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High Action

stonedmotus

stonedmotus

Dec 10, 2009
377
82
#1
i read that james jamerson had sky-high action, also (guitar) stevie ray vaughan's guitars were virtually unplayable with very heavy gauge strings, a bowed neck & high action. any other bassists of note known to play with a very high action? i prefer medium but assume most want it as low as possible.
 
#3
McCartney likes high action. My guitarist likes high action too. I do his set-ups. The first time I did one of his guitars he gave it back and said the action was too low. I was a little taken aback considering it is my nature to set everything as low as I can get it without fret buzz.
 
#6
Action is directly related to playing style, isn't it? And playing style is about as subjective as you can get.

I play with a really light touch, so I love my basses with as low action as I can get. I also love higher tension strings as a result. But I realize that there are certain tones that can only be achieved with certain playing style that will require a higher action.
 
#7
Will Lee plays pretty high action, as well as John Patittuci and Tim Cummerford of RATM. Percy Jones, George Porter Jr. and Gene Simmons, too.

Lee Sklar likes high action on his old modded Fender/parts bass, but not on his Dingwall. The late great T-Bone Wolk used high action on his P-Bass. I played one of Neil Jason's old Jazzes and he had a higher action than most players.

I've heard and read that Pino and Tony Levin like higher action as well, but I don't know for sure. It sounded like Pino used very low action on fretless in the 80's, but maybe not so low on later and more current projects using fretted.
 
#8
20db pad said:
Will Lee plays pretty high action, as well as John Patittuci and Tim Cummerford of RATM. Percy Jones, George Porter Jr. and Gene Simmons, too.

Lee Sklar likes high action on his old modded Fender/parts bass, but not on his Dingwall. The late great T-Bone Wolk used high action on his P-Bass. I played one of Neil Jason's old Jazzes and he had a higher action than most players.

I've heard and read that Pino and Tony Levin like higher action as well, but I don't know for sure. It sounded like Pino used very low action on fretless in the 80's, but maybe not so low on later and more current projects using fretted.
Click to expand...

that's a lot of great bassists, good to know, like i said before i've always liked a medium action but in the back of my mind i'm always thinking "it looks too high". i have played a few basses with incredibly low action & no buzz but i think thats only really meant for a lighter touch, not really digging in, i could be wrong.
 
#9
20db pad said:
Will Lee plays pretty high action, as well as John Patittuci and Tim Cummerford of RATM. Percy Jones, George Porter Jr. and Gene Simmons, too.

Lee Sklar likes high action on his old modded Fender/parts bass, but not on his Dingwall. The late great T-Bone Wolk used high action on his P-Bass. I played one of Neil Jason's old Jazzes and he had a higher action than most players.

I've heard and read that Pino and Tony Levin like higher action as well, but I don't know for sure. It sounded like Pino used very low action on fretless in the 80's, but maybe not so low on later and more current projects using fretted.
Click to expand...

Tim Cummerford
Click to expand...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh man, this is worth the half year bump just to point that out.


And I'll never understand how people can like high action. Why would you make it more difficult to play?
 
#11
I prefer the action as low as possible without buzz also, but this seems easier to achieve on some basses than others. Among the five I have now, my mid-80's E-series MIJ Precision has the most accommodating neck.
 
#16
On my Laklands (4 and 5 string), as well as my '75 Jazz, I prefer light or medium nickel rounds (depending on how the neck and overall setup feels) with a setup as low as possible to avoid buzz when played with a light to medium touch. I try to play as light as possible to avoid fatigue and maximize flexibility for dynamics.

On my P-Bass however, strung with light gauge flats, I prefer a more medium action for better 'bounce' when played fingerstyle or when palm-muting. In any case, I try to get the neck as flat as possible and set the action/bridge curve from there.
 

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