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How high is your action and what do you consider low action?

#101
I don't measure either. I set the relief, then adjust height so there is no buzz with heavy right hand attack, on any note up and down the strings. Heavier than you would normally play. If it doesn't buzz at that point, you don't have to worry about buzzing anywhere. That happens to be where the best tone lives as well. Too low an action, and along with buzz, and a lack of being able to play wide, dynamically, you get weak, thin tone.
 
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#103
Algo said:
I'm actually saying this because I'm currently fighting to reach those numbers with my LTD D5 and I can't seem to get it because if the relief is too low, my first fret will buzz in the G and D strings but if I add a pinch more of relief, the action will raise and the saddles will not go much lower and I end up at about 2.5-3mm in the bass side.
Click to expand...
You may need to shim the neck. I suggest posting in the setup forum.
 
#105
Years ago I bought a used MM 20th anniversary, it had been setup so well (not the factory setup, based off other MM that I’ve played) that I measured and use the specs to setup my other basses.

All of mine are American instruments, or copies of American, so I’ll just stick with our old school measuring system:
1/16” on G, 3/32” on E side. Someone posted Sadowsky specs above, these seem to be pretty standard numbers.

If anyone has info about famous player setups this would make an awesome sticky. Nut height for each string, neck relief, and string height at the 12th fret for E/B string and G/C string. Stew Mac has a fantastic chart of famous guitar player setups, really interesting how wide the variance is between different but equally great players.
 
#106
I read a good chunk of this thread and it's interesting to me. For a while now, I would set up basses to be at fender spec (6/64 (2.5mm) bass and 5/64 (2mm) treble, but would keep getting fret buzzing on the low E. I would then raise the saddles until I didn't feel fret buzz anymore - usually around 9/64 (3.6mm). I even bought and sold different basses thinking there was an issue with the neck/frets.

I think I am coming to the realization that I am more heavy-handed than I thought, and the physics of it won't allow me to play heavy and have low action. I know there are different settings, but would 9/64 (3.6mm) or 10/64 (4mm) be considered ok for high action, or is it too high? Should I try and adjust my technique?
 
#107
I'm really surprised how many people have what I consider to have high action (above 2mm at the 12th fret), like some of you at 5mm or 7mm. How can you even play with action that high? It is blowing my mind. I have a Cort Curbow that will literally not go lower than just above 2mm and it saddened me. Maybe I have just have weak hands and need to get used to higher action.
 
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#108
Measuring from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string.

My main bass has 2mm at 12th fret on the E string and 1,5mm at 12th fret on the G string. The other two strings are in between. I can't go lower than that, especially using TI Flats. And I like to dig in.

At the first fret the E string is at the first mark on the inches side of the ruler, the little one:

IMG_20190418_234500.jpg


The G string a little less, and the others in between, I think. It's hard to say.
 
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#110
dogbone said:
I'm really surprised how many people have what I consider to have high action (above 2mm at the 12th fret), like some of you at 5mm or 7mm. How can you even play with action that high? It is blowing my mind. I have a Cort Curbow that will literally not go lower than just above 2mm and it saddened me. Maybe I have just have weak hands and need to get used to higher action.
Click to expand...

I just pushed a bass down to 1.5mm at the 12th fret. Maybe a little low as the open D buzzes as I'd also lowered that slot. It had been at about 1.8mm but crept up to a shade above 2mm with weather changes. Apart from the D string it plays pretty cleanly with a gentle touch with .100 to .40 strings. I did level it. I have some .105s to try on it but may leave it.
 
#111
Reiska said:
Chris Wood said in an interwiev that lower your action is, more limited your expression will be. This is a good point I think.
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It depends. If you want to go from quiet, but with a heavy touch to loud but clean, yes, but often bassists play with compression. If you want to go from clean to snappy, grindy (think Geddy Lee) then low action helps with expression. If your left hand technique is noisy then low action will be an issue as that will be as loud as tickling the strings with the right. (Assumes right-handed playing). For me high action would limit me as it would be hard to play. Anyway, Chris Wood played flute and has been dead 36 years.
 
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#112
filler83 said:
I read a good chunk of this thread and it's interesting to me. For a while now, I would set up basses to be at fender spec (6/64 (2.5mm) bass and 5/64 (2mm) treble, but would keep getting fret buzzing on the low E. I would then raise the saddles until I didn't feel fret buzz anymore - usually around 9/64 (3.6mm). I even bought and sold different basses thinking there was an issue with the neck/frets.

I think I am coming to the realization that I am more heavy-handed than I thought, and the physics of it won't allow me to play heavy and have low action. I know there are different settings, but would 9/64 (3.6mm) or 10/64 (4mm) be considered ok for high action, or is it too high? Should I try and adjust my technique?
Click to expand...

To me 3.6mm is firewood. 2.5mm would be, and that's the 'standard'.

Try heavier strings and a lighter technique?
 
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#113
Top_Ten said:
Is everyone measuring with the string pressed down at the first fret? For consistency's sake, it would make sense to measure at 12th fret, top of fret to bottom of string, with string pressed down at 1st fret. That takes the variables of your nut and fret wire out of the equation.

Anyway, using that method, my general starting point is 5/64th inch on the E and 4/64th inch on the G. I then set the A and D using a radius gauge rather than actually measuring string height, but they come out somewhere in the middle. This is with a pretty flat neck with just a tiny amount of relief. I end up with a bit of string noise but nothing that is noticeable when amplified.

I don't measure in mm, but for reference those measurements are about 2mm on the E and 1.6 on the G.
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^^^This^^^

Neck almost totally flat, and if pick rasp is heard, a bump of the truss, or maybe a "micron" turn of each saddle screw.
Jumbo frets, one standard EADG, the other with Drop D the low D is raised to like 6/64000 just above 2.0 mm.
 
#114
-Asdfgh- said:
It depends. If you want to go from quiet, but with a heavy touch to loud but clean, yes, but often bassists play with compression. If you want to go from clean to snappy, grindy (think Geddy Lee) then low action helps with expression. If your left hand technique is noisy then low action will be an issue as that will be as loud as tickling the strings with the right. (Assumes right-handed playing). For me high action would limit me as it would be hard to play. Anyway, Chris Wood played flute and has been dead 36 years.
Click to expand...

Chris Wood of Medeski, Martin & Wood and Wood Brothers. Enjoy:
 
#116
As a starting point I take my new basses to a professional for a set up and check that the frets are level. After that, on the rare occasion I might want to change the action, I take the bridge saddles down till the strings buzz, then I take them up until they don't. So far that's always been just right for me.
 
#118
Turbo Sparky said:
^^^This^^^

Neck almost totally flat, and if pick rasp is heard, a bump of the truss, or maybe a "micron" turn of each saddle screw.
Jumbo frets, one standard EADG, the other with Drop D the low D is raised to like 6/64000 just above 2.0 mm.
Click to expand...

I always measure with the first fret pressed, with feeler gauges fret to string. Or if I am in a rush, 1.5mm. 1.8mm or 2mm picks. I rarely use a pick and never a heavy one but they are cheap in variety packs so this way the heavy ones get use. I still have half a dozen 0.6mm picks I had ordered with my actual name on (not asdfgh) of ten from 25 years ago, and four of the five 0.8mm ones too. I lost all the 0.4mm ones from that batch.
 
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#119
I see some are measuring the string height with finger pressed on 1st fret and others are measuring wide open. So when I measure my "high" action at ~3.5mm, that is wide open. If I pressed down on the first fret, the string height is lower. WHich is best to use/compare?
 
#120
filler83 said:
I see some are measuring the string height with finger pressed on 1st fret and others are measuring wide open. So when I measure my "high" action at ~3.5mm, that is wide open. If I pressed down on the first fret, the string height is lower. WHich is best to use/compare?
Click to expand...

Both have some validity. With finger on first fret that takes a badly cut nut out of the equation, as that mostly affects play in the money area (below 5th fret). But then you could argue that if you play in the money area it's very relevant. In an ideal world pressing down on the first fret shouldn't make that much difference (imagine there was a 0th fret).
 

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