What's your prefered action?

[rythmking24]

Hello,

 

I was just curious as to how high or low people like their action to be? Either in millimetres or 64ths of an inch?

 

I personally like mine at 2mm on the bass side and 1.5mm on the treble. I think that's pretty standard really isn't it?

 

Anyway, how do you like yours?

 

Cheers.

[BryanFoFyan]

As low as possible - without getting any buzz

 

I never measured it.....

 

 

 

agreed^^^^

[RobinTheHood]

As low as possible - without getting any buzz

 

I never measured it.....

 

 

Ditto on that.

 

My nickname is "rattlefrets"...(no, not really)

[RSDx]

As low as possible - without getting any buzz

 

I never measured it.....

 

 

Never bother measuring here, either.... action's a little higher on my LP than it is on my "other electric guitar," which works nice as kind of a transition between my acoustic and the slinky low action guit, plus it allows me to play very aggressively and really dig in..... the other guitar is a much lighter touch...my LP is for beating on, so ultra low action is not a priority - plus, it feels relatively low anyways, compared to the acoustic. I believe it's probably set at around Epi "specs"

[Whitmore Willy]

As "high" as possible with getting a "buzz"?

(just kidding, those days are long gone)

 

Same as the rest: low as possible, no buzz

 

Willy

[twodice]

I don't know.... I like it low, but I like to feel what i'm playing. That's why I use 11s on all my guitars.

[vomer]

Not very low. I got used to playing my main guitar, a Squier strat with a 7.25" radius board, over many years. Its action is set to allow full tone bends. I could get the action on my Sheraton lower than it is. I haven't measured either. Although now that I have successfully done a few fret skims, I'm going to give the Squier a skim at some point soon and see if it makes a difference.

[rythmking24]

So... nobody else actually measures their action eh? Lol. Each to their own. I do it just for conveniece sake really. Always find it easier to set the brige at a certain height and work from there. But I suppose like most people, you want it as low as possible without buzz and choking on bends.

[bill67]

Not very low. I got used to playing my main guitar, a Squier strat with a 7.25" radius board, over many years. Its action is set to allow full tone bends. I could get the action on my Sheraton lower than it is. I haven't measured either. Although now that I have successfully done a few fret skims, I'm going to give the Squier a skim at some point soon and see if it makes a difference.

How are you doing the fret skims?

[zombywoof]

Never measusured it but pretty high. I ain't got what ya call a light touch and I am apt to pull out a bottleneck at times.

[brad1]

I don't measure either. But I have the action set differently depending on the guitar. I like it fairly low generally.

My LP is very, very low (and the lowest). My Strat is a little higher. My G400 a tad higher. The Dot and JR. are about the same as the G400. And my tele is the highest.

 

Sometimes a certain technique requires the use of one guitar over another simply because of the action. I like the action higher when I have to do a lot of pull-offs, hammer-ons, etc. Same thing for when I want to play slide. So I like having guitars with significant differences in action.

[Dennis G]

As "high" as possible with getting a "buzz"?

(just kidding, those days are long gone)

 

Same as the rest: low as possible, no buzz

 

Willy

 

 

Same here, the low, no buzz setting. And something tells me if I measured, it would be a bit different on each of my guitars as well.

[animalfarm]

I use 64ths of an inch, as I am too stupid to understand

mentric, errr.... metric. Low E set to 4/64ths, Hi E set to

4/64ths or 3/64ths, depending on neck thickness/profile.

 

Just the way I like - Low, but not sooo low the string "feels"

like it "bottoms out" on the fret before I've really pressed on it!

[KX36]

"As low as possible without buzzing (ALAPWOB)"

 

Since levelling my frets a few weeks ago, I measured mine at the 12th fret with a capo at fret 1 (nut wasn't finished yet) to be 1.00mm (0.039") on treble, 1.75mm (0.069") on bass. It's not a lot higher measured on open strings because the nuts slotted a little too low on the Epiphone nut. :D Going from the very high action that I was stuck with before levelling the frets, it feels so weird now.

[Bender 4 Life]

1/2 turn on bridge action screws from point of buzz on each "E" string for my tune-o-matic style bridges.

1/2 turn from point of buzz on each individual string on my Fender & Bigsby tails.

 

If the frets are "level & true", and the neck relief is right, this leaves me with a really nice "low but no rattles" action.

[taxman]

So... nobody else actually measures their action eh?

I measure. Constantly. Fanatic about it.

 

All my guitars I have to keep below 3/32 on both low E and high E sides over the 12th fret. I like it a tad lower at 5/64, and some of my guitars are there, but 3/32 (which is usually what owner's manuals suggest) is alright.

[Gordy01]

So... nobody else actually measures their action eh? Lol. Each to their own. I do it just for conveniece sake really. Always find it easier to set the brige at a certain height and work from there. But I suppose like most people, you want it as low as possible without buzz and choking on bends.

 

 

I do setups part time. All measurements are taken at the first fret. From the bottom of the string to the top of the fret. This is after setting the proper bridge height, and neck relief.

 

For a player with a light touch, I will set the

Bass E string at 22 thousands of an inch.

A = 20

D = 18

G = 15

B = 12

E = 10

 

For a player who hits it hard.

Bass E = 30 thou.

A = 27

D = 23

G = 20

B = 18

E = 15

[vomer]

How are you doing the fret skims?

 

Bill, over the last year or so I've read up on the subject a lot, bought some tools, and practiced on a 'beater'.

 

Tools I use are:

Stewmac fret rocker

12" and 24" steel rules as straightedges

Stewmac short and medium radiused sanding blocks

Stewmac diamond crowning file

600 grit and 1000 grit wet & dry, and 00000 steel wool

Masking tape

 

A lot of the process is in the initial assessment of the neck. I'll look at where the relief is, and if there is any fall away at the high end of the board, and how the relief changes as the neck becomes flat, and how flat it actually does get. I check the amount of available truss rod adjustment towards putting relief in. If there's very little and the neck is in danger of losing it's ability to go into relief but has enough adjustment in the direction of backbow, a skim is an opportunity to gain extra potential for relief by doing the skim to flat with the neck in a little backbow- as long as there is enough fret height. I did this on the beater, on the first one I tried, and it saved a neck which was nearly out of available relief adjustment.

 

With the neck straight, checked with the long straightedge, I check for low or high frets with the fret rocker. On a new guitar, or one with no fret wear, I might tape over any low frets initially.

 

I mark the fret crowns with magic marker, and use 600 grit paper on a long sanding block along the length of the neck. When the magic marker tells me I'm near level, I check with the long and short straightedges, and might add fall away in the upper frets.

 

The fret rocker is used to check for the original low or high frets.

 

I'll repeat any of the above that's needed, although at the same time, I'm always conscious of saving fret material wherever possible.

 

I mark the frets again, and crown with the diamond fret file. If there is a little marker left, they should still be flat, but I'll check again at this point.

 

I polish carefully with 1000 grit wet & dry working across the neck on each individual fret, then 00000 steel wool.

 

I know there are many different ways to do skims, some much more technical than this. And I couldn't do a compound radius neck like this- I'd have to get flat sanding blocks and learn to use those. But so far this method has worked well.

[bill67]

Thanks Vomer I'll have to try that.

[milod]

I never measured mine, either.

 

I think a lot has to do with a combination of strings, the neck itself and the playing style. I like my strings awfully low - but I'm always fingerstyle so usually I'm awfully light on the touch.

 

m

[Versatile]

If the amp is doing all the work (ie high gain) I like very low action with 9's on my Epi Sheri. Slightly higher with 10's for harder picking and no buzz say 2mm at the 12th fret on a Tele or Casino for clean sounds. A little higher still with up to 12's on a hollow semi for big tone clean with slap-back echo for R&R etc.