Action - String Height

[Robert]

So I finally got tired of string buzz, so I raised the action on my Suhr quite significantly. It's harder to play, but it sounds way better. I can hit the strings hard now, and it sounds great.

The drawback is I can't play as fast on it as before, but I can use the flat fretboard Swede for that kind of stuff. :running

[marnold]

So I finally got tired of string buzz, so I raised the action on my Suhr quite significantly. It's harder to play, but it sounds way better. I can hit the strings hard now, and it sounds great.
I tended to notice that on your Suhr videos. Fret buzz drives me absolutely berserk even though you can't really hear it with the levels of gain I tend to use. My Jackson has been the best guitar I've owned for low action but little or no buzz. Funny thing is that I've heard a lot of bass players who have a cacophony of clacking when playing. In the mix, though, it is almost lost except for a bit of residual interestingness. Having said that, I've got relatively high action on my bass to avoid that as much as possible.

[Katastrophe]

I like a nice, low action on my guitars. It's easier to play for me. My ESP and Ibby were set up for as low an action as they are capable.

The exception is with my Strat. For some reason, it came with a fairly high string height. I lowered it just a hair, and it sounds great with the higher action. It has caused me to slow down and dig into the strings more, which is good.

[kiteman]

All my guitars have fairly high actions. I want all my notes to ring so don't expect me to be a fleet fingered speed maniac. :D

[Heywood Jablomie]

Another of those many guitar compromises concerning string height, string type/gauge, fingerboard radius, fret size, playing style..........

[Tone2TheBone]

I wondered about your low strings Rob...you can hear them on all your vids. If you switch over to 10s like you have you'll definately have to raise your action. You hit your strings very softly though I've noticed.

[ZMAN]

I have a tech who is a wizard with action. I have all of my guitars set up by him and I have absolutely no fret buzz. It is a function of neck relief and fine tuning of the nut, and the bridge and saddles. I had one guitar that would buzz and I took it to him. He said there was no way to get it right without a fret levelling. He did that and now it is probably one of the fastest buzzless guitars I own. You should be able to get the action nice and low on your Suhr. It just takes some tweaking. You may need a fret level. You can check it with a steel ruler. The high frets will be very obvious as will low ones.

[DeanEVO_Dude]

As you know, every opinion is based on preception. When you say "high" or "higher" action what kind of height are we talking about? I understand low action (1 to 3 64ths), what are we talking about with high action (4, 5, 6 64ths)? Just curious... 12th fret measurements, please... LOL

Cheers!

[Spudman]

I too have noticed that a little higher action than I would prefer actually results in much better tone. I do hit my strings really hard too so I need the action higher than what I would like. It's definitely a trade off. I'd like to be able to have low action and play with less force but...IT'S ROCK AND ROLL BABY! I get a little too excited to play with a lot of finesse at gigs.

Robert - I have thought you get good tone with the Suhr. If you improved it then :dude :beer: good on ya mate.

[markb]

But isn't a Suhr supposed to come with the Plek infallible computerised setup?

[Robert]

Mine is Plek'd, yes, but if the action set really low, buzz will happen anyway. Law of nature.

Yes I have improved the tone by doing this.

[otaypanky]

My Bombshell has fret buzz and it drives me crazy. He already replaced the nut once now I'm going to do it again. I'm a big believer that higher action means better tone. Even if the strings aren't actually touching the frets they still get choked out when they are too close. I know, it sounds weird, but I believe it. For anyone who kayaks a lot, did you ever notice how there's more drag on the kayak while paddling in shallow water then in deep water? It actually slows you down,even though you're not touching bottom. It's quite similar

[Jimi75]

I used to play heavy gauge and very high string setting for as long as I can remember. About a year ago I was totally fat up with struggling for every tone so my tech lowered the string height and it was releasing. I think the tone didn't change. Nowadays I prefer what is the easiest to me.

[oldguy]

I'd like to be able to have low action and play with less force but...IT'S ROCK AND ROLL BABY!

oldguy likes --this ^^^^ :rockya

My guitars with the higher action (as in play cleanly, easy to palm mute) have the best "chunka-chunka" and grit and growl for rockin' out. No buzzing is good for screaming leads and power chords.

[markb]

oldguy likes --this ^^^^ :rockya

My guitars with the higher action (as in play cleanly, easy to palm mute) have the best "chunka-chunka" and grit and growl for rockin' out. No buzzing is good for screaming leads and power chords.

Wot 'e sed. And some :thumbsup

If you're going to use any right hand dynamics the guitar has to play clean. No question!

[mainestratman]

My LP has the absolute lowest action I've ever had on a guitar.. no buzz.. and I LOVE it.

The joints in my left hand are slowly starting to fail.. after an hour playing on a different guitar (the Ibby or Fat Girl), my hand is useless... stiff, sore, can barely bend my fingers... but not so with LP.

[ZMAN]

Mine is Plek'd, yes, but if the action set really low, buzz will happen anyway. Law of nature.

Yes I have improved the tone by doing this.

Well ruling out the frets, it woud fall to nut, neck relief, or bridge and saddle height. I have also found that with Strat style guitars you have to lost the 9s and go 10s or 11s (about all I can stand) to get real sustain. But you should be able to get both sustain and low action as well. As DeanEvo said everyones idea of low or high action can be different. As Mainestratman said the lower action sure makes playing for any length of time a lot easier.
For example I bought a cheap Squier, it was buzzing all over the place. The guy at the shop in North Carolina, "set it up" for me. In about 2 mins. He just cranked up the bridge. It was almost unplayable. I was heading home so I took it to my guy, and even though it was a low budget guitar was ble to get the action buzzless and low.

[sumitomo]

The joints in my left hand are slowly starting to fail.. after an hour playing on a different guitar (the Ibby or Fat Girl), my hand is useless... stiff, sore, can barely bend my fingers... but not so with LP.[/QUOTE]

I have been experience this alot as arthritis is setting in my body.I agree with the tone on higher action,that's why I tune down 1/2 step and thinking on a full step,heck Lonnie Mack and Robin Trower do and their tone is great in my book.It also doesn't wear out my hand as fast,makes 'em easier to bend and wiggle.Sumi:D One of my customers told me to try marijuana tea,as he knows I don't take asprin or other crap as I have a liver disease,I'll have to give it a shot and report back.(if I can remember,LOL!)

[ZMAN]

The joints in my left hand are slowly starting to fail.. after an hour playing on a different guitar (the Ibby or Fat Girl), my hand is useless... stiff, sore, can barely bend my fingers... but not so with LP.

I have been experience this alot as arthritis is setting in my body.I agree with the tone on higher action,that's why I tune down 1/2 step and thinking on a full step,heck Lonnie Mack and Robin Trower do and their tone is great in my book.It also doesn't wear out my hand as fast,makes 'em easier to bend and wiggle.Sumi:D One of my customers told me to try marijuana tea,as he knows I don't take asprin or other crap as I have a liver disease,I'll have to give it a shot and report back.(if I can remember,LOL!)[/QUOTE]

You can add SRV, Albert King, Robert Johnson, and many more to that half step whole step down tuning. Big strings, and down. Easier to bend, good tone.

[DeanEVO_Dude]

Well ruling out the frets, it woud fall to nut, neck relief, or bridge and saddle height. I have also found that with Strat style guitars you have to lost the 9s and go 10s or 11s (about all I can stand) to get real sustain. But you should be able to get both sustain and low action as well. As DeanEvo said everyones idea of low or high action can be different. As Mainestratman said the lower action sure makes playing for any length of time a lot easier.
For example I bought a cheap Squier, it was buzzing all over the place. The guy at the shop in North Carolina, "set it up" for me. In about 2 mins. He just cranked up the bridge. It was almost unplayable. I was heading home so I took it to my guy, and even though it was a low budget guitar was ble to get the action buzzless and low.

If I might add, "no buzz" is also subjective. Even on higher action, if you are a hard player and really dig into the strings, you can get a little buzz on the attack. I read an interview with Joe Satriani's guitar tech (interesting, to say the leas) and he said that Satch like it really low, from the way he described it, I think that even a bacterium would have trouble doing the limbo under the high E string, and he plays with such a light touch with no buzzing (amazing considering how much gain he uses!).
So, there you have it, another 2 cents worth (or less!).
Cheers!

[deeaa]

I always set the action much the same on any guitar I have. It's not extremely low in any of 'em, I have somewhat moist hands usually, and if I have the strings really hugging the fretboard, I literally can't do bends no more because the string slips under my finger. So they have to be high enough I get to push the string up properly, not just slide the fretboard.

But, IMO there's no mystery to action. Just make sure the neck relief is correct, i.e. there's a very slight bow to the neck (I do this so that when I press high E on 1st and 12th fret and pick in between, it must JUST about ring freely indicating there is a teeny weeny amount of curvature to the neck. On the low side you can do the same and slide a playing card between the frets and string and it's fine.

Then I just adjust the saddle to be correct height, i.e. open E and pressed G give the correct 1,5 steps in tune when intonation is set right, and then just set the bridge heights according to each string thickness so that they both follow the curvature of the fretboard AND they are level with each other (i.e. the G string saddle is clearly higher than D string, because there's a huge difference between string thickness there, and if I just set them according to action, there's a veritabe 'step' up to D from G which I hate; I rather leave the G string a little higher, which also makes for easy bending.

Then it's all about set...I figure the action must be high enough so I can hit hard chords without any buzz present, but double-hand tapping etc. should require practically no effort, or hammerons in leads etc. either. It matters very little if it's a $50 guitar or $5000 guitar, the action setting is a simple matter of mechanical accuracy. If on a cheapo it buzzes, all you need to do is fret level and it'll play like butter. There's no magic to it, most any guitar can have the best possible action, given there's no big problem like a warped neck or ultra-shitty frets or such.