• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

How do you wear your "action" ?? a Poll..

How do you like your "action"?

  • High

    Votes: 11 4.9%

  • Med-Hi

    Votes: 13 5.8%

  • Med

    Votes: 24 10.7%

  • Med-Low

    Votes: 98 43.8%

  • Low

    Votes: 78 34.8%
  • Total voters
    224
  • Poll closed .
SamJ

SamJ

Founder - Fender MIA Club
Apr 22, 2006
4,628
2,821
57
SFO / HNL
#1
I am curious if others are like me, I love my action as low as it can go without buzz.. Helps with slap, and speed, and if the pups are positioned properly, you don't loose volume or tone..

Feel free to add anything in the thread about your preferred setup, and the type of playing you mainly do (slap, finger, pick etc..)

So the choices are:

High, for the upright player types among us.. this is "Jamerson" style..

Med-hi, which is probably what many pickers may like

Med, this would be what you'd expect to see when you buy the bass, and get a complimentary setup

Med-low, this is what some would call low, but it's not as low as you can go before you buzz

Low, this is where if you turned the truss rod just one more nanometer, you'd buzz the 3rd or 4th frets.
 
#2
I chose "medium low." I actually set the action on my basses pretty low, but I've played some that were set REALLY low. I actually prefer it just a little higher than the lowest it can go without buzzing; I seem to get a fatter tone.
 
#5
tplyons said:
I like a little buzz, especially when I'm playing with a pick.
Click to expand...

I like mine pretty low for this reason - I listened to my heroes, and was suprised to hear how much fretbuzz was actually an integral part of their sound - I was extremely pleased when I felt the pressure removed from my fingers, and my bass played like a dream...

SamJ said:
Med-hi, which is probably what many pickers may like
Click to expand...

Not anymore...:)
 
#7
Spencer! said:
I chose "medium low." I actually set the action on my basses pretty low, but I've played some that were set REALLY low. I actually prefer it just a little higher than the lowest it can go without buzzing; I seem to get a fatter tone.
Click to expand...
+1

I have mine low enough so that I can get some fret buzz if I'm aggressive enough, but not all the time. It give me kind of a natural 'compression', not like an effect, just that I can't get super loud or super soft, there's less room for dynamic screwups :smug:
 
#10
not all uprights have high action, its primarily uprights used for classical music that have high action. many of the uprights that i have played - which were set up for jazz musicians - had VERY low action (for an upright).

now that i have finished my rant, i like medium-low action. high enough to stop most buzz, low enough to get some snap.:cool:
 
#13
SamJ said:
Helps with slap
Click to expand...

I would think that low action would take away from ones ability to slap. I guess if you dont slap that hard, then it could sound pretty good.

Im a medium low kinda guy. Too low and I forget Im even playing strings. It just feels like fretboard. I do like how it helps speed and the sound you get from your pups (assuming that your action isnt so low you get no sustain).
 
#14
embellisher said:
You have your low action, and then you have your 'Victor Wooten stupid low' action.

That is what I prefer. I like my action so low that a lot of people can't play my basses without getting solid buzz

That is lower than most people consider 'low'.
Click to expand...

Yup.. that's me.. recently I took both my current basses that I play a lot to a lock luthier who's pricey but good, so I can insure that I wasn't going to mess up the tone and asked him to "set it so it's just above buzz" ...

I've since turned the truss rod a turn or two on both, to get it to where it more or less buzzes, and I love the speed at which I can play it now. I also can bend the strings a lot easier and even if I'm slapping, the tone with a sharpened (bent) note is quite nice..

Glad to see I'm not alone in this "cheat" as I've heard some call it.. :D
 
#15
lamborghini98 said:
I would think that low action would take away from ones ability to slap. I guess if you dont slap that hard, then it could sound pretty good.
Click to expand...

If you are constantly pounding your bass, it can compress your sound too much, and give you way too much fret buzz.

I called it 'Victor Wooten stupid low' for a reason. Vic likes his action so low that a lot of people would consider the bass unplayable. It doesn't hamper his ability to slap at all!:D

I am no Victor Wooten, but this is one trick that I learned from him. Once I got control of my dynamics, and started playing my bass, instead of beating it to death, I found that my articulation and accuracy improved a thousand fold.
 
#16
embellisher said:
If you are constantly pounding your bass, it can compress your sound too much, and give you way too much fret buzz.

I called it 'Victor Wooten stupid low' for a reason. Vic likes his action so low that a lot of people would consider the bass unplayable. It doesn't hamper his ability to slap at all!:D

I am no Victor Wooten, but this is one trick that I learned from him. Once I got control of my dynamics, and started playing my bass, instead of beating it to death, I found that my articulation and accuracy improved a thousand fold.
Click to expand...

I'm with you Jeff, and I'm by no means a Vic Wooten either, especially with that triplet that he does, but I have honed my slap to an almost "Effortless" low tension minimal movement type, very different from say a Flea with his aggressive style. I find I can play faster like this, and not that I always play fast, but it makes for nicer fills.
 
#19
savit260 said:
I've got the SX set at .061" @ 12th fret.(top or fret to bottom of string) That's just under 2/32" and my old Fender P is just a touch higher due to the 7 1/2" radius. So low I guess.
Click to expand...

Only a master tweaker like you can get an SX set up to tolerances only seen on a Ken Smith or Fodera! :D
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back