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Which bass is best for super low action?
- Thread starter The Fonz
- Start date
I’d say at a certain point it comes down more to differences in fretwork and neck behavior between individual instruments.
Assuming a stable neck and enough room to adjust the bridge saddles, you’d probably have better luck if you chose a bass and got it a top-notch set up from a pro including fret leveling and crowning, or got it Plek’d, than trying to figure out which bass is most likely to be best suited off the rack.
As far as basses I’ve had experience with that generally had the best fretwork for a low setup, I’d say Carvin, USA Peavey Cirrus, and Conklin Groove Tools all performed outside their price range. But beyond a certain price point high caliber fretwork is basically an expectation.
Assuming a stable neck and enough room to adjust the bridge saddles, you’d probably have better luck if you chose a bass and got it a top-notch set up from a pro including fret leveling and crowning, or got it Plek’d, than trying to figure out which bass is most likely to be best suited off the rack.
As far as basses I’ve had experience with that generally had the best fretwork for a low setup, I’d say Carvin, USA Peavey Cirrus, and Conklin Groove Tools all performed outside their price range. But beyond a certain price point high caliber fretwork is basically an expectation.
Some buzz is going to happen with super-low string action, but it’s a non issue if it isn’t audible from the amp or di. How much buzz depends upon a lot of things, and price of the instrument is not always a factor.
I have the action very low on my Pedulla Buzz fretless which is to be expected, but I am able to have a lower playable string action on my $300 SBMM Ray4 than on my more expensive MIM Fender Jazz, although I wouldn’t call the action on that bass high or even uncomfortable.
All of the Ibanez basses I’ve owned were capable and sounded great with super low setups.
What basses are you having trouble with anyway?
I have the action very low on my Pedulla Buzz fretless which is to be expected, but I am able to have a lower playable string action on my $300 SBMM Ray4 than on my more expensive MIM Fender Jazz, although I wouldn’t call the action on that bass high or even uncomfortable.
All of the Ibanez basses I’ve owned were capable and sounded great with super low setups.
What basses are you having trouble with anyway?
A good set-up is essential, but that will involve more than just fretwork. The mischief is we can't say that a particular brand, say Fender, offers super low action across the brand; it depends on the specific instrument, which means you have to evaluate each individual instrument on its own merits and not have any brand expectations when you enter a store.
The late and wonderful Jim Mouradian was the king of setups for me. His hands were like gold. He set op my Bordwells, Pedulas, Tobias, Modulus and Brubaker to all be so great that I don’t know what I’ll do without him. No one has touched his setup skills. Not even Mike Pedulla himself.
Interestingly, of all the beautiful instruments I ever brought him to work on, he was most impressed with the Bordwell. I’m an admitted Bordwell fanboy, but when a luthier who built an iconic bass for Chris Squier is holding on to your bass a few extra days because he likes it, that says something.
Interestingly, of all the beautiful instruments I ever brought him to work on, he was most impressed with the Bordwell. I’m an admitted Bordwell fanboy, but when a luthier who built an iconic bass for Chris Squier is holding on to your bass a few extra days because he likes it, that says something.
What does it most for me in addition to a proper setup is stiffer strings. The Labella DTF being on the stiffer side allow me to get great low action.
Easily the lowest action I've had with any of my own basses has been from a parts Jazz bass with a Warmoth neck. I don't play that bass these days - it's pretty heavy - but when I did, I could always tweak the action down extremely low and play it relatively buzz-free as long as I didn't pluck on the strings too hard. Those necks are remarkably good, but the ones like mine with the steel reinforcing rods can be heavy.
I used to have him work on my basses as well, his son worked for him and has a shop and he also does top notch work, he converted a TF fretless to two volumes and a sidejack for me a few years ago and did a great job, this was all I could find, I don't do facebook but here is his site:
MOURADIAN GUITAR CO.
Yup, that is a big part for me too, I can have very low action on my Fender P bass with .105 La Bella DTF's with no fret buzz. I prefer to have a little something I can dig into though.
- Apr 21, 2000
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