What is considered high or low action?

[The Archer]

I use a starting point of 1.5 mm from the 12th fret to the bottom of the strings and work from there

 

[budg]

My Traditional at 3/64 no buzzing clean or otherwise.My strats are somewhere around there with a .010 relief.

 

[CapeRR]

I use 4/64s on the low and high side on both of my LPs. I consider that low for my taste but don't lose any sustain.

 

[jab996]

I've never taken any measurements either.
I adjust any buzz out of my Low E string.
Then, I adjust the overall action according to how it feels as I'm playing and bending strings.

 

[bosnialove]

It's good the know the measurements of your action though. Let's say you take the guitar to a guitartech and he askes you "Which action do you prefer?". What are you going to answer the you don't know the measurements of the action you prefer?

Then you do measure after all....

Yeah, the day that I've made this thread was the first time I've measured the action. I alwyas set it up by my feeling and suprisingly enough it measures on both sides somewhere around 5/64 inch.

And now in metric? This talk of 6/64 shit, is freaking me out!
Why dont you just get along with the rest of the world?
Anyhow, I set my trad with a straight neck and 2 mm on the low E and 1,4 mm on the high E. No buzz with normal play.

We are talking in millimeters here in Europe (except for England?), but since the majority MLP-members comes from USA, I've used the 5/64 inch measurement.

...

Anyways, 2mm (5/64") on the bass side seems so te medium / normal action and 2mm (5/64") on the treble side seems to be a high action. Conclusion: my action is average / meduim.

 

[Jason Taylor]

Thoughts are you have the bass side per Gibson's specs, but the treble strings at the same is a little high.

BUT... if you are a player that likes to dig in and get UNDER the string for bending the unwound treble strings, then there is nothing wrong with that!!!

If it feels great, then it is. Leave it as you feel most comfortable.

If you want to know mine is 4/64 for the bass, 3/64 for the treble.

Nice guitar and amp in your avatar!

 

[bosnialove]

Yeah, the ends on my fingers are a little bit fat, so I don't have thin fingers. I need to get a little bit under the strings for bends and stuff. Not a lot, just a little bit.

Thanks man!

 

[politenessman]

It's good the know the measurements of your action though. Let's say you take the guitar to a guitartech and he askes you "Which action do you prefer?". What are you going to answer the you don't know the measurements of the action you prefer?

answer; LAPWOB. low as possible without buzzing.

 

[Colnago1]

I just measured mine and I'm at 4/64 on low E and 3/64 on high E, all my guitars measured the same. Good to know as I always set them up with buzz and then raise the bridge until it is mostly gone acoustically and adjust relief accordingly. Never measured before as I didn't see the need as long as it felt good and sounded right. It is good to know the measurement in case I need to ever take it to a pro for work.

 

[dspelman]

Taking measurements without a capo on the 1rst fret is inherently faulty.
Obviously, the nut height has an influence on the reading, so we should take it out of the equation.
If you play distortion, you can go quite a bit lower than if you play clean.
Also, with proper relief we can get lower upper fret action. We need some relief to get the lowest action ALL OVER the fretboard. Sure, raising high will fix problems, but that is not he goal. .008" or so relief is good.
With that, [and good frets!] 4/64" on the low E graduated to 2.5-3/64 on the high E is good and low, and you can play clean with good sustain.

The nut SHOULD have an influence on the action height. A too-high nut will give you fretbuzz above the 12th-15th frets if you try to bring the bridge down to lower your action. You don't need as much relief as you think to get low action IF the nut is cut correctly. But you do need absolutely level frets.

Carvin, for years, advertised that you could set the action as low as 1/16th" at the 24th fret guaranteed. and they delivered.

 

[bosnialove]

Damn, this thread is giving me 'set-up GAS'. I'm going to check the set up on my guitar right now... Just for fun...

 

[NRBQ]

I believe a 'high action' would be something like rescuing a kitten from a river.

A 'low action' would be throwing it in ...

(I'm in a weird mood tonight ...)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQyUKnCf0YY"]Wolfgang and friend: "Very interesting ... but stupid" - YouTube[/ame]

I posted this the other day but I thought it was another perfect fit.

 

[dspelman]

Yeah, the ends on my fingers are a little bit fat, so I don't have thin fingers. I need to get a little bit under the strings for bends and stuff. Not a lot, just a little bit.

That's an issue best dealt with when you pick fret height. It's why you'll find more guitars with jumbo frets these days. Not really an action thing.

 

[Latearrival]

1.1mm on the top"E" String, 1.5mm on the bottom....

I find it plays nicely like that! I guess that is pretty low.....

 

[dspelman]

I would say the term is relative to manufacturer's specifications. Either higher than or lower than.

Manufacturer's Specifications = wishful mythology, not to be taken seriously.

 

[bosnialove]

Well, the Kramer Baretta which I've used to have a week ago had those jumbo frets. Didn't like them at all while playing that guitar. My LP has those 'fretless wonder' frets / really low frets, and I like those much better.

The other question now is: many of you don't use measurements for the action, but do you use measurements for the pick up height?