Samick Baby Bass setup?

[mickeyj4j]

Hi all I have a short scale Samick Baby bass. It's around 660mm, this is fret 5 on standard scale bass. It is smaller than a standard short scale bass. It had custom set of strings .80, .60, .40, .20. These were fairly hard to get, loose and never sounded resonant and lush like bass should.
After some research online people said to get a 5 string bass set at .125 and cut the BEAD strings down to size. This works well. I have fitted the strings and trying to adjust the truss rod. Now I know these strings being thicker have more tension on them. So I am slowly tightening the truss rod. With a capo on fret 1 placing my finger on fret 16 where it joins the body checking around fret 7-12 for a credit card thickness. After 2 weeks tightening the truss rod every day or 2 slowly 1/2 turn, does not seem to be raising the action. I don't want to break the truss rod.
Is there anything I have missed or can do to get this right?
Note I have adjusted my 5 string bass and acoustic guitars when needed so am not new to this.

[kiwigeo]

So I am slowly tightening the truss rod. With a capo on fret 1 placing my finger on fret 16 where it joins the body checking around fret 7-12 for a credit card thickness. After 2 weeks tightening the truss rod every day or 2 slowly 1/2 turn, does not seem to be raising the action. I don't want to break the truss rod.

Maybe I'm reading your post incorrectly but if you're tightening the truss rod then surely this is going to _reduce_ your neck relief. With the truss rod fully backed off the strings naturally want to pull up the neck..tightening the truss rod works to counter the neck pull up.

If you've turned that truss rod a 1/2 turn every day or 2 for the last 2 weeks then you're going to be dangerously close to busting the thing...I rarely get up to a single full turn on my acoustics going from loose to fully tightened.

How flat is the neck with the truss rod fully backed off?

[mickeyj4j]

Well its worth a try to loosen it slowly before I tale it in to get a setup from Luither. Thanks.

[kiwigeo]

Well its worth a try to loosen it slowly before I tale it in to get a setup from Luither. Thanks.

If you loosen off the truss rod you may notice your neck relief at mid point between 1st and 16th fret to increase That said its important to get a handle on how flat your fretboard is with the truss rod loosen off fully. Ideally you should also assess the fretboard while the strings are off.

[mickeyj4j]

If you loosen off the truss rod you may notice your neck relief at mid point between 1st and 16th fret to increase

yes this did the trick. Got good relief and set up now.

That said its important to get a handle on how flat your fretboard is with the truss rod loosen off fully.

why is this important?

Ideally you should also assess the fretboard while the strings are off.

what am I looking for?

[kiwigeo]

If you loosen off the truss rod you may notice your neck relief at mid point between 1st and 16th fret to increase

yes this did the trick. Got good relief and set up now.

That said its important to get a handle on how flat your fretboard is with the truss rod loosen off fully.

why is this important?

Ideally you should also assess the fretboard while the strings are off.

what am I looking for?

When adjusting neck relief it's useful to have an idea of how flat the fretboard is without the truss rod tightened up...this is your reference point for adjustments. If there's initial backbow or relief present with the rod loosened off then it will enable you to quickly work out why neck relief isn't responding to truss rod adjustments as it should. It will also allow you to pickup issues like neck twist which will also affect relief.