What are the purposes of the different patterns for action heights?

[Munurmunuh]

I recently had my BB set up by my local tech.

The previous owner had the heights like this:

E 2.25 .... A 2.50 .... D 2.60 .... G 2.00

What would have been the function of having the A and the D higher?

The new set up is lower overall and gradually gets lower going up the strings:

E 1.80 .... A 1.70 .... D 1.60 .... G 1.50 

What is the purpose of the slight gradual change? Just giving thicker strings more room to vibrate? Or so that fingers aren't having to curl around so much....actually that makes no sense, does it? - the string still has to be pressed down to the frets.

[PaulThePlug]

It is possible that in the first instance a guage may of been used from the top, instead of measuring from the bottom, and a guage that didnt correspond with the neck radius... 9.5 rather than 12?.

And i think you are correct, a little more room for the lower thicker strings to vibrate...

Ya action sounds low... nice.

Cant get that low on my Ibbys.

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited March 14, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Munurmunuh]

12 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

think you are correct, a little more room for the lower thicker strings to vibrate

When trying to be nimble on the E string, it would be nice if it were as low as the G string .... but on the other hand, it is good to be able to give the lowest notes a hearty thwonk safe in the knowledge that the stringp won't clatter into the frets. 

[Munurmunuh]

3 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Quite literally, to produce the larger vibrations of the low notes you require larger vibrations from the string.

There's something about this fact which is unusually satisfying, no idea why 

[Reggaebass]

I’ve always understood the graduated clearance under the strings is to allow for Vibration, but I set mine as low as it will go without fret buzz , if for any reason it won’t set low it goes out the door 

[Munurmunuh]

28 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

It is possible that in the first instance a guage may of been used from the top, instead of measuring from the bottom, and a guage that didnt correspond with the neck radius... 9.5 rather than 12?.

There were some things about the state of the bass that made me think the previous owner knew what they were doing - an interesting balance of pickup heights, a choice of strings that made the most of the resulting sound - but the intonation was quite flat so maybe not.

Perhaps the bassist was used to a 7¼" radius, and the higher A and D on this 10" radius fretboard was for familiarity's sake, to get a sense of that greater curve?

At any rate, this bass didn't get played much in its first 9 years on this planet. That's being corrected now

[rmorris]

5 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

It is possible that in the first instance a guage may of been used from the top, instead of measuring from the bottom, and a guage that didnt correspond with the neck radius... 9.5 rather than 12?.

And i think you are correct, a little more room for the lower thicker strings to vibrate...

Ya action sounds low... nice.e

Cant get that low on my Ibbys.

It depends on how much fret buzz you're willing to tolerate. Judging by the interweb a lot of people don't mind it to a degree that I find intrusive and just unpleasant.

[Waddo Soqable]

I've generally dropped 'em low as poss and not cared about buzz really, but I have been described as a "Hooligan Player" so best don't do as I do !

[Munurmunuh]

2 hours ago, rmorris said:

It depends on how much fret buzz you're willing to tolerate. Judging by the interweb a lot of people don't mind it to a degree that I find intrusive and just unpleasant.

I don't get any fret buzz, despite that low action - but then I've fairly high tension strings and play with a very light touch. My tech was sceptical of how much he could lower the action until I demonstrated how I play. Ah, right, yeah, no problem  

 

[Reggaebass]

5 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

and play with a very light touch

I’m the same, and I only use flats, I might get an occasional rattle playing acoustically but that’s it, my Sandberg goes ridiculously low