String Height

[ubit]

I have checked intonation on all my basses and, even the highest action , still has perfect intonation.

[Stompbox]

Just obsessing with this now - bought a secondhand Fender Jazz so tweaking it and tweaking it to get it "right".

It takes ages (to my mind) to get it spot on - but that is when you sit playing the bass at home in quiet surroundings.

Equally when you are on stage then all this goes out of the window - when it's at volume in a band context then even a high action or a buzzy fretted bass sounds just fine.

If you were recording it with individual feeds then analyzed it later, then maybe you would discern flaws (apart from all of my mistakes, that is!).....

But it has to be "just so" for each individual so that they feel happy to call the bass their own - and that is why I'll be fiddling around with the settings for a while yet.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Stompbox' timestamp='1422875013' post='2677704']
But it has to be "just so" for each individual ...
[/quote]
I'm more 'that will do' than 'just so'.

[Telebass]

Now that I've given up playing in loud bands (to save what little's left if my hearing), I've learned the techniques if playing really lightly and letting the amp do the job. It means I've been able to get the action on the basses down to almost nothing. Which in turn helps with fast runs. Which requires an even softer touch!
I don't doubt that this will be hard to translate into a live situation, but it's so nice to play. Before this, ET's "it'll do" worked just fine!

Edited February 5, 2015 by Telebass

[PaulWarning]

I've just been messing a round with my recently acquired Squire VM Jazz, trying to get the action the same as my MIA P, I found it difficult to measure the height with a steel rule accurately, even with a magnifying glass so I used a pound coin under the E string at the last fret, they're 3.15mm and found it to be spot on for my playing style (1mm pick)

Edited January 12, 2017 by PaulWarning

[dmccombe7]

Yep mines are around same 2.5mm but usually set it up to either Fender or Warwick recommended and then adjust from there as required.
Lot depends on style of playing.

When i use my fingernails i get more attack and usually have to raise strings a touch. If i cut my nails i can drop lower than recommended. Don't really use a pick.
Also style of music makes a diff as i tend to play harder when with a rock band and lighter with blues / funk band.
Don't generally do a lot of slapping and only occasional for effect when required.

Dave

[gjones]

I'm more interested in the action between the 1st and 5th fret, which is where I play most of the time, rather than up the dusty end. Often I have to file the nut to get a low action in this area. You can twiddle away at the truss rod or the bridge saddles forever but if your nut is too high you'll never manage to get a low action.

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1484420028' post='3215401']
I'm more interested in the action between the 1st and 5th fret, which is where I play most of the time, rather than up the dusty end. Often I have to file the nut to get a low action in this area. You can twiddle away at the truss rod or the bridge saddles forever but if your nut is too high you'll never manage to get a low action.
[/quote]

Good point. I have come across the odd bass with that problem too. My Warwick has adjustable brass screws on the nut which are very helpful. Nothing worse than playing top of the neck with a high nut. Feel as tho you have to really press down on the strings a lot especially at that point where string movement is far less than the middle.

Dave

[chris_b]

I have no idea what heights my strings are.

Assuming the neck is right: I take the action down until all strings are buzzing and then bring each string up until it plays clean, without any buzz pop or clank, along the whole neck.

[rob hayward]

On 1/10/2015 at 14:07, chrisanthony1211 said:

2mm a actually seems to be quite low then! Does anyone have their string height much lower than this?

I get 1.6mm at the 17th on my schecter and 1.8mm on my pbass at the 17th. They only clank and rattle when I want them to. I'm struggling/ still working on setting my jazz 5 to be so good..

 

[binky_bass]

I did achieve an action of 0.2mm on my old warrior 7 string... it's requires a hugely stable and absolutely dead perfect straight neck, but it played superbly. But this was a bit of an extreme, And only really possible because the neck was absolutely dead straight with a fresh fret job. 

[The59Sound]

I use 45-105 gauge strings.

Last time I set the bass up, I measured 2.1mm on the E and 1.6mm on the G (17th fret). 

[markdavid]

I always used to go for as low an action as possible, used to hate anything other than a low action then I found one of my basses that I had recently bought had a really fantastic tone that the others just could not get close to, the notes had more punch and heft to them. I wondered why this was , the bass had the same strings as my other basses and was a very similar type of bass, I wondered what was different about the bass that made it sound so much better and then it occured to me that this bass that sounded so good was the one bass that I had really struggled to get a low action with.

I raised the action on my main bass to around 2.5mm at the 17th fret on the E string which I previously would have scoffed at and boom there it was, the notes sounded fuller, had more punch and just sounded so much better.  I thought my bass would be much harder to play with the higher action but other than very fast bass parts it is just as easy to play.

 

[PaulWarning]

I've just put new strings on mine, so checked the set up, 3mm at the 17th fret on the E string, doesn't bother me, it sounds better like that, as @gjones said, 90% of the playing (well mine anyway) takes place on the first 5 frets 

[binky_bass]

The tone is definitely effected by the height of the strings over the poles of the pickup more so than the action, though with a higher action you can be a bit more brutal with your playing which will again effect the tone, so it's totally about what's good for you! For me, I do a fair amount of tappy stuff so the lower the better. 

[gajatko]

A little late for the party, but I didn't check forums/tutorials when I was setting up my bass. So I set it to be in tune and nice to play. And its 7mm on the 17th fret, measuring from a fretboard to the bottom of B string. So... it seems that's a lot. Should I be concerned about it? I start to play in higher posistions now but I don't feel that it's anyhow uncomfortable. Are there other reasons I should lower the action other than "easyiness"?

[BigRedX]

On 15/01/2017 at 11:06, chris_b said:

I have no idea what heights my strings are.

Assuming the neck is right: I take the action down until all strings are buzzing and then bring each string up until it plays clean, without any buzz pop or clank, along the whole neck.

That's the best idea.

Somewhere between impossible to fret and buzzing all over the place is fine by me.

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, gajatko said:

A little late for the party, but I didn't check forums/tutorials when I was setting up my bass. So I set it to be in tune and nice to play. And its 7mm on the 17th fret, measuring from a fretboard to the bottom of B string. So... it seems that's a lot. Should I be concerned about it? I start to play in higher posistions now but I don't feel that it's anyhow uncomfortable. Are there other reasons I should lower the action other than "easyiness"?

the normal way of measuring is from the top of the fret, not the fret board

[Ian Hinrichsen]

On 10/01/2015 at 12:46, PlungerModerno said:

About the same. More for the Low B on a 5er - more like 2.5 mm, but never over 4 or 5 mm - It'd be hard to play.

Hi, 

Is this 2.5mm when you are holding down the B at the 1st and last fret and measuring at the 12th fret or is 2.5mm without holding down the string? 

[Reggaebass]

All my jazzes are between 1and 1.5mm at the 12th E unfretted with no buzz , which is perfect for me as I play with a fairly light touch, and my Sandberg is 1mm and it will go lower 

[Ian Hinrichsen]

1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

All my jazzes are between 1and 1.5mm at the 12th E unfretted with no buzz , which is perfect for me as I play with a fairly light touch, and my Sandberg is 1mm and it will go lower 

And if you double time, don't you get fret clatter?

My B string is about 3,5mm. 

[Reggaebass]

3 minutes ago, Ian Hinrichsen said:

And if you double time, don't you get fret clatter?

My B string is about 3,5mm. 

If I played hard I probably would , but I only use flats and have a light touch so it’s minimal string noise ,and so much easier for me to play than a high action 🙂

[4000]

On 14/01/2015 at 23:35, Brother Jones said:

Long ago in the late eighties I would drive myself nuts about this. I'm a lot more accommodating about it these days. It partly depends on the neck. Graphite/CF does make a big difference The two Zons I've owned in the past had the lowest actions of any bass I've ever played - probably around 1.5mm at the 12th.

It's not really possible to do that on a regular wood neck. And I'm not sure I'd want to anyway - preferring a bit of fight and bounce on my Jazzes.

It absolutely IS possible to have an action like that on a wood neck. Most of the many basses I’ve owned have had an action of 1mm 12th fret E at some stage in their lives, although these days I tend to have it around 2mm 12th fret E, 1-1.5mm 12th fret G.

[4000]

On 14/01/2017 at 18:53, gjones said:

I'm more interested in the action between the 1st and 5th fret, which is where I play most of the time, rather than up the dusty end. Often I have to file the nut to get a low action in this area. You can twiddle away at the truss rod or the bridge saddles forever but if your nut is too high you'll never manage to get a low action.

This is true, but also if you have a completely straight neck you will likely need to raise the nut a tad.

FWIW I play all over the neck in equal measure.

[HazBeen]

I am unsure why you would want to achieve a really low action, it does not improve your tone in any way. Don’t take my word for it, but Patitucci, Gwizdala and a host of others have all realised that really low action does not equate to better tone.

I totally did not buy into that initially and was all about low action, but after trying it I was amazed at how much more punch and tone you get when you raise that action. Currently I am at 3mm at 12th fret, which is a happy medium between playability and tone.