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.

[Woodwind]

On 21/06/2025 at 11:54, Moribund said:

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.

 

As long as the frets are all level you can get the action as low as you want really.

I can't tolerate high actions or higher tension strings so have actions of around 1mm on all my basses, but I play with a light touch as a result.

 

Also Don't be scared of adjusting the truss rod in future.

 

Just being careful - small turns and let the bass settle to the new tension before adjusting more, but it doesn't seem your current setting needs adjusting unless you change strings.

 

Good luck

[HeadlessBassist]

 

 

On 21/06/2025 at 11:54, Moribund said:

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.

 

For slap playing, you want the action medium low - around 2mm (pictured) between the 12th fret and the bottom of the E-string. That way you get a little rebound off the strings. If action is too low, it will feel flat and too unresponsive to slap. Also, make sure you look underneath the strings in between the end of the fingerboard and the neck pickup. You should see a graduated curve between the strings. The A-string should be highest, with equal distances downwards to the D & G strings (pictured). You'll know the shape of the curve when you see it.

 

At the end of the day, action is more about personal preference. Some people like hugely thick strings with massive unbendable amounts of string tension with a high action that they can really hit hard, and others like a lighter string, lower action, with lower string tension, so they can readily bend, and most importantly, for the bass to work with them, as opposed to fighting against them.  

 

I never thought to ask... What bass do you have, and what string gauge do you use?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[LITTLEWING]

On 10/01/2015 at 11:48, franzbassist said:

With a capo at the first fret, I aim for 2.5mm on the E and 1.5mm at the G. These measurements are taken with a gap of .25mm at the 9th fret when pressing the string at the first and last frets.

 

Ummm...you only use a capo to set the relief old chap, not for setting action. Just sayin'. 

[franzbassist]

30 minutes ago, LITTLEWING said:

Ummm...you only use a capo to set the relief old chap, not for setting action. Just sayin'. 

I know you set relief with a capo. The two sentences in my post are separate statements; the first sentence refers to the action, the second to the relief.  Just sayin... 

[LITTLEWING]

1 minute ago, franzbassist said:

I know you set relief with a capo. The two sentences in my post are separate statements; the first sentence refers to the action, the second to the relief.  Just sayin... 

Okay, but it looks like you are saying you set the capo at the first fret and aim for 2.5 etc. I wasn't being sarky by any means, just trying to be helpful to other readers. Jeez....