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action a bit higher on upper frets. normal?

drewphishesp

drewphishesp

Feb 14, 2017
3,831
2,997
#1
just noticed this today. My bass is set up perfectly. Intonated great at the 12th fret my action is 1.5mm on the E and just under 1mm on the G. Perfect.

I noticed that as I get toward fret 19-20 the action gets higher, maybe 1.9 E to 1.5 g?

is this normal? 2/3 guitars I have have the same thing happen, I assume its just the design of the instrument.

Thanks
 
#2
Well yes and no - it's the design of the instrument, basically the neck angle and bridge saddle height - but at least one of those is adjustable. You should be able to get the action consistent up an down the entire neck with appropriate set up. Me, I usually settle at "good enough", as it can be a slow, iterative process (tweak, wait, measure...).
 
#5
drewphishesp said:
It's playing very well now so I don't wanna mess w it too much
Click to expand...
No worries, leaving it as is is always an option. But you should be able to lower the bridge saddles to get those high notes' action lower. If that causes buzzing on lower notes, then the neck doesn't have enough relief (or has back bow) and needs to be adjusted. But like I said, it can take a while to sort out, and your personal "good enough" is "good enough", right? ;)
 
#9
drewphishesp said:
It's playing very well now so I don't wanna mess w it too much
Click to expand...
Captain obvious chiming in...
The 3 important pieces of the equation are:

nut slot depth (adjusted with a file so no going back if you over-correct)
neck relief (adjusted with the truss rod, so relief can be added/taken away via adjustment)
saddle height (adjusted with the saddle screws so can be added/taken away via adjustment)

So, I agree with the quote. The enemy of good is "better".
Having said that, you could try adjusting the saddle screws down. Just know that the whole string lowers, which might mess up what you like about the other end of the neck. If you do mess that up, neck relief might be able to fix it, but, what you are reporting sounds like it's in the parameters of a decent setup so not so sure I wouldn't just be good with it as is.

You could always take it to a repair shop and get their opinion of whether they could do you any good...
 
#10
its set up pretty well, string saddles are bottomed out, but action and feel is perfect for me, I tried a tightening of the rod so i could raise the saddles a bit but the results were the same so Ill keep it like this for now. Its been set up by a pro so not too worried
 

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