important than the highest quality job you can do, so be it. You can use the $25 to buy beer and then you REALLY won't notice. I've heard a trained Beaver can be used to route out pickup holes too but I'll stick to a Porter Cable and Freud carbide bits. Truth be known I haven't put a file on one of my guitars since I discovered PLEK machines. I'm done here....
+fasteddie4145 DAMNED STRAIGHT. My U.S. Masters had that set up done with the Plek machine. You're not gonna get any better than that. Pay the damned money, it's well worth it.
All bass players should learn to at least do their own basic set ups. Like he said, It isnt hard. Truss rod adjustment, string height, neck relief and intonation. Those are the most important things too know how to set and adjust. Fret leveling should be done by someone with the proper tools and skill set. You really dont want to go dragging a bastard file along the fret's of your instrument.
and how abou Tom Cruise?
taking off the strings would make the neck backbow,to do this type of fret-level you must have the neck set straight with NO relief,
EXAMPLE,remove all your strings off your bass now would you attempt to fret-level your neck the way it looks now with no string tension ? Billy is great to listen too and a funny a hell guy but look at his old "WIFE" bass(the telecaster neck on the p-bass body)look at his mods and then you tell me if you would let him fix your bass,doubt it.
very entertaining
Man this guy talks fast.
you forgot Chick Corea
Billy Sheehan is amazing but I don't understand how anyone can like a bit of buzz on any guitar, it never sounds good
:-)
m/ chris squire rules
I disagree. Try it. That's how you learn. If you don't want to mess up a nice piece of gear, grab a used Squier, and have at it. You gotta mess up to learn.
I love him, but it's a bastard cut file, not a bastard file. :P
Fuck it. I"ll just take my guitar to my tech guy and let him deal with the headache of fret leveling. I'll just concentrate on playing.
too much buzz and flap for me
i would not advise anyone,to try to file anything on the bass. you make a mistake and its irreversible damage.take it to a pro.
G.D. Supreme Agreed!
It's because he doesn't preach it. He preaches bass.