How do truss rod, bridge, and pickup adjustments affect your picking/fretting action and tone?

Hi Gretch,

The truss rod adjustment determines how straight the neck is. If there is too much bow in the neck the higher notes up the neck will be more difficult to play (because they are further from the surfact of the board) and they will play sharp. If there is not enough bow in the nect (too straight) most if not all the notes will buzz.

If the bridge height is set too high it will also have a simular effect (playing sharp). If the bridge (intonation) is not properly set, the instrument will not play in tune.

Having the pickup set too close to the strings will cause the magnetic properties of the pickup to influence how the strings vibrate causing false tones.

These are general statements designed to try to answer your general question. There are some aspects of these answers that are specific to onr or more brand/style of bass that you may be using.

BassLand

http://bassland.net/