How High Do You Set Your Action? |
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How High Do You Set Your Action? |
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Sep 21 2007, 02:58 AM |
On my Ibanez I set ut to buzz, then raised it the tiniest bit.
On my Les Paul I keep it higher, the tone was so bad when I kept it low. I raised it quite a bit above buzz level, don't know how much in mm but it's still comfortable to play and the tone is teriffic! So on that guitar I let the tone work with playability to find what's right. ...just becuase you made a rescent effort of your own I made an effort to go measure. Didn't know where to measeure so I checked the thick E string at the 12'th fret. It's ~2,5mm from the fret to the bottom side of the string. So I measured air in between so to speak. EDIT: Now that I looked at it it's still pretty low, imagine I kept it even lower I had to raise it since when bending the thin E string it went off the pu magnet and the tone died. Well worth to find that out since the tone increased by a ton! This post has been edited by MickeM: Sep 21 2007, 03:00 AM -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Sep 21 2007, 03:14 AM |
I keep it as low as possible, as long as i here or feel no buzz when i play through my amp im good.
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Sep 21 2007, 06:29 AM |
Just done the same as MickeM here fkalich: not very accurate but my GTibson is @2 1/2 - 3 mm at the 12th on the bottom e string.
Years ago I was told that the more important bit of setting the action was to do with both tone and bending the string. Needs to be high enough so that there is some bite and you can get under and potentially lift the string you are bending towards out of the way (if you get my drift) but not so low that the tone suffers. I was told that speed vs action was more a thing about 'time spot' that is right hand left hand co-ordination; nothing matters if you aren't co-ordinated and you need to practice to manage your time spot. This though was ages before shredding really took off so maybe the game has changed for many people. To me, well I'm old and old fashioned and set pretty much in my ways so my action isn't ultra low and could certainly go lower but it's what I'm used to. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
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Sep 21 2007, 06:31 AM |
Ultra low. or, as low as it can get before you get any fret buzz on ANY fret. Second that! As low as it goes without the buzz! -------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Sep 21 2007, 09:20 AM |
This is tough one...
If you set it low,it feels great for legato and fast stuff but you're missing lot of tone/sound. Setting it higher gives powerful tone but kills left hand for sure. Also it depends of guitar. Per example,my new custom has higher action than my EBMM Axis but it's still softer and easier to play bends,legato etc. I'm not sure why is that cause scale/measure from nut to bridge is identical on both guitars. Final word,I prefer action without buzz,with enough tone and sustain while being comfortable to play legato. Hope I'm not asking for too much -------------------- Youtube
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Sep 21 2007, 05:40 PM |
My Jem is stock, and it works for me (sorry can't measure it for you as it is a continent away!) Playing legato at that height has actually strengthened my playin, as it is hard work to get it to sound good on less hi gain settings, so it helps with training in that way. I haven;t tried it lower, but I like the tone as it is, and find bends are working really well for me (including getting under the next string up as Tony said - a must for some bends) - the only thing I am a little less happy with is alt picking taht changes between string feels hard - but I am not the worlds best speed picker anyway and that is still a work in progress.
-------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Sep 22 2007, 05:24 AM |
Low action here too.
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Sep 22 2007, 05:46 AM |
At some positions on a neck if you need to make a large bend and/or add wide vibrato after you have bent then getting under the adjacent strings that you bend towards can really help in my experience. A big advantage f it is that you are no longer pushing against several strings. Try it - I can do a two tone bend in 5th position on the high b string by getting under and lifting the 3rd and 4th out of the way far more easily then pushing against all the other 4. It takes practice and you have to palm mute/damp though.
Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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