String Height

[Wolverinebass]

On 02/04/2020 at 20:45, 4000 said:

IIRC Wolverinebass likes his action a fair bit lower.😉

I do indeed. I've had my Status Buzzard down about 0.5mm at the 12th fret. My Alembic is pretty much the same.

 

There is no way that I want to fight a bass with my left hand. Sod that for a game of tennis. 

 

Admittedly, some basses just can't be set that low. However, try doing tapping when you could drive a bus under your action. My style which is quite percussive (not slapping!!) suits this really well, but it's not for everyone.

 

Even my 12 string Hamer has an action probably lower than most people could believe. Many thanks to Martin at the Gallery for that.

 

A lot of it is down to style as well. I tend not to dig in and play somewhat differently to most. If I had a different style then I'd have a different preference. 

[4000]

28 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

I do indeed. I've had my Status Buzzard down about 0.5mm at the 12th fret. My Alembic is pretty much the same.

 

There is no way that I want to fight a bass with my left hand. Sod that for a game of tennis. 

 

Admittedly, some basses just can't be set that low. However, try doing tapping when you could drive a bus under your action. My style which is quite percussive (not slapping!!) suits this really well, but it's not for everyone.

 

Even my 12 string Hamer has an action probably lower than most people could believe. Many thanks to Martin at the Gallery for that.

 

A lot of it is down to style as well. I tend not to dig in and play somewhat differently to most. If I had a different style then I'd have a different preference. 

Martin once said he had one only customer who likes lower action than me. I imagine it’s you. 😉😂

[Guest]

Medium-low for me, about 3mm at the 17th fret.

 

Any lower and it starts to adversely affect the tone, and the frets clanging can show up as clicking and popping, which is annoying.

 

Also, going any lower than that starts to make hammer-on's and pull-offs both harder to do, and sonically less effective. 

 

Really low is restrictive in so many ways, so fairly-low but not silly-low works best for me.

[Wolverinebass]

13 hours ago, 4000 said:

Martin once said he had one only customer who likes lower action than me. I imagine it’s you. 😉😂

Very probably. I think when he fret stoned the 12 string the amount of metal taken off could have built the empire state building.

[Musicman666]

Low action for me on my fretless is when it can’t be played lying down …only standing up.

[Moribund]

Hi,

Hello all - new to the forum so please be gentle. Sorry to bump an old thread but it is related 

I bought a new bass this week and I was wondering if the action was too high. I’m primarily a guitarist and the action on every bass always feels high!

 

Ive measured the action at the 12th and tried to capture this in a photo….

 

 

it looks to me to be about 2.25 to 2.5mm. is this normal/average ?

 

I don’t really want to mess with the truss rod unless I have to but could adjust the saddles if required. Will the action change as time goes on - not sure if the really hot weather is affecting the guitar. I think I’m overthinking this and should play it in for a few months

 

Any suggestions welcome 

 

[PaulWarning]

well Fender recommend 2.4mm at the 17th fret, so not a million miles away, it all depends on your style of play and how much fret rattle you can put up with, I'm a fairly heavy handed pick player so I set mine up round about the Fender specs.

Basses do have a higher action than guitars, longer neck and thicker strings are the reason for this I suspect.

There are plenty of tutorials on youtube on how to set up a bass

 

[Moribund]

26 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

well Fender recommend 2.4mm at the 17th fret, so not a million miles away, it all depends on your style of play and how much fret rattle you can put up with, I'm a fairly heavy handed pick player so I set mine up round about the Fender specs.

Basses do have a higher action than guitars, longer neck and thicker strings are the reason for this I suspect.

There are plenty of tutorials on youtube on how to set up a bass

 

Cheers Paul,

i want to learn slap and my understanding is that lower action is better for slap bass. 
I'm certainly not expecting the action of a Fender Strat but my lack of playing experience means I don’t have a good feel for what is the correct action.

when I measure the relief it seems ok (about 0.25mm) so I’m loathe to adjust the truss road - I guess some gradual adjustment of the saddle might help.