Action Settings - What are your personal settings?

My nut is at 2.5mm
All strings are at 3.5mm at the 29th fret.
That is the distance from the fingerboard to the string.
The pickup distance to the strings is at 4.5mm.
Too obsessed??
I don't think so.

Action to me is not at all about " as low as possible", although I used to be on very lov action( 0,5mm).
I just think it feels and sounds better to not go too low, but that's a subjective thing .

 

Hey, nut height is around 3mm and the strings at the 21th fret are at 6mm!
I know most of you will think thats unplayable but im used to it and it doesnt bother me at all... Used to like my action as low as possible but i realised i could get a better tone with a high action and more dynamic in my playing so i started raising a little every few weeks untill i got to where i liked the tone and now im really action with a higher action.

 

Just over 1.0mm on the G, 2.0mm at the B. I too find a super-low action helps my playing, and I quite like a bit of "clack" on the note. There is no way on this earth that i could play at 6.0mm! I tried a friend's bass with med/med-high action, and made a real dick of myself in front of a room full of people. The lower the better say I! (I found the only basses that came out of the box adjustable that low were my MPG and ATK. All others have required a fret-level. (Lakland, Fender, etc)

 

I'd check my bass, but i don't know where it is

 

2mm on all strings.

 

After making sure that the neck has a little bit of relief, I set all five strings' action to 3/32 of an inch from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the string. Then I lower the G string by 1/64 of an inch and raise the low B by the same amount. So the final action of the G string is 5/64 of an inch and the B string is 7/64.

 

Its more about how the bass plays rather than any magic set of measurements. 99% of the time I play with a pick and I tend to dig in pretty hard. The actions on my basses are as low as they can go without buzzing (too much). The intonation on all of them is spot on.

 

No, you can get a low and consistent action on a cheap bass if you know how to set it up. I mean, as long as the fingerboard is reasonably flat (and no high or low frets for fretted basses).....

I pluck way back towards the bridge virtually all the time, I also have weak little hands with crappy wrists so I prefer a very, very low action.

My rules of thumb:
- action just above objectionable buzzieness at the heel (last few fret positions)
- relief set for just under objectionable buzz at buzziest portion of the neck.
- nut height as low as possible, i.e. practically at the fingerboard.

I have no idea what the measurements are. Sighting down the neck, my fingerboard appears to be practically flat on my L2500 (my L2000 has a dip in it that I can't get rid of, so I might be ordering a radius block from stew-mac soon to try to fix it).

LS

 

Wow... so much math!

At both the nut and the bridge, I drop the strings 'til they buzz, then back 'em up just a hair.

 

Usually true, although playing style can make or break that.

I should measure my stuff just for my info, but I never really measure. I'm more like Tim, but I set my action to be able to play with my harder technique (still fairly light) and set it up so I only hear minimal buzzing through the amp and raise it a hair from there.

 

Exactly. After adjusting any neck relief if needed, I'll see how low they go without buzzing and then raise them until it feels ideal.

 

It depends on what kind of gigs I'm doing. For the church gigs, it's a quieter setting with more emphasis on touch and dynamics, so I usually have a lower action and pretty close to flat neck with almost no relief. For the rock and blues gigs, I tend to play a lot more aggressively, so the action is higher and I set up with a little more relief. I like it so I can get a but of buzz and growl when I dig in, but still do deep and clean if I lighten up.

Honestly, sometimes I just get in the mood to play with a slightly higher or lower action for a while, too! I generally change the action by adjusting the relief more than the saddle height, but that usually means going from "nearly straight" to "really straight".

I've never been one to go for ultra-low setups, though, even on basses like the Curbows that can handle it--I just can't get the range of dynamics that I like, or the same growl when I dig in.

Though it might benefit me, I've never really done a lot of measuring with my setups, so I can't tell you exactly what those string heights are--sorry!

Mike

 

I know. Such a waste of Curbow talent and design. Sell to me, sell to me, sell to me, sell to me, sell to me....................

 

My personal settings are to adjust each bass depending on it's neck, strings and pickups and go with what feels best on that bass. I personally do not need each bass to be identically setup.

Feel is much more important to me than the numbers.

Good explanation of where to start and/or end.

.

 

I own many many basses, and it's been my experience that price is not always reflective of action. As far as numbers, I don't have any. Each bass is different and you just have to experiment with each one. Sometimes I adjust the saddles first, sometimes the relief. A lot depends on where those things are to begin with. Then go from there. Your style of playing (and that includes several factors) will contribute to the action that you need/want.

 

Mike

 

Ditto.. I have some $$$$ VERY small files used to drop this down.