Should I lower the action on my Mike Dirnt bass?

[gordon sims]

I just bought a Mike Dirnt Signature Precision (which I love). I am going to take it in for a set up and I'm wondering if I should of lower the action.

The action is higher than I am comfortable with, but I can probably live with it. I know the action is set high intentionally so maybe I should just leave it as is.

Does anybody see any drawbacks to lowering it? I'm also interested in what people have to say about high vs. low action generally.

http://www.fender.com/products/searc...tno=0138400306

[darkstorm]

Absolutely. Evdery bass a person has should be at the action they like. If you cant het your bass to as low an action as youd like or at least very close to that.; Then its not a great bass for you cause of that. Typical out of box action setup by most brands is medium to medium low action. Thats only suitable for those who like medium to medium low action.

[tom once dead]

I have the action on all of my basses really low, so low its buzzy but the buzz doesnt come through the pickups.

[Tim C.]

My strings are all below 1mm at the 20th fret. You can put your strings almost as low as you want and with the right techinque, it will still sing.

[Bongolation]

There's no benefit to the action being any higher than the fret and neck faults and your playing style require it to be.

Unfortunately, that's typically pretty high.

[ERIC31]

The action on my P Bass is set higher as I tend to dig in quite aggressively (fingerstyle) and if I had low action I'd end up sounding like Fieldy from Korn!

[Chrisk-K]

I like the strings on the other side of the neck. On all my basses the action of the thickest string is 2 mm and that of the thinnest string is 1.75 mm, as measured at the last fret.

[primusfan1989]

Originally Posted by gordon sims

I just bought a Mike Dirnt Signature Precision (which I love). I am going to take it in for a set up and I'm wondering if I should of lower the action.

The action is higher than I am comfortable with, but I can probably live with it. I know the action is set high intentionally so maybe I should just leave it as is.

Does anybody see any drawbacks to lowering it? I'm also interested in what people have to say about high vs. low action generally.

http://www.fender.com/products/searc...tno=0138400306

Although lower action is much easier to play on, I keep the action on my basses somewhat high because I find that a higher action is giving me a bigger sound, it seems as i use a heavier sting gauge and a higher action, i get a much better bass response, the lows are lower i guess is the point im trying to get across (atleast this is my opinion).

Another reason I do this is because of something i read on how Jerry Garcia Set up his guitars. He keep the action on his guitars fairly high so his guitar wasn't too easy to play. Every note he played he wanted to mean to play it. No mistakes and i like that concept so ive adapted that to my electric basses (i also play stand up so it is not too big of a leap between the two).

I also find that playing a bass with higher action has really improved my chops and given me a lot more strength in my left hand, and when i pick up a bass with low action im like 3x better than ususal because it is so easy to play.

If you are way too uncomfortable playing your bass, by all means get it set up but i would recommend not lowering it too much. Dont take the easy way out!!!