D28boy Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I've just ordered a string height guage and wondered what is generally deemed as a good low action at the 12th for both E strings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I've just ordered a string height guage and wondered what is generally deemed as a good low action at the 12th for both E strings... I don't know what is considered good but I would say it's governed by what height you can achieve. A number of people who should know (good techs and luthier's etc) have said to me that most people aim too low for no good reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I don't know what is considered good but I would say it's governed by what height you can achieve. A number of people who should know (good techs and luthier's etc) have said to me that most people aim too low for no good reason. +++1 I agree in particular with the "for no good reason" part. Buzzing strings will not only foul up tone directly by causing noise and loss of sustain. It will also damage strings and, more expensive in the long run, frets. This will cause impure harmonics, greater loss of sustain and so on - a vicious circle. A good setup includes proper neck curvature, string heights, and intonation. There are lots of factors like string makes and gauges, guitar make, and playing styles. The only things one can say in general are that roundwounds call for much stiffer action than flatwounds, and lighter gauges call for stiffer action than heavier ones. Finally, old, rusty strings allow for faster action. That's no lie. The sweat of a bandmate of mine is corroding his roundwound strings to hell within less than ten minutes of playing at living room conditions. With the low action setting of his Strat he produces mainly buzz for a few seconds, then the string pitches go flatter and flatter, and the buzz becomes less and less. After these first ten minutes including seven or eight times re-tuning all fret buzz is definitely gone. What remains are mainly fundamentals. Next to all flatwounds sound brighter. Don't laugh, I'm not kidding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I have found StewMacs recommendations helpful as a starting place... Electric guitar: Bass E... Action at the 1st fret .024" Action at the 12th fret .078" Treble E Action at the 1st fret .010" Action at the 12th fret .063" Relief: .001" at the 8th fret A full list for all instruments ships with their string height gauges - but it can also be found here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D28boy Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 I have found StewMacs recommendations helpful as a starting place... Electric guitar: Bass E... Action at the 1st fret .024" Action at the 12th fret .078" Treble E Action at the 1st fret .010" Action at the 12th fret .063" Relief: .001" at the 8th fret A full list for all instruments ships with their string height gauges - but it can also be found here Thanx Surfpup that's the sort of response I was looking for rather than a lecture on why I shouldn't set my string height too low Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I like 6/64" on the low E, 4/64" on the high E at the 12th fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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