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High Action Club

#41
Phalex said:
What constitutes high? Is there a figure we have to meet to qualify? I like a bass with thick stiff strings that don't just lay on the top of the frets. The guys around here that like to slap, hate to sit in on my bass. In their defense, I hate their set ups too, with their flat necks, uber low action and skinny little strings.
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You know Stanley Clarke sets his bass up with high action for slapping. He said when he recorded Silly Putty the action might have been too high, and he flubbed a note at the beginning! He started playing and thought "uh oh..." He likes a real clean tone for slapping and doesn't want to hear fret noise.

I like to think I set my action low, and then someone came over and played my bass and said "you like high action too?" That told me my bass needed a setup! I played Jeff Berlin's Dean bass... everyone who picked it up (and it was handed to me by Tal Wilkenfeld.. and I forgot my camera!) said "WOW!" the action was so freakin' low. And really low frets too. (Tal picked up my bass, said "Wow that's heavy" and handed it back! lol)

But I do like stiffer strings (.045 G) and a straight neck... almost no relief. But I set the strings just high enough so they don't buzz, unless I pluck hard, then I like that buzz. ;) But I see that's about 1/8" over the 12th fret... :hmm:
 
#45
SGD Lutherie said:
You know Stanley Clarke sets his bass up with high action for slapping. He said when he recorded Silly Putty the action might have been too high, and he flubbed a note at the beginning! He started playing and thought "uh oh..." He likes a real clean tone for slapping and doesn't want to hear fret noise.

I like to think I set my action low, and then someone came over and played my bass and said "you like high action too?" That told me my bass needed a setup! I played Jeff Berlin's Dean bass... everyone who picked it up (and it was handed to me by Tal Wilkenfeld.. and I forgot my camera!) said "WOW!" the action was so freakin' low. And really low frets too. (Tal picked up my bass, said "Wow that's heavy" and handed it back! lol)

But I do like stiffer strings (.045 G) and a straight neck... almost no relief. But I set the strings just high enough so they don't buzz, unless I pluck hard, then I like that buzz. ;) But I see that's about 1/8" over the 12th fret... :hmm:
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I played one of Jeff's Peavey's once at a clinic -- years ago. The action was ridiculously low, and the strings were quite light. IMHO that's the main reason his tone has never been that great (all that compression and chorus isn't helping, either). Will Lee, on the other hand, always has great tone, and I know he likes medium/high action and standard gauge strings.
 
#46
king_biscuit said:
I played one of Jeff's Peavey's once at a clinic -- years ago. The action was ridiculously low, and the strings were quite light. IMHO that's the main reason his tone has never been that great (all that compression and chorus isn't helping, either). Will Lee, on the other hand, always has great tone, and I know he likes medium/high action and standard gauge strings.
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He does use too much chorus these days, but he got a great tone on Taking Notes and In Harmony's Way. Tears In Heaven in particular. Nice and growly.

I like Will lot, but when you hear Jeff you know who it is in the first few notes. I can't say that about Will.

Stanley Clarke also uses very light strings, but often has them up kind of high. But you can't get that "plucky" tone he gets with heavier strings.
 
#50
SGD Lutherie said:
I like low action and high tension strings. ;)

You can't play fast and fluid with high action. :bassist:
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Way wrong. YOU might not be able to. But I don't have any problems playing besides two hand tapping. I started putting my action really high when I first started, becuase I played WAY to hard.

I play just as fast and just as fluid as anyone with low action, thank you very much :bassist:


I'd like a number, 7 would be great if its not taken!


-Troy
 
#51
tpmiller08 said:
Way wrong. YOU might not be able to.
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What you call fast and fluid might not be what I call fast and fluid. ;)

And I like to pluck every note, and hard, so the strings snap, and high action removes a lot of that snap. But super low action sounds thin, so somewhere in between is ideal for me.

And IMHO two hand tapping is hardly a valid technique on bass. It's usually a short cut for good left hand technique, i.e., you can play a lot of notes without really being able to play a lot of notes. And the tone is bad.

But that's just my opinion.

tpmiller08 said:
I play just as fast and just as fluid as anyone with low action, thank you very much :bassist:
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Anyone? You've heard everyone? I don't think so.
 
#52
SGD Lutherie said:
What you call fast and fluid might not be what I call fast and fluid. ;)

And I like to pluck every note, and hard, so the strings snap, and high action removes a lot of that snap. But super low action sounds thin, so somewhere in between is ideal for me.

And IMHO two hand tapping is hardly a valid technique on bass. It's usually a short cut for good left hand technique, i.e., you can play a lot of notes without really being able to play a lot of notes. And the tone is bad.

But that's just my opinion.



Anyone? You've heard everyone? I don't think so.
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Oh I have heard everyone! :bassist:

To each their own
 
#53
tpmiller08 said:
To each their own
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Exactly, so don't announce I'm wrong if I don't agree. You don't know what I can do or not, and by the way, I have shoes older than you. A lot of people on this forum have been playing an awfully long time. We know a thing or two.

:bassist:

I've visited your MySpace page, so check out Link Removed
 
#54
SGD Lutherie said:
Exactly, so don't announce I'm wrong if I don't agree. You don't know what I can do or not, and by the way, I have shoes older than you. A lot of people on this forum have been playing an awfully long time. We know a thing or two.

:bassist:

I've visited your MySpace page, so check out Link Removed
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You were wrong. You made a broad generalization about people who play with high action. Maybe you just worded it wrong, but when you say "you can't play fast or fluid with high action", thats just plain wrong.

I wasn't attacking or flaming ya, was just disagreeing with a statement on a forum :D


PS - Great music man. Can you tab your songs for me? Jk jk! Really, nice stuff!
 
#55
OK fair enough... I wasn't trying to be argumentative. But yes, I'm opinionated. :)

If you listen to the Stanley Clarke tune Silly Putty, he had the action very high to get a clean slap tone, and he flubs a note at the beginning. So if Stanley misses notes with high action, I think it's safe to assume it's harder to play that way, and that man can play. ;)

I don't put my action as low as someone like Jeff Berlin, but I don't like fighting it either.

And thanks, glad you like the music. I don't have any real fast bass stuff on there though...

tpmiller08 said:
You were wrong. You made a broad generalization about people who play with high action. Maybe you just worded it wrong, but when you say "you can't play fast or fluid with high action", thats just plain wrong.

I wasn't attacking or flaming ya, was just disagreeing with a statement on a forum :D


PS - Great music man. Can you tab your songs for me? Jk jk! Really, nice stuff!
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