How low/high do you like your action?

[Sounds Good]

I use 9s also down a step and about 1.2mm at the 12 fret i have a flat fretboard as well. If one goes to low i cant bend well so personally i would not go lower. On my other few radius guitars the acton is around 1.8mm but i like a flat fretboard feel best it is what i learnt on.

 

[EsquireOK]

Whatever most people consider a "normal" setup, I find very hard to play. I am a beater (think Townshend), and primarily play rhythm, rhythm/lead mixing, or relatively simplistic blues/rock/country/folk leads. For me, the typical guitar noodler setup is too low, too rattly, too flat, and has rubber band strings to top it off. I take that, go up one or two thicknesses in strings, raise the strings by at least 1.5X (sometimes 2X), and tighten the truss rod to compensate for the increased bow from the tenser strings. I like no less relief than normal, and usually a bit more. I do keep lighter strings on a few guitars, but those ones are tolerable to me because I really jack the strings up high.

Also, FWIW, "action" is not the same as string height. Guitar people erroneously use the two terms interchangeably. String height is a factor that affects action, but they are not the same thing. "Action" is not a measurement or even a description of a measurement. It should be used to describe the general ease of operation (or "feel") of the parts of the instrument that are manipulated by the player. E.g. the action of the vibrato, the action of the tuners, or the fretting action or bending action. Action should be discussed with terms like "smooth," " easy," "difficult," etc., not with "high" or "low," or "X millimeters" or "Y thousandths of an inch" (that's string height, not action). A sax player or a piano player discusses the "action" of his keys, e.g., without speaking of any particular technical spec (spring tension, etc). It's the same with guitar...though we are not in the habit of using the correct terminology. In short..."string height," not "action."

 

[strat a various]

Yes - that thing you mention about being able to grab the strings for bending is just what I mean. With the LP, it’s really easy to get the bend wrong and I’m starting to wonder if it would be better with a slightly higher action (like the Tele).

It means a bit of re-learning but it could be the way forward. Thanks

High. But I play upright bass, so, high on a guitar doesn't feel all that high.

 

[MatsEriksson]

It depends a lot.
On a Telecaster with vintage radius (below 2 digit, like 9" or 7 1/2) you must have higher action on the outer strings than those in the middle. It's all about if you fret out or not while doing bends. So on any guitar with severe neck radius you have to keep them higher and not follow radius slavishly If you bend, you choke out on the high e strings.

Since Telecaster has single coils and a lot of "steel" surrounding the bridge and pickups it makes for that high end twang, and the slightest fret buzz can become uneccesarily annoying just due to that. So by and large the flatter the radius of the neck the lower the action all across.

It depens on fret wire too. I have detected that huge - especially wide - railroad tracks of frets will buzz a bit more. Tall and narrow frets a bit less. Totally fretless wonders with frets leveled almost with the fretboard buzzes like hell, and no action will remedy this due to that the angle behind the fret will never be as steep to become the "witness point" or starting off point for the string, and the finger pad isn't enough to keep it still from moving sideways on top of the fret.There, no action adjustment will remedy anything.

With a neck/frets that has been Plekked too, and almost no relief there's a normal action. Plek kan do natural relief on frets only independent of neck relief and make a reiief for each string and fret underneat it, so the relief is made on the frets. Especially useful on necks without adjustable truss rods.

I do care only on solid body electric guitars, that the buzz isn't heard through the pickups when plugged in. When listening acoustically it buzzes a lot, but not in the pickups. I try to get that action that keeps that balance.

Of course, a flatwound set for playing jazz at 012 or 013 will not buzz a lot, if set to the same action as a roundwound 010 set. So it depends. All depends.

I do have different action on different guitars. Half acoustics a bit higher action. Solid bodies the lowest. On acoustic way higher. There you must go for volume only as the loudness decreases with lower action as well as fret buzz.

It depends on total scale of the guitar too. Teles/Strats has longer scale and thus higher tension, than Les Pauls at shorter scale where the same string set will oscillate a tad more, and where higher action (slightly) is needed. All things must be balanced together in order to set optimal action, regardless of it being high or low or medium...and remember,.. what's "high" action for you isn't for me. But here we go, what sets action is personal and depends on:

1. Gauge of strings
2. Radius of the neck
3. Frets being crowned and levelled perfectly, size and how tall...
4. Total scale of the guitar.
6. Type of guitar, acoustic, half acoustis / hollow body, or total solid body.
7. How hard you lean in with your fingers while playing, picking hand especially...

A slight added feature, is if I use a floating tremolo of the original strat kind, I want to do upward pull and when raising strings pitch on those, the saddle moves and brings the strings down a tiny tiny bit. I don't want them to fret out either, so I occasionally sets these an action that is a little higher. But that's a special select case, and may not be that important to other users.

 

[MatsEriksson]

Added : as for recent experiences I have disovered - too - that I can have lower action and string height on any guitar with a zero fret, compared to any nut of any material. I have yet to find a clue about why this is so, but it is only and only about open strings, as fast as you fret anywhere else, the string doesn't care if you have a nut or a zero fret. This is of course if the zero fret is at level with the other frets (put on a capo on first fret and you'll know what I mean). Most nuts are initially set to high just to avoid string buzz at open strings, with some slight "loose cannon" in intonation happening on the first fret, but that's another topic.

 

[CaineIsCarter]

Thank you all very much for such detailed and highly informative replies. I feel I’ve learned a lot. There are some deeply knowledgeable folk on this forum.

Public thanks to user Thebluesman who PMed me with some extremely helpful stuff. I’ve been fettling the Tele again this evening and now have a small degree of relief in the neck; the strings are slightly lower than they were, but I’ve retained that desirable “feel” I mentioned earlier.

I honestly think I’d be comfortable tackling this on my other electrics now (acoustics not so much).

Thanks again.

 

[Dismalhead]

Low(ish). I think there's kind of a sweet spot though for every guitar, where it feels it's best. Could be lower or higher.

My first SG (an '83) has always had the lowest action of any guitar I've ever played, or anyone else has ever played who has played it.

 

[MatsEriksson]

All posts in this thread has been informative. But in the end, it is a very personal one. Some people I know wants to keep it high even on light gague strings on electrics, so they don't have that flight of stairs to climb when switching to acoustic guitars, which must have higher string height, different action, and different gauge. If they have some slight struggle or resistance as well on their electrics, the fingers/muscles doesn't get that shock when switching immediately to acoustic. They are somewhat warmed up and accustomed to the change in tension already.

And when you are "raised" on acoustic, or played acoustic for a long time, chances are that you'll press the thin gauge strings on an electric out of tune, in spite of it being intonated and tuned up properly. So to find that balance that you don't have to walk that extra mile whenever switching between them (it takes time for the muscle memory to adapt to the new tension and string height whenever that occurs), it's best to find action on electric that is somewhat more "struggling" that of an acoustic guitar.

If you do play acoustic guitar though, and switches between them often on stage.

 

[Ricky D.]

Two teles, a Strat, and a LP. I set the saddle heights ny ear. They all end up about the same if I measure after I'm done.

I first set them as low as possible with no string buzz unplugged. Then I go back and raise some as needed so the strings mimic the curvature of the fingerboard. When I'm done, whenever I measure I get 4/64" high E, 5/64" - 6/64" low E. truss rod set for .015" relief.

I use 10s or 11s, and I think I probably hit the strings relatively hard. Good to have some air under the strings.

 

[Random1643]

Good thread. Very informative.

+2 or 5 re posters who prefer higher action, strings that provide some resistance. I'm an all 5 bare fingers picker who at times will dig in and pluck the strings. All my acoustics are set up with what I call medium action and at least .012-.053 lights, except for a couple that for me require .013-.056 mediums. I currently have one electric, a Gretsch thinline semi-hollow, that also is set up with medium action; I've got Elixir elec "heavy" strings on that guitar now but that's .012-.052. I'd prefer a bit more substance.

 

[RottenTheCat]

4/64 on the high E, tapering to 4.5/64 on the low E

relief, just a bit, less than .010

neck thickness... a full inch, untapered.

 

[IndyTeleGuy]

I set my Fender guitars at spec for relief.. 0.010 I think? Then the string action at fender spec...except the low E is 1/64 higher than spec to eliminate buzz. It’s always worked for me and is easy to get consistent playing feel on all my Fenders.

 

[cleanheadsteve]

as low as humanly possible. acoustic buzz is fine as long as u can't hear it through the amp. big frets so i can still dig in. solves all my needs. play with .10's

Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

 

[4pickupguy]

Medium action. low enough not to have to fight, high enough to fight a little....

 

[MatsEriksson]

I just discovered that I mentioned Plek in my post. Maybe the beginners in here doesn't know what it is, but is a machine that levels the frets to a tee, and within maybe hundreds if not thousand of an inch accuracy. It does so for each string. The relief of high e-string has - actually - to be different than that of the strings that has least tension and more oscillation, i e it rotates at a much larger amplitude and touches the frets more, giving more buzz. The D-string doesn't need the same amount of relief as its neighboring plain G-string which is almost rubber band snappy...

So I've discovered that if you have a guitar with one or few spots where the strings touches one or two frets, and gives a slightly more fret buzz than on other notes, you either have to leave your guitar to a luthier (or one that has a Plek machine) OR raising the action (plus relief) in order to avoid that particular bad spot.

If we are really nitpicking the best levelled frets should have exactly the same little fret buzz all along all strings, and all across the strings too. And one should test this - especially - when bending strings. You may think you have set it alright and tried to bend here and there and discovered that you have enough string height (plus relief) to avoid strings fretting out while bending. But once you play on stage and gets to that note you haven't tried out yet when bending you discover that it fretted out anyway, in spite of that you cut some slack and leeway for the necks radius. Then it is that fret (the one after it) that is a tiny bit too high on that certain spot, that causes the fret out. And you sigh and have yet to compensate for that spot and adjust action to remedy this.

Leave it to a luthier of repute, to do an overhaul of the frets. Luthiers CAN DO as accurately as a Plek machine, but it takes too long and will cost you some dough. Also, when ordering Plek treatment (expensive too..) you have to settled and be determined to use one string gauge all of the time. As fast you go up or down too much in string gauge, the equation gets thrown out from the door.

I've found out with Plek, that I can actually go down much lower in total action, than it was form the original factory settings. The thing that happens - which is a peculiar funny phenomenon - is that if I bend and the action is too low even here, there's no real fret buzz occuring but just as slight lowering of volume of the bent note (!). Yes just as if it's bent out of the magnetic field from the pickups (but it's not). Instead of fret buzzing it just "dampens" the note a tiny tiny bit. Raising the string height just a wee tiny bit, then the volumes comes back when bending. This is especially noted up there above 12th fret bends.

So while you are testing all along the fretboard for buzzing ferts/strings, just don't only press down the fret each one by one. Test with bending too. And you'll find the weak spots. If you have some notes that buzzes while BENDING then you need a fret overhaul by a skilled person, or by yourself if you have those tools, and are skilled at it.

If you don't find weak spots, i e some frets buzzes while bending, but some not, you have a perfectly fret levelled guitar. If all frets buzzes then your action (plus reilef) may be set way too low.

 

[Lotan]

Hi folks

I did a provisional setup on my new Tele to tide me over until my regular tech can work his magic on it next week. I basically adjusted until the strings weren’t buzzing.

I have a LP and a JM whose actions are very low; the LP in particular is almost effortless to play. But I seem to be drawn to the relatively higher action I’ve now got on the Tele. More precise bends in particular.

I’m pretty ham-fisted at the best of times and I’m wondering if I’d be better off at this setting. Very interested to know how you like your action.

Many thanks

Hi, I've found over the years, to lower the two end strings bit by bit until a buzz/ choke out, then raise till clear, then use a radius gauge to get rhe rest sitting and matching the fingerboard radius, after that, you can tweak the truss rod alittle, by qtr turn at a time, until best feel and play is felt.. Works every time!

 

[trev333]

about...here...

 

[Alter]

I've always liked medium to high action, I tend to get better sound, feel and dynamics that way. Some relief on the neck too. I just setup by feel, don't think I ever measured it.

Good guitars will be easier to play, no matter what the action is, as the sound seems to just jump out.

 

[AngelStrummer]

Neck relief is regular business card thickness at the 7th fret.

String action is 2mm (a nickel or a 2p coin thick) at 17th fret, both sides.

9.5" board radius, 10-46 strings, standard concert pitch tuning.

 

[CalebAaron666]

On my Gretsch guitars I keep the height about 1.5-1.75mm bass side and 1.5mm treble side.
On my tele I do 2mm bass side 2mm treble side.
Standard neck relief on all guitars.
I use Bigsby's on my Gretsch’s and my tele so I’d never go lighter than 10’s for strings. I usually just stick with 11’s Roto Reds or Power Slinky's on all of them. Makes life easier.