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How high is your action?

#21
Evil Undead said:
I like my action at 1mm on the G. Increasing to 1.5mm on the E. and I like my neck absolutely flat, no relief at all.

I've been told that my demands/preferences are... well, ridiculous. I don't think so though.
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If that's 1mm measured from top of fret to bottom of string, with the string unfretted anywhere I'd say that's extremely low. The string needs space to vibrate in when plucked and at that height i'd expect to get fret buzz almost anytime the string is plucked. Then again, this may be the sound you're after.

I think for some, obsessing over an utra low action seems to be an alternative to actually playing the darn thing! Not saying this is true in your case, is just an observation IME :)
 
#22
mickster2 said:
If that's 1mm measured from top of fret to bottom of string, with the string unfretted anywhere I'd say that's extremely low. The string needs space to vibrate in when plucked and at that height i'd expect to get fret buzz almost anytime the string is plucked. Then again, this may be the sound you're after.

I think for some, obsessing over an utra low action seems to be an alternative to actually playing the darn thing! Not saying this is true in your case, is just an observation IME :)
Click to expand...


+1... play more, measure less...


- georgestrings
 
#25
My jazzes are at 1.8mm at the 12 on the G. 2.3 on the E and the V has 2.6 on the B. I try to play them with a light touch, and I use flats, so there's little string noise to begin with, and a tiny bit of fret buzz.

My acoustics are set about 3mm because of the style of music I play (Irish trad), requires some quasi-upright technique and if I had too little relief and the action was low, it'd rattle too much.

Set up, as has been said, depends greatly on your technique.
 
#26
I stopped at a bassist friends house a few days ago. He's a big dude with big hands. He had recently strung up his basses with Chromes, no setup from round to flat, and just hung them on some mounted wall hangers. 3 Jazz's and a couple P's, all of them completely unplayable from my perspective. He can fly with that action (3-4mm if I were to guess). It made me angry just looking at how high the strings were from the fretboards...they would be completely useless in my hands. To each their own, but it just seemed downright neglectful/careless to leave the necks so bowed like that. Whatever floats his boat...

I set mine up fairly low, just beyond buzzing depending on the neck. If I have to fight with it at all, I'm out. It amazes me, some of the relief I see on others basses. Struggling to fret just completely takes the fun out of it for me.
 
#28
As low as the bass allows without buzzing, so there's some variation from bass to bass. There's not a huge amount of difference, except for my Amercian Deluxe Jazz, which is such a great bass, that I can set it's action lower than any bass I've ever owned.
 
#31
^^^Right.

Are we all measuring action as the space between the fret and the string at 12th fret, as fretted at the first fret? I certainly do.

If so, I don't consider 4mm outrageous at all, and certainly not "prohibitively high" action... I mean come on, that's 5/32" of an inch. You gotta give that string some room to move. How low do you NEED your strings?

I've had my basses set lower than that, and even with a light touch in a live setting where I'm not 100% concentrating on my attack and getting into it? a ton of clank. At what point does it get silly to obsess over it?
 
#32
ronlitz said:
If you like a low action, then why do you want your neck to have no relief? A straight neck requires a higher action to avoid fret buzz.
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This is true. With a little bit of relief in the neck the strings are highest at the middle portion of the neck. This is where there is the most flexibility in the strings. So they are easy to fret and manipulate. A flat neck makes no sense as the action will be the highest at the upper registers and I'd like fretting to be easy when I go there.

Just fret the first and the last and get a little tap in the middle (around .015" if you want to measure it). Then set the saddles for around 3/32" in the fret 12-17 neighborhood and you're good. You can set it lower if you like buzz or higher if you like clean tone. But no relief in a neck seems odd from a "real bass player" perspective.
 
#34
Evil Undead said:
Preferably in mm at the 12th fret please :)

And if you can provide your relief measurement that would be cool as well

I'm asking because I am wanting to see if I'm excessively fussy with the setup of my basses, or if my demands are reasonable!
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Your bass is your user interface if you can setup your basses that way and there are no compromises in playability then who cares what anyone thinks? :cool:
 
#35
I don't know the measurements but I've gotten the E A D G strings on my USA 5-string P pretty low with no buzz or fret clack. Nice & easy to play. However, the damn B string is a problem. No buzzing (well a little) but lots of Click & Clack when I fret below Eb :( Raising the string height at the bridge does not alleviate the problem...guess I have to adjust the truss rod. The problem is that I adjusted the truss rod to get a little lower action on the E through G strings. And the B string was Clicking & Clacking even then :hmm:

I'm using a most sexcellent La Bella Deep Talkin' 5-string medium set.
 
#36
I heard a good way is to set the neck completely flat. Then lower string height until you start to get fret buzz. Now loosen truss rod until buzz is gone. I haven't tried this but it sounds like a good idea.
 
#37
maturanesa said:
Which benefits do you get with such a gap between strings and frets?
Not buzzing is not enough?
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Way more dynamic range, ability to detune on the fly without fret buzz, avoidance of useless noodling and a lot more comfort.
ics1974 said:
I heard a good way is to set the neck completely flat. Then lower string height until you start to get fret buzz. Now loosen truss rod until buzz is gone. I haven't tried this but it sounds like a good idea.
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This is a horrible way to do a setup, especially if you want a low action. A virating string isn't flat, why would you want your neck to be? Trussrod, action, intonation, pickups, in this order.
 
#38
Yes and no. A great neck can be set to almost flat, with very low action. Too much relief and you'll buzz at your top fret. With some necks, this doesn't take very much relief at all, and flatter will actually lead to lower action. It's balancing act that is dependant on the specific neck.
ronlitz said:
If you like a low action, then why do you want your neck to have no relief? A straight neck requires a higher action to avoid fret buzz.
Click to expand...
 

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