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Benefits of High Action?

#25
I have the action set relatively high on my P-Bass, since it's my "accompaniment" bass where I'm simply serving the song, and tone is paramount. On my Hofner I have the action set lower because it's a short-scale bass and I use it for "busier" playing, where I'm trying to get a lot of notes in and tone is secondary (but still important).
 
#26
Jazzdogg said:
Might be nice if we defined terms: what constitutes "high action?" Does the definition depend on the string gauge as well as your playing style?

I found an article from Bass Player magazine (September, 1996) in which Mr. Sadowsky describes a bass with low action as having 1/16" between the bottom of the G-string and the top of the 12th fret and 3/32" from the bottom of the E-string and the top of the 12th fret while the string being measured is being depressed at the first fret; high action 3/32" beneath the G and 1/8" beneath the E. In the case of the G-string, that's a difference of only 1/32", but it's a 50% increase.

Here's one example from the article: Will Lee used to prefer high action (1/8" on the G, and 5/32" on the E), but now uses 3/32" on the G, and 1/8" on the E.

How do you define low action? High action?
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Very Helpful, I was looking for this info...Many Thanks :smug:
 
#27
I have a low action, and i want a lower action. I love the big string, and i don't hit hard. So, perfect for me.

But, i'm the only one who notice that ? If the string are high, i find that harder to not pluck the string hard. Like if the two hand need to work at the same strength...

(But hey, i know : Higher action = bigger attack.)

Weird no ?
 
#28
If you move around a lot when you play, high action lets you get away with being very active on stage without extra string clanking.

If you downtune sometimes, if your action is low in standard tuning you may not be able to downtune without max clank-clank. Higher action makes alternate tunings easier to accomplish. Believe me I know about this because the hated slavedriver of a band leader in my new band (;) for those who know who I'm talking about) insists on tuning down to Eb which makes singing easier, but turns my exquisitely set up bass to flop/clank city.
 
#29
I like my action just high enough to throw a frisbee under the strings......

Actually, once you get beyond whatever height is required to eliminate fret noise, any additional string height is just working on your grip & is of no advantage.
 
#30
Greevus said:
i've always had relatively high action. what i call "low" is pretty high to most. i'm a pick player and bang it pretty hard. i like the sustain it gives me. i do have carpal tunnel and tendonitis. lotta tradeoffs with bass guitars huh?
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there shouldn't have to be.

people who get tendinitis and cts from bass playing don't get it from high action. they get it from poor technique. if you could get it from high action, then upright bassists would all have tendinitis and cts.
 
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#31
Damn straight, I've been playing with fairly high action for ages and the only time I feel pain playing bass is when I play one with low action, now I'm used to having the open sound I can still get playing aggressively I find basses with low action very fidgety. I imagine I'd like one if I was gonna play in some silly funk band where I get to play lots of slap (which I would genuinely love that's not sarcasm :p) then maybe I'd like low action for that, but for what I play high action is way more comfortable even without taking sound into account.
 
#35
JimmyM said:
there shouldn't have to be.

people who get tendinitis and cts from bass playing don't get it from high action. they get it from poor technique. if you could get it from high action, then upright bassists would all have tendinitis and cts.
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+1 Sometimes I wonder if the folks making wild claims about the likelihood of repetitive stress injuries get all of their exercise jumping to conclusions. ;)
 
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#37
Something nobody has mentioned yet: if you play with very low action, you will likely find yourself constantly tweaking your set-up because every time the seasons change the movement in the neck will throw your set-up off. In recent years I've been playing with action pretty low, and I've had instruments set up to play beautifully and a month later they are unplayable because the neck has bowed back a little due to a change in humidity. If you play with high action, though, you may not even notice those kinds of variations. I never did until I learned how to do set-ups and started going for lower string height. Now I'm looking at graphite necks.
 
#39
Chuck King said:
Something nobody has mentioned yet: if you play with very low action, you will likely find yourself constantly tweaking your set-up because every time the seasons change the movement in the neck will throw your set-up off. In recent years I've been playing with action pretty low, and I've had instruments set up to play beautifully and a month later they are unplayable because the neck has bowed back a little due to a change in humidity. If you play with high action, though, you may not even notice those kinds of variations. I never did until I learned how to do set-ups and started going for lower string height. Now I'm looking at graphite necks.
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Excellent point.
 

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